How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

rustyhann · 2009-05-20 04:38:28

I just installed #!CrunchBang and absolutely love it. I also hate my touchpad. This is how I turned it off.

I mashed the info from a couple of forum discussions together to get this working, here are the links:

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … aptoclick/
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= … tcount=121
http://www.linuxine.com/2008/06/how-to- … buntu.html

Thanks goes to the original writers big_smile

Here is the streamlined version which worked for me. I have a synaptics touchpad on a dell XPS M1330. I don't have a 'button' to turn my touchpad on and off. I had a very empty looking xorg.conf file due to the configuration changes in 8.10 and I didn't want to hand write a section for the touchpad because, honestly, I'm not that good big_smile I also didn't like the idea of creating a bunch of different scripts like other people were advising. This is what I came up with. It also uses hal, which I'm understanding is the proper way to do it, but I'm not too picky about that stuff, I'm just glad it works and is fairly clean big_smile Also I'm a newb, so I'm writing this as a newb would, painfully obvious things included tongue

If you want to find the code for your specific touchpad use this:

code: lshal > hal.txt && leafpad hal.txt

You can also use gedit in place of leafpad, but I'm using #!CrunchBang Lite so leafpad it is. I searched the document for 'Synaptics' and found the entries. You can also try searching for 'AlpsPS/2 ALPS' and 'appletouch'. If you have one but not the other two, then that is your type of touchpad. This info is needed so you can modify the correct section of your 11-x11-synaptics.fdi file.

The next step is to copy the file 11-x11-synaptics.fdi found in

/usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/

to the folder

/etc/hal/fdi/policy/

I used the file manager to do it, don't forget you have to right click and open
/etc/hal/fdi/policy as root to be able to write a new file to it.

If you want to use the command line, the code is as follows:

sudo cp /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/11-x11-synaptics.fdi /etc/hal/fdi/policy/11-x11-synaptics.fdi

Once the file is in the /etc/hal/fdi/policy directory you need to edit it and add the following line:

<merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">On</merge>

The line needs to be added in the section that starts with

and ends with

</match>

The synaptics sections should be at the top and contain a few multi-line comments, here is what mine looks like:

<match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.touchpad">
   <match key="info.product" contains="Synaptics TouchPad">
   <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>

<merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">On</merge>
   </match>

The Alps/PS2 ALPS and appletouch sections are right below the synaptics section in my file, you can place the text between the <match> and </match> statements to disable your version of touchpad. I haven't been able to test this because I don't have a laptop with either of those touchpads, but what I've learned from all of my net searches indicates that it will work as long as the SHMConfig line is in the right place for the right touchpad.

I saved the file and then rebooted. I then ran this command at the terminal:

synclient touchpadoff=1

And VOILA it worked. No more annoying touchpad and jumping cursors while I type

You can turn the touchpad back on by using this command:

synclient touchpadoff=0

This will not be persistent though, you will have to run the command every time you reboot. I like this option because if I don't have a USB mouse handy I'm not stuck without a pointing device and can boot directly into the GUI with no worries. I know you can access a terminal with keyboard shortcuts in a pinch, but it seems like automating the command with a script would be like painting myself into a corner. What would be great would be if someone could write a script that could detect the presence of a USB mouse and turn the touchapd on or off on the fly, but that's way above my paygrade big_smile I Hope this works for everyone else.

nabilalk · 2009-05-20 19:50:52

rustyhann wrote:

This will not be persistent though, you will have to run the command every time you reboot.

Thanks rustyhann for the post. Any ideas how to make this action persistent after reboot?

Last edited by nabilalk (2009-05-20 19:51:34)

iggykoopa · 2009-05-20 20:11:09

you could add
synclient touchpadoff=1 &
to your autostart.sh

nabilalk · 2009-05-20 20:21:02

iggykoopa wrote:

you could add
synclient touchpadoff=1 &
to your autostart.sh

I see. What if you wanted the reverse? For example, if you want to enable some of the synclient tweaks and make them persistent after reboot. I would like to enable

synclient TapButton1=1
synclient TapButton2=2
synclient TapButton3=3
synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=1

to all be persistent at reboot.

iggykoopa · 2009-05-20 20:27:51

you could either add them all to your autostart.sh or put them in a separate shell script that you call from autostart.sh(just to keep it from getting too cluttered)

nabilalk · 2009-05-20 20:39:43

iggykoopa wrote:

you could either add them all to your autostart.sh or put them in a separate shell script that you call from autostart.sh(just to keep it from getting too cluttered)

I like the sound of a shell script.

How would I make a shell script for these?

If I just wanted to add them to autostart.sh would I enter them like so?

synclient TapButton1=1 &
synclient TapButton2=2 &
synclient TapButton3=3 &
synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=1 &

danka (you are still in Germany right?)

iggykoopa · 2009-05-20 20:46:40

bitte, I start my german classes at the end of the month...I only know a few phrases for now. How you have them is correct, you can put those lines in another file and name it whatever you want...add
#!/bin/sh

to the top, then chmod +x the file. Add the filename & to your autostart.sh and you're all set.

nabilalk · 2009-05-20 21:10:56

iggykoopa wrote:

bitte, I start my german classes at the end of the month...I only know a few phrases for now. How you have them is correct, you can put those lines in another file and name it whatever you want...add
#!/bin/sh
to the top, then chmod +x the file. Add the filename & to your autostart.sh and you're all set.

