[SOLVED] Easy way to disable Synaptics Touchpad

[agmg]

For those (like me) that use an external mouse on their laptop and want Synaptics Touchpad out of their way, here is a very easy way to completely disable it.

Just add to your startup programs the command:

Code: [Select]

synclient TouchpadOff=1
and touchpad will be disabled every time you boot into your OS

The reverse command is:

Code: [Select]

synclient TouchpadOff=0
Hope this helps some of you  

[Just17]

Thanks for the above ....  just started playing with my first laptop and the pad was interfering.

Unfortunately it didn't work on the 64bit test I was running ....
"Couldn't find synaptics properties. No synaptics driver loaded?"


Now for the real question .....

is there a method to detect if a mouse is installed and if so turn off the pad, and if no mouse then leave it as is?

I assume a smal script in Autostart would do the trick.

Anyone tried it?

[agmg]

I can't find "synclient" package in the repos... Is it part of "x11-driver-input-synaptics"??

I rarely use my laptop without a mouse so I don't really need something like this. If I ever have to use the touchpad, I simply type the reverse command in a terminal and it's working again...

[Just17]

I was trying from a live session and it did not work ....  32 or 64 bit ..... unfortunately.

Will try again on an installed OS.


EDIT ....  yes that was the problem .....  it doesn't work in the live session 


regards.

[agmg]

I have this script saved in my documents that I think I have used on another distro (couple of months ago).

If you want, give it a try and tell me if this works for you.

So i made a small script toggletouchpad.sh

#!/bin/bash
if [ $(synclient -l | grep TouchpadOff | awk '{print $3}') == 1 ] ; then
synclient touchpadoff=0;
else
synclient touchpadoff=1;
fi

In rc.xml i assigned the program to Winkey-p:

 <keybind key="W-p">
      <action name="Execute">
        <startupnotify>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <name>toggletouchpad</name>
        </startupnotify>
        <command>toggletouchpad.sh</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

[Just17]

Yes I am sure the toggle will work.

I must look into the mouse sensing control of synaptics ....  to auto turn the pad off when a mouse is connected .....