On 02/24/2011 12:07 AM, Duncan wrote: > Mark Knecht posted on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:18:07 -0800 as excerpted: > >> Is there a way in KDE to disable the trackpad in an Asus laptop for a >> single user? She's having trouble typing without making mistakes and >> prefers to use an external mouse as a pointing device. > I don't believe there's a kde method, no, but there are certainly > methods... Of course, the (AFAIK hardware/BIOS) touch-pad disable hotkey > on my Acer Aspire One netbook is a nice feature. > > But what really made a difference for me was switching to the synaptics > driver (xf86-input-synaptics on Gentoo, which both you and I use). While > there's all sorts of fancy touchpad config options for it and I use some > of them, simply switching to that driver cured the hypersensitivity issue > that had me accidentally activating the mouse at unwanted times, without > any of the fancy config options at all. The evdev and mouse drivers > provide enough functionality to get by, but that's about it, so I > DEFINITELY recommend switching to the syntouch driver. /snip > There's also the syndaemon program, part of the above xf86-input-synaptics > package, which "monitors keyboard activity and disables the touchpad when > the keyboard is being used." Before I switched to the synaptics driver, I > thought sure I'd need it as the sensitivity was just ridiculous, but after > trying the synaptics driver I realized I no longer needed the daemon, as > things "just worked" as I expected. However should you decide you need it > anyway, despite its name, syndaemon is a user runnable program that could > be setup to start with the kde user session or possibly even with a CLI > session (I'm not sure on the last); it need not be configured as a system > daemon and indeed, the package comes with no /etc/init.d/syndaemon file > that would be used to start it as a system level service, so running it as > an individual user seems to be the intent, at least as it's shipped by > Gentoo. > There is a program called synaptiks (note the spelling) that seems to be only available via kde, which will disable the touchpad only when there is a mouse or trackball plugged in. So if your one user likes to use a mouse, let that user plug in the mouse when working, and unplug it when finished, and everyone should be happy. I am using this program on my PCLOS laptop.
(I am not familiar with the synaptics driver you mentioned; I wonder if it's compatible with synaptiks. That might make my laptop friendlier when I don't have my trackball available. I really don't like the trackpad, and I _detest_ it when typing! So far, the programs--I think from synaptic-- that "disable the touchpad while typing" don't have anywhere near enough hysteresis for me.) --doug Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A. M. Greeley ___________________________________________________ This message is from the kde-linux mailing list. Account management: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-linux. Archives: http://lists.kde.org/. More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.
