Is there freeware to turn OFF the sensitive TOUCHPAD when a USBmouse is connected?

[J.O. Aho]

What I do, on Windows, is move the taskbar to the sides.

This is to protect the vertical (up:down) real estate, which is 50 times
more precious than side-to-side real estate on most HD screens.

On Linux, unfortunately, it can't be done due to Gnome bugs that make
putting the menus on the sides impossible to use once you open 7 or more
windows.

Of course you can do that, I have been able to do it since the mid 90's
with no issues at all, just see to have a window manager or desktop
environment which isn't done by people thinking a document they wrote is
the answer to all desktop issues.

KDE works fine having panels at the sides, if you think it's too heavy
environment, then you can use CTWM which allows you to configure
elements where ever you want them, these two are the extremes.


For the OP, if he would use kcm_touchpad, he could disable the touchpad
quite easily when ever he wants.

 

[Stan Brown]

I went to the Dell support site but their manuals really suck to
describe how to use their product. ...
So it looks like Dell didn't bother providing an easy disable/enable
button for the touchpad. Guess they didn't realize that uses of this
product might want to use external keyboards and mice.

I hear you brother! And if mine is representative, it's not just the
documentation that sucks, but their keyboard design as well.

My current Inspiron laptop (1784, if memory serves) has a key with an
undecipherable icon between F12 and Insert. I discovered by accident
that that turns the touchpad on and off.

There's a battery icon on the F3 key, but I've been unable to
discover what that does -- if it even does anything.

There's no Pause/Break key. (This matters because Windows+Break is
the keyboard shortcut for System properties.)

Home, PgUp, etc aren't shown on the numeric keypad keys, so you just
have to know which is which.

The biggest annoyance: there's no indication at all of whether Caps
Lock and Num Lock are on or off.

I have a nice Logitech illuminated keyboard with none of those
deficiencies, and when I'm at my desk that's what I use.

 

[Art Todesco]

I don't know if that control sequence exists for my Dell XPS M1730
laptop, but, luckily, I don't need the control sequence because it's all
automatic now that I loaded the (supposedly optional) driver for the
touchpad from Dell.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/Product/xps-m1730

IMHO, it's a MANDATORY download, since the keyboard is essentially
useless with the touchpad in the way, moving the cursor all over the
place in the middle of your sentences.

Gee, someone who knows how to type! Yeah, I have the same problem with
my little Dell. When we travel in the motorhome, we take it, but have a
cordless mouse that goes along too, and we disable the touchpad. But,
if I'm using it sans rodentia, and have to type a lot, I will disable
the touchpad. BTW, the control sequence doesn't really involve the
regular cntl key, but a special key labelled Fn that is on both the Dell
and Gateway.

 

[Ken Blake]

I hear you brother! And if mine is representative, it's not just the
documentation that sucks, but their keyboard design as well.

My current Inspiron laptop (1784, if memory serves) has a key with an
undecipherable icon between F12 and Insert. I discovered by accident
that that turns the touchpad on and off.

There's a battery icon on the F3 key, but I've been unable to
discover what that does -- if it even does anything.

There's no Pause/Break key. (This matters because Windows+Break is
the keyboard shortcut for System properties.)

Interestingly, the keyboard on my wife's new Dell *Desktop* doesn't
have a Pause|Break key either. I wonder why they decided to omit it..

Yes, Windows key + that key gets you to System Properties, but as far
as I'm concerned, since there are other ways to get there and most of
us don't need to get there very often, it doesn't matter a whole lot.
If it mattered to my wife (who has probably never touched that key in
the several years she's had her own computer), I could easily replace
that keyboard with any of several others I have here.

 

[Bob I]

Looks like a - with a triangle above it?
Ejects optical drive.

Fn+F3 opens Battery Meter.

 

[Henry]

Art Todesco wrote:




I don't know if that control sequence exists for my Dell XPS M1730
laptop, but, luckily, I don't need the control sequence because it's all
automatic now that I loaded the (supposedly optional) driver for the
touchpad from Dell.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/Product/xps-m1730

IMHO, it's a MANDATORY download, since the keyboard is essentially
useless with the touchpad in the way, moving the cursor all over the
place in the middle of your sentences.

I've looked for a similar driver for a Dell NC-6000 and can't find one. I
would appreciate any help finding it because like the rest of you the
touchpad gets in the way. Right now I have it covered with a piece of
cardboard.

I've looked for a key to press to turn the touchpad on and off and I've
looked under mouse to find a turn off option and I can find neither.

Thanks

 

[Henry]

Mea Culpa. I meant a Compaq NC-6000 laptop. Sorry. I really looked for a
Compaq driver.

 

[VanguardLH]

IMHO, it's a MANDATORY download, since the keyboard is essentially
useless with the touchpad in the way, moving the cursor all over the
place in the middle of your sentences.

Methinks you have sensitivity set way too high so any nearby position of
your palm is detected as a touchpad press. I know lots of laptop users
that can type just fine. I've known some that had sensitivity way too
high so them naturally flexing at the wrist places their palms too close
to the over sensitive touchpad; however, once they properly configure
sensitivity then the problem goes away. If the touchpad is too
sensitive for approximate position by your hands triggering touchpad
events then it's also too sensitive for when you want to use the
touchpad. Reduce sensitivity.

