Ubuntu on Laptop: Auto Toggle On/Off Touchpad When Typing
Update : This feature is available by default in Ubuntu Karmic (9.10 release). Touchpad disables temporarily as you type.
Don’t let that sensitive touchpad come in your way when you are typing on your laptop geared with Ubuntu.
In Windows, press the button above the touchpad, and it is disabled. In Ubuntu, that button seems dead. Doesn’t work.
The solution I am mentioning is for Ubuntu Jaunty and above (hopefully).
The command to use is syndaemon.
syndaemon -i 1 -t -d
-i helps you mention how long the touchpad should be disabled. The number that follows mentions the time in seconds. (Here it is one second).
-t means that only tapping and scrolling is disabled. You can move the cursor around.
-d run the entire setup in the background as a daemon.
Yes, it works. The touchpad will now never trouble you when you are typing out that important report for work or testing your typing speed with typespeed.
And yes, to have this started when you boot into your desktop, add the command to System > Preferences > Sessions. If you are using Linux Mint 7, then click on the Start Menu, and search for “Sessions” or “Startup”, to bring the Startup Programs Dialog.
Hope that helped!
