Since a while ago, synclient no longer supports the -m (monitor) option (that could be used to obtain absolute coordinates from a touchpad).
I'm looking for a good, portable way to obtain absolute coordinates from a touchpad that doesn't require obsolete versions of synclient. Does anybody know of such a way?
The evtest command is able to provide this kind of information.
Depending on your aim, a look at its source might be helpful.
Also have a look at this commit in the synaptics driver:
Remove absolute mode
Moving a touchpad in absolute mode is unusual - touchpads are disconnected
from the output device, so direct interaction is hard. There appears to be
little usage of it (I haven't seen bug reports from people claiming to use
it). Joe Shaw, author of the code and only known user doesn't have a use
for it anymore, so purge it from the repo.