It must be exciting to be taking classes in a country where you will be able to readily use the language that you are learning. I wonder if they are going to have you using Rosetta Stone?

I will give the bash script a go. Currently my issue is that despite the entries already in my autostart.sh, on some reboots, the touchpad settings are not persistent. If I try launching synclient -l after a non-persistent reboot, I get an error saying "Can't access shared memory area. SHMConfig disabled?" If I restart again, that seems to fix the problem.

There seems to be a lack of consistent persistence even with the autostart.sh entries added as they are above. Do you think a bash file would be more effective? Maybe I need to delay the commands? If I wanted to delay the commands would this work?

#Synaptic Touchpad settings
(sleep 10s && synclient TapButton1=1) &
(sleep 15s && synclient TapButton1=1) &
(sleep 20s && synclient TapButton1=1) &
(sleep 25s && synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=1) &

Last edited by nabilalk (2009-05-20 21:18:15)

iggykoopa · 2009-05-21 05:53:53

The bash script won't neccassarily make it work any better, it's just to keep your autostart.sh from being cluttered (autostart.sh is just a bash script itself) Adding the sleep may help, and your commands are correct, but if it's saying shmconfig is disabled when you run synclient -l there may be something else going on. Give it a try with the sleep though and see if it works.

nabilalk · 2009-05-21 06:11:17

iggykoopa wrote:

The bash script won't neccassarily make it work any better, it's just to keep your autostart.sh from being cluttered (autostart.sh is just a bash script itself) Adding the sleep may help, and your commands are correct, but if it's saying shmconfig is disabled when you run synclient -l there may be something else going on. Give it a try with the sleep though and see if it works.

I will try the sleep commands and post back if that works or doesnt work. You mentioned there might be something else going on. What would cause shmconfig to enable/disable when I haven't changed anything upon reboot? What controls shmconfig settings?

iggykoopa · 2009-05-21 07:57:33

Heres the info on it https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad , go down to the section "enabling shmconfig"

nabilalk · 2009-05-21 13:06:30

iggykoopa wrote:

Heres the info on it https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad , go down to the section "enabling shmconfig"

lol, been down that road many times. Unfortunately, those instructions don't always work. The sleep thing seems to be working thus far. I will keep testing though....

ThreepWood · 2009-07-03 12:14:18

hey,

i want to configure my touchpad the HAL FDI way, did these steps You're talking about, but after boot i have some properties configured the way i want it, other don't seem to be affected!

Reading mans/webs i found out about this HAL device information files here

Device Information files are read from two directories
/usr/share/hal/fdi - for files provided by packages
/etc/hal/fdi - for files provided by the system administrator / user
in exactly that order. This means that the files provided by the system administrator will be processed last such that they can overwrite / change properties caused by the device information files provided by packages.

At some point, duplicating the policy of 11-x11-synaptics.fdi to the /etc/... directory (this acts like OVERRIDING detected properties), gets messed up...

The property i'm trying to fix is 'MaxSpeed', nothing of an 'extended' function of a touchpad...
Until GDM login everything works fine (pointer moves on screen) but after startX it freezes. From terminal i can do synclient MaxSpeed=0.7, but as SHMconfig is ment to be for troubleshooting and not for final configuration, i would like to straighten this out- to finally turn off SHMconfig.

I had it configured in xorg.conf, and then again in FDI, but no matter how hard i try, it gets zeroed out.
Now i'm trying to bypass the HAL autoprobing/detection...(and try to find out if it REALLY gets the values it sets from the device, and not from a 'hidden' configuration i can't find)

I attached some logs in the other thread about this topic.

NWAdawg · 2009-12-19 17:08:56

I followed this howto for my Compaq CQ60, plus I also added
alias touchpad-on='synclient TouchpadOff=0'
alias touchpad-off='synclient TouchpadOff=1'
to my .bashrc
Everything working great.

xander · 2012-05-23 14:47:38

Hi, i followed this guide but i didnt find any record of 'Synaptics' or 'appletouch' or even 'AlpsPS/2 ALPS' and i so i cant continue in guide if i dont know where to write that stuff...

somebody have some hint ? I have Asus K52 notebook ...

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#1 2009-05-20 04:38:28

How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#2 2009-05-20 19:50:52

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#3 2009-05-20 20:11:09

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#4 2009-05-20 20:21:02

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#5 2009-05-20 20:27:51

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#6 2009-05-20 20:39:43

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#7 2009-05-20 20:46:40

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#8 2009-05-20 21:10:56

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#9 2009-05-21 05:53:53

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#10 2009-05-21 06:11:17

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#11 2009-05-21 07:57:33

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#12 2009-05-21 13:06:30

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#13 2009-07-03 12:14:18

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#14 2009-12-19 17:08:56

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

#15 2012-05-23 14:47:38

Re: How to COMPLETELY turn off a touchpad

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