[SOLVED] Disable touchpad when mouse plugged in

[Tom_ZeCat]

I've been busy setting up 22.04 LTS in my old Lenovo Z570. So far, so good, but I can't seem to find a feature that I used in previous versions of Kubuntu. My CherryTree notes say to do this:

System Settings ⇒ Input Devices ⇒ Touchpad

or hit Alt+F2 and type "Touchpad"

Then check "disable when mouse plugged in".

I'm not finding that option anymore. I really prefer that on a laptop because then I don't move the mouse pointer by accidentally hitting the touchpad. I don't need the touchpad when I have a mouse plugged in. It would seem they've taken away one of my favorite settings. Is there some way to still do it?

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Note: I need to edit my sig. I'm on 22.04 LTS now. Trying to find where to edit my sig.

[Snowhog]

Install package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

After install, log out and log in, then go to System Settings > Input Devices > Touchpad > Enable/Disable Touchpad and checkmark the box Disable touchpad when mouse in plugged in

[jlittle]

When I had a laptop for work, the "Disable touchpad when mouse in plugged in" was flaky in that sometimes the touchpad was disabled when there was no mouse plugged in. It's hard to use KDE with no pointing device, though it was a Lenovo with the little stick in the middle of the keyboard; perhaps this was interpreted as a mouse being plugged in.

Anyway, I set a shortcut for "Toggle Touchpad". I'd recommend having this in case.

[kc1di]

What Snowhog said works for me.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Install package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

After install, log out and log in, then go to System Settings > Input Devices > Touchpad > Enable/Disable Touchpad and checkmark the box Disable touchpad when mouse in plugged in

That did the trick! Thank you so much for your help. I've saved this in my CherryTree notes.

[Schwarzer Kater]

I have to add two things:
- Obviously this solution should not work for Wayland.
- AFAIK xserver-xorg-input-synaptics is not actively developed anymore, so this could be the reason why libinput is shipped by default nowadays. Possibly it will not work anymore in a few years (I could be wrong, of course)…

[Tom_ZeCat]

I have to add two things:
- Obviously this solution should not work for Wayland.
- AFAIK xserver-xorg-input-synaptics is not actively developed anymore, so this could be the reason why libinput is shipped by default nowadays. Possibly it will not work anymore in a few years (I could be wrong, of course)…

Thanks for the info. I've kept notes on exactly how I installed it. If it ever gets funky, I can uninstall it and find some other solution.

[kc1di]

synaptics has been depreciated and will not work with Wayland. You have to use X11 for it to work. But right now it still works.
I've also used Touchpad-indicator which sort of works but you have to install it via it's ppa from here

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao

[Tom_ZeCat]

synaptics has been depreciated and will not work with Wayland. You have to use X11 for it to work. But right now it still works.
I've also used Touchpad-indicator which sort of works but you have to install it via it's ppa from here

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao

Okay, I needed to look up Wayland. I didn't know what it is. Its Wiki says it's a Linux communication protocol for displaying stuff on the screen. Is that going to be used after 22.04? I also had to look up X11. So upcoming versions of Kubuntu will use this Wayland and X11, and I therefore will no longer be able to use this xserver-xorg-input-synaptics that I just installed? Do I understand correctly? This laptop is old. I bought it in 2012, but it does still run Jammy okay. I'm going to stick with Jammy as long as possible. If upcoming Kubuntu versions demand too many resources, I might switch this laptop to a lower-resource distro like Lubuntu.

[claydoh]

Is that going to be used after 22.04?

Yes, and no. it is not yet the defualt display thingy for most Plasma setups currently, and an any case one will have the choice to use the old X11 or Wayland at login

I therefore will no longer be able to use this xserver-xorg-input-synaptics that I just installed?

this has nothing to do with wayland v X11, just that the xserver-xorg-input-synaptics driver has long become unsupported/no longer developed by those who do such things. It doesn't seem like it will go away for those that need it, though, for some time.

If upcoming Kubuntu versions demand too many resources, I might switch this laptop to a lower-resource distro like Lubuntu.

You might be surprised at the smaller-than-expected differences between LxQt vs Plasma in terms of resources.


But back to the touchpad, the libinput driver is supposed to have palm rejection and other things built-in to not need a setting to disable it when mousing.

Seems to work well on my 2013 el-cheapo HP laptop, even though it has a click-pad, not an actual touchpad. But 'supposed' and 'actually does' are two different things. I did have issues with one recent model Chromebook converted to Linux, but the synaptic driver didn't change anything , either, even though it did have the setting to disable the touchpad when typing as well as when using a mouse. Ruined an otherwise 100% perfect laptop for me.