On Sun, 27 Dec 2020 10:20:04 -0500 Hendrik Boom <hend...@topoi.pooq.com> wrote:
> My touchpad is absurdly sensitive, and I keep brushing against it by > accident. I don't feel the touch at all, but the computer sure does. > It can hapen while I'm typing and suddenly my text edit turns into a > shell command in a newsly chosen window. > I suspect even a few beard hairs can activate it. > > Now I usually use a wireless mouse on this computer though > occasionally the mouse fails (usually low battery) an then I do want > the touchpad. > > Is there any way to disable the touchpad normally, but to reactivate > it easily when the mouse fails? Yes! The attached touchtoggle.sh should fulfill your exact needs. Just associate it with a convenient hotkey. For convenience I'm also putting it in the body, but use it from the attachment: I have no idea what email clients do to the characters in the file: ====================================================== #!/bin/sh # touchtoggle.sh Copyright (C) 2019 by Steve Litt # All rights reserved. # Licensed via the # Expat license: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/License:Expat # FIRST GET DEVICE'S DEVICE ID CONTAINING CASE INSENSITIVE "TOUCHPAD" devid=`xinput | grep -i touchpad | \ sed -e"s/.*id=//" | sed -e"s/\s.*//"` # WITH THAT DEVICE ID, FIND EVERYTING ABOUT PROPERTY # CONTAINING CASE INSENSITIVE "DEVICE ENABLED" scratchline=`xinput --list-props 11 | \ grep -i "device enabled" | \ sed -e"s/^\s*//" | sed -e"s/\s*$//"` proptext=`echo $scratchline | sed -e"s/\s*(.*//"` propid=`echo $scratchline | sed -e"s/.*(//" | sed -e"s/).*//"` currstate=`echo $scratchline | sed -e"s/.*):\s*//"` # DIAGNOSTICS, COMMENT OUT WHEN FULLY FUNCTIONAL echo diagnostic devid =$devid echo diagnostic scratchline=$scratchline echo diagnostic proptext =$proptext# echo diagnostic propid =$propid # TOGGLE CURRSTATE VARIABLE echo -n "Current state of $currstate " if test "$currstate" = "1"; then currstate=0 else currstate=1 fi echo has been changed to $currstate. # IMPLEMENT THE PROPERTY VALUE CHANGE xinput set-prop $devid $propid $currstate # UNCOMMENT FOLLOWING LINE IF PROPERTY ID STOPS WORKING #xinput set-prop $devid "$proptext" $currstate ====================================================== I've had several versions of this shellscript, so please let me know whether it works for you. SteveT Steve Litt Autumn 2020 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times http://www.troubleshooters.com/thrive
touchtoggle.sh
Description: application/shellscript
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