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#1 2024-10-03 13:41:48

pinkpastel
Member
Registered: 2024-10-03
Posts: 5

Disable Touchpad While Typing

Hello,

I am using a new (to me) Thinkpad and find that the touchpad registers the slightest touch of my palms while I am typing. After researching this, I do find several threads which offer support on this, but I cannot get them to work. I suspect there is something that has changed with the recent release, although I admit that I am not an expert.

Does anyone know what I can do here? I don't mean to spam with a stupid question.

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#2 2024-10-03 13:49:32

PackRat
jgmenu user Numero Uno
Registered: 2015-10-02
Posts: 2,659

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

There is a command in the default autostart file to disable the touchpad while typing. Check to see if that is commented out. You may need to adjust the settings.


You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

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#3 2024-10-03 13:55:26

pinkpastel
Member
Registered: 2024-10-03
Posts: 5

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

I am confused as to the correct current autostart file. Is This the one at .config/bunsen/autostart? I don't see a command to that effect there. Sorry if I am being slow.

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#4 2024-10-03 15:07:39

PackRat
jgmenu user Numero Uno
Registered: 2015-10-02
Posts: 2,659

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

That should be the correct one.

You want this line:

## Disable touchpad while typing
syndaemon -i .5 -K -t -R -d &

and check out this post -

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 83#p132083


You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

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#5 2024-10-03 18:12:41

hhh
Gaucho
From: High in the Custerdome
Registered: 2015-09-17
Posts: 16,138
Website

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

^ It is.

You can easily edit your autostart via the Main Menu (User Settings>BunsenLabs Session>Edit autostart). In a deefault autostart you'll want to comment out line #66 on uncomment #68, then logout/login. This will also give you two-finger (right click) and three-finger (middle-click) touchpad functions. You can also enable touchpad scrolling there.


I don't care what you do at home. Would you care to explain?

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#6 2024-10-09 21:31:24

pinkpastel
Member
Registered: 2024-10-03
Posts: 5

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

Hello,

Sorry for taking a while to get back. I found this area of the autostart file. It is already uncommented so I'd guess that it should be working.  Could something be interfering with this setting?

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#7 2024-10-09 22:47:10

PackRat
jgmenu user Numero Uno
Registered: 2015-10-02
Posts: 2,659

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

Run the command

syndaemon -i .5 -K -t -R -d &

in a terminal and see if you get an error message.

Also do a search (including a search of the forum) for "Linux disable Thinkpad touchpad while typing" and see if something has changed/different for thinkpad. We may need to add that option in the autostart.


You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

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#8 2024-10-09 23:00:32

pinkpastel
Member
Registered: 2024-10-03
Posts: 5

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

The command returns this.

$ syndaemon -i .5 -K -t -R -d &
[1] 19823 

I have done some searching on this, but I haven't found something that works for me yet.

Last edited by pinkpastel (2024-10-09 23:01:12)

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#9 2024-10-10 03:54:25

WizardofCOR
Member
Registered: 2023-07-28
Posts: 9

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

I too had a similar issue - no matter what I did, the touchpad was always "live" and still functioning on my Acer Aspire laptop.
Ideally, I had wanted to disable the touchpad whenever a USB mouse was plugged in - not just when typing.
And my Autostart also looked like this:

## Disable touchpad while typing
syndaemon -i .5 -K -t -R -d &

So because I'm definitely no expert, I did some net-digging - and found that I could create a little .sh script and a shortcut to manually disable the touchpad.
Now, if you're dependent upon using the touchpad, and aren't using some other pointing device (e.g. mouse, trackball, etc.) instead, then this may not be a good solution for you, unfortunately.
But if you are using some other pointing device, and this seems like a reasonable workaround to you, then maybe give this a shot.

1.  Create a folder - I chose this:  /opt/touchpadtoggle/
2.  Create a shell script file in that folder, "touchpadtoggle.sh"
3.  For the contents of that shell script, paste and save the following:

!/bin/bash

read TPdevice <<< $( xinput | sed -nre '/TouchPad|Touchpad/s/.*id=([0-9]*).*/\1/p' )
state=$( xinput list-props "$TPdevice" | grep "Device Enabled" | grep -o "[01]$" )

if [ "$state" -eq '1' ];then
    xinput --disable "$TPdevice" && notify-send -i emblem-nowrite "Touchpad" "Disabled"
else
    xinput --enable "$TPdevice" && notify-send -i emblem-nowrite "Touchpad" "Enabled"
fi

4.  Then create a "touchpadtoggle.desktop" file in the /usr/share/applications/ directory.
     (this puts a shortcut into the menu system) - use the following:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Touchpad Toggle
Comment=Touchpad Toggle
GenericName=Touchpad Toggle
Exec=/opt/touchpadtoggle/touchpadtoggle.sh
Icon=utilities-terminal
Terminal=false
Categories=Utility;System;Settings;Application;keyboard

That's it.  You should now be able to navigate to the "Touchpad Toggle" menu item found in either the System, Settings, or Accessories categories.
And when you click on that, you should receive a confirmation notification of the Touchpad being Disabled or Enabled.

This gives you manual control of your Touchpad.  Perhaps not an ideal solution I know, but it's worked great for me.
Here's hoping that it works for you as well.

Last edited by WizardofCOR (2024-10-10 04:05:42)


Just a dude playing a dude, disguised as another dude...

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#10 2024-10-10 09:41:01

PackRat
jgmenu user Numero Uno
Registered: 2015-10-02
Posts: 2,659

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

I also use xinput to disable the touchpad. I always have a mouse attached. If I need the touchpad, I have a bash alias to enable it.


You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

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#11 2024-10-31 09:55:19

CooKiECruNChEr43
Member
Registered: 2015-10-17
Posts: 86

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

I use these commands:

xinput list
xinput disable [touchpadnumber]

I sometimes need to use the touchpad, so I don't switch it off permanently.

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#12 2024-10-31 10:29:23

pinkpastel
Member
Registered: 2024-10-03
Posts: 5

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

I appreciate everyone's help and I'm glad to have some ways to work around this. I do wish there was a way for it to actually work though.

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#13 2024-11-17 10:19:21

WizardofCOR
Member
Registered: 2023-07-28
Posts: 9

Re: Disable Touchpad While Typing

Yes, I would tend to agree.
However, until there's a plug-n-play interface option to detect and offer the option, this is the best Linux has to offer, unfortunately.
Even though subcomponents may detect and use a USB mouse, there's no inherent option to disable the touchpad once a mouse is connected.  Definitely an enhancement request for sure, and one worthy of pursuit.
While we may not have an immediate solution other than a workaround, it's through suggestions like yours that makes the Linux desktop get better - so please do keep recommending features/functionality that are helpful.


Just a dude playing a dude, disguised as another dude...

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