Synaptics Touchpad Issues

[NoOp]

New HP G60-530US laptop w/Ubuntu karmic 64bit
2.6.31-18-generic #55-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 8 14:54:52 UTC 2010 x86_64
GNU/Linux

I'm attempting to figure out how to turn off/on the touchpad via the
touchpad on/off key. I found options to do this via configuring a series
of keys[1] but haven't tried as yet. I've also installed
gpointing-device-settings, but that works only temporarily & the
touchpad is turned back on as soon as I open another window etc., so I'd
like to figure out how to get the actual on/off key working.

Any suggestions on how to go about this?

[1]
https://launchpad.net/~g60-g70
  https://lists.launchpad.net/g60-g70/msg00006.html
  [To enable/disable the touchpad]

Info:

kernal log shows this when the key is turned on (pressed to turn off the
touchpad - button shows amber):

atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xd8 on
isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e058 <keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xd8 on
isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e058 <keycode>' to make it known.

Pressing the button to turn the touchpad back on (goes from amber to white):
atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xd9 on
isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e059 <keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xd9 on
isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e059 <keycode>' to make it known.

$ dmesg |grep Synaptics
[   18.585060] Synaptics Touchpad, model: 1, fw: 7.0, id: 0x1a0b1, caps:
0xd04711/0xa00000
[   18.655350] input: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad as
/devices/platform/i8042/serio2/input/input8

xorg.0.log:
II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 1.1.2
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event8"
(II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: x-axis range 1472 - 5472
(II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: y-axis range 1408 - 4448
(II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: pressure range 0 - 255
(II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: finger width range 0 - 0
(II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: buttons: left right middle
(--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found
(**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: always reports core events
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
(type: TOUCHPAD)
(**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
(**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) filter chain progression: 2.00
(**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) filter stage 0: 20.00 ms
(**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) set acceleration profile 0
(--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found

And:
$ sudo getkeycodes
Plain scancodes xx (hex) versus keycodes (dec)
for 1-83 (0x01-0x53) scancode equals keycode

 0x50:   80  81  82  83  99   0  86  87
 0x58:   88 117   0   0  95 183 184 185
 0x60:    0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 0x68:    0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 0x70:   93   0   0  89   0   0  85  91
 0x78:   90  92   0  94   0 124 121   0

Escaped scancodes e0 xx (hex)

e0 00:    0 465   0   0   0   0   0   0
e0 08:    0 236 152 212 226   0 389   0
e0 10:  165   0 224   0   0   0   0 225
e0 18:    0 163   0   0  96  97   0   0
e0 20:  113 140 164   0 166   0   0   0
e0 28:    0   0 255   0   0   0 114   0
e0 30:  115 138 172 193   0  98 255  99
e0 38:  100   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
e0 40:    0   0   0   0   0 119 119 102
e0 48:  103 104   0 105 112 106 118 107
e0 50:  108 109 110 111   0   0   0 238
e0 58:    0   0   0 125 126 127 116 142
e0 60:    0   0   0 143   0 217 156 173
e0 68:  128 159 158 157 155 226 227 112
e0 70:    0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
e0 78:    0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0