No option to disable touchpad while typing?

[x-shaney-x]

With KDE's reputation for configuring pretty much everything, I find it odd there is no option in the touchpad settings to disable taps while typing.

I have only recently started using my touchpad, previously having a wireless mouse connected, and I have to say it is one of the most infuriating things ever to be typing something and look up to find I am typing back up near the start of a document and have to try to figure it all out.

Why does KDE not have this option or if it does, where is it?
The option is there on my oneiric unity install and works well enough.
I know there are other ways of doing it but I feel such an option should be pretty standard.

In any case, I have put the following command in my startup - "/usr/bin/syndaemon -i 2 -d"
But for some reason, KDE crashes while logging in when it is enabled but logs in fine when I disable it again.
Though it does work fine in my kubuntu Natty installation.

[claydoh]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

a tray widget used to be available (called synaptiks, now kde-config-touchpad) but for some reason it is missing. I think it maybe the version of the (independently developed) configuration module, but looking at the versions in both natty and oneiric the files for the widget are not there.

Dunno why, perhaps it is broken, and does not work , or it is a bug. Am looking for why.

[SteveRiley]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

a tray widget used to be available (called synaptiks, now kde-config-touchpad) but for some reason it is missing. I think it maybe the version of the (independently developed) configuration module, but looking at the versions in both natty and oneiric the files for the widget are not there.

That's curious... my Natty has a kde-config-touchpad, and it also shows up in a search on packages.ubuntu.com for both Natty and Oneiric.

The version in the Natty repository is old. I'm running the latest from KDE-Apps.org. You have to build it yourself, because only the source code is available for download. And in the comments section there, you can see where I ran into an issue while trying to build: I was missing a file that BleachBit had deleted.

It looks like Oneiric already includes the newer version, at least according to the package search.

[claydoh]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

but Onieric also does not have the widget, where the option to disable is managed from. Could be a packaging bug, unless for some reason it was left out on purpose. I am asking around on it. None of the changelogs mention its removal. The actual widget itself not present in the package for natty or oneiric, but is in maverick (there in 10.10, it was not part of the default install in Kubuntu, and was an unsupported Universe package)

synaptiks, which is what debian/ubuntu now call kde-config-touchpad when they package it, has had a tray icon since at least version 0.5, iirc, which is leading me to believe a packaging bug unless it was left out purposely to prevent some other problem

[x-shaney-x]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

If I remember correctly, the tray icon allowed users to disable or enable the touchpad (or I might be thinking of a gnome one).

That wouldn't be suitable anyway since I want to use the touchpad so I don't have the inconvenience of carrying a mouse everywhere I go.

I have read countless complaints around the net of this typing problem and like I said, I just cannot understand KDE not having an option for this by default.

[claydoh]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

because it is hardware related, and i bet the ubuntu applet is ubuntu-created?

Anyway, I have used it - the the tray applet itself has a config section that allows for disabling the pad while typing

the real solution is for the Synaptiks developer to put the config for this in the system settings module as well

[SteveRiley]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

but Onieric also does not have the widget, where the option to disable is managed from. Could be a packaging bug, unless for some reason it was left out on purpose. I am asking around on it. None of the changelogs mention its removal. The actual widget itself not present in the package for natty or oneiric, but is in maverick (there in 10.10, it was not part of the default install in Kubuntu, and was an unsupported Universe package)

synaptiks, which is what debian/ubuntu now call kde-config-touchpad when they package it, has had a tray icon since at least version 0.5, iirc, which is leading me to believe a packaging bug unless it was left out purposely to prevent some other problem

This is confusing. On my Natty laptop, I have the widget: it appeared when I installed kde-config-touchpad. And it worked fine, appeared in my system tray, stayed there, and functioned properly. I built and and installed the updated version from KDE-Apps.org simply because I wanted to see what the differences were (not much).

[claydoh]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

well i was looking for a plasma widget, and found it isn't though there is a tray icon available - just not enabled by default. It shows when you search for 'synaptiks' in the kmenu, and select 'touchpad management' to run the tray icon, and from there you can configure it to run at startup, configure when to disable the touchpad, etc.

sorry for that, I dunno why you have it on by default, but on my 2 laptops, it is not, and is not for x-shaney-x. either.

[buzzmandt]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

typed synaptiks in the kmenu, and got the touchpad management. it's there by default as of daily build 08-19-11 and fully updated since.

it's the same touchpad control as i have from system settings>input devices>touchpad

there is NO option for disabling the touchpad while typing. and this SO needs to be added to kde/kubuntu.

Do we have a bug out on this one yet?

[claydoh]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

yes there is, Touchpad Management runs the tray icon, you click on that to bring up the options for disabling the touchpad when typing or when a mouse is plugged in.

Really, that config should be in System Settings, but i am guessing it isn't because it has to run as a service that runs at login

But there is a menu entry to run the tray icon, I somehow missed it altogether.

[buzzmandt]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

OMG!! it's there, how'd that happen? it wasn't there before.....AWESOME!!

thanks for this one guys, been waiting a long time for this to come back, and i guess it's been there all along :P lol

[claydoh]

Re: No option to disable touchpad while typing?

i know, I even filed a bug report on it before I found it lol!