I got a cheap netbook and put ubuntu on it without even booting into the windows it came with. I am now slightly regretting it since the trackpad is very annoying, it only registers when I press quite hard on it, and even then the motion is so slow that I must drag me poor finger 3 times to get the pointer to move up or down that tiny screen.

OK. enough rant. now business: I went into the setting and increase sensitivity and acceleration to high. No difference. the behaviour did not change at all. So now my questions are:

1. Is this a hardware problem?
2. Is there a program I can run to see what input the trackpad is receiving? so I know if it can, in theory, read the light touch and not only the heavy, sandpaper-your-fingertips-off touch?
3. is there some manual setting that the system might not be setting correctly and which I could change from the terminal?