 

[Stan Brown]

Looks like a - with a triangle above it?
No.

Ejects optical drive.

I already told what it does -- you even quoted me.

Fn+F3 opens Battery Meter.

That would be logical, but it doesn't.

 

[Paul]

Mea Culpa. I meant a Compaq NC-6000 laptop. Sorry. I really looked
for a Compaq driver.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...esId=367367&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1093

This driver is for WinXP.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ob-29679-1

"- Fixes issue that occurred when using an
external PS/2 mouse and selecting an
action with mouse button 2 (MB2)."

No mention of USB there.

In the SynHid.inf file...

[SynMfg]
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0002
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0003
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0006
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0007
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0008
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0002.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0009&MI_00
%USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0002.DeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0009&MI_01

Then, looking that up here, the description looks rather generic.
Like, a lot of devices map to the same entries. And this isn't
a surprise, because the thing primarily starts life as a mouse
emulation, and when this filter driver is installed, it examines
the stream of coordinates and adds extra (virtual) features.
And since this is a USB connected device, you would think
adding the "USB disable" feature when a USB mouse was present,
would make sense. Trouble is, that update is from 2005.

http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

06cb Synaptics, Inc.
0001 TouchPad
0002 Integrated TouchPad

I look at the old driver, to get some idea of the hardware identity.
Your Touchpad is either 0001 or 0002.

*******

So if I randomly select the next Touchpad driver I can find...

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&softwareitem=ob-48345-1

The synhid.inf in there covers more devices, including 0001 and 0002.
This is in the WinNT5 folder (there is also a WinWDF folder for Vista).
The driver download size is roughly 3x the previous one.

DriverVer=01/12/2007, 9.1.11.0
%USB.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0001
%USB.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0002
%USB.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_cPad_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0003
%USB.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0006
%USB.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0007
%USB.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0008
%USB_Comp.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0009&MI_00
%USB_Comp.SynDeviceDesc%=USB_Inst, USB\Vid_06CB&Pid_0009&MI_01

I "look through" a driver file, using 7ZIP. It can open
archive files, using the right-click menu in the file explorer
in Windows. What it can't do, is look in the .cab files
of an InstallShield, but in the case of some of the HP
drivers, things like the .INF files are out in the open.

http://www.7-zip.org/

There's no way of knowing whether the "USB disconnect" feature is in
there or not.

The HP site offers this generic advice, and it looks like the
mouse control panel is augmented by the Synaptics driver. There
is a disable option in the control panel (a manual feature).
No mention of automatic USB disable when a mouse is plugged in.
My Acer tablet doesn't do that (touchpad still runs, when my
USB mouse is present).

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...cc=ad&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_r1002_usen#N903

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf-JAVA/Doc/images/444/c03523757.jpg

*******

So how do you play with those safely ?

1) You could back up all of C: and fool around safely.
2) You could set a "Restore Point" using System Restore.
Which for ordinary drivers, might be sufficient to remove
the driver if something bad happens. System Restore doesn't
handle all file types well, which is why I don't trust it
as much as (1) as a remedy for bad drivers.
3) Device Manager has a "roll back driver" option, which works
to a depth of one. If a new driver turns out to be a disaster,
that option is available to you. That option might be suitable
for things like Promise "installer-less, INF based" driver updates.

Option 1 is more work, but in a "take no prisoners" software
situation, it's an option I rely on quite often. It's why
my C: partition has been trimmed down, and the cruft put
elsewhere. Making the time to backup C:, less than ten minutes.

Have fun,
Paul

 

[Bob I]

I already told what it does -- you even quoted me.

Found an image for a 1764 keyboard, (1784 doesn't appear to be a valid
model for a dell) and it would appear that the indecipherable icon
replicates the appearance of a touch pad and mouse buttons with an "X"
in the touch pad area. So that seems logical, and is working as designed.

That would be logical, but it doesn't.

Perhaps the Quickset drivers need updating?

ftp://ftp.dell.com/browse_for_drivers/Laptops/Inspiron/Inspiron%201764/index.html#Application

 

[Mina]

KDE works fine having panels at the sides,

Gnome does not.

In fact, if you google for the longest known unfixed Gnome bug, you're
likely to find the bug report for the fact that you just can't put menus
on the sides due to the fact that the resize algorithm starts going
haywire when you have a handful of windows (the actual number of windows
where it goes haywire depends on the width setting of your panel).

Basically, with Gnome, it's impossible to put the menus on the side from
any practical perspective (it works if you never use the panel but not if
you use it).

 

[Danny D.]

So it looks like Dell didn't bother providing an easy disable/enable
button for the touchpad.

Thanks for looking. I agree with your assessment.

 

[Danny D.]

Gee, someone who knows how to type!

I took typing in high school way back when (big green heavy IBM
Selectrics, IIRC). With the ball that bounced around. We weren't allowed
to use the erase tape!

So, yeah. I know where to put my fingers (many people have apparently
never even noticed that the F and J keys have 'locator' knobs).

 

[Danny D.]

I know lots of laptop users that can type just fine.

Hmmm... I took typing and I type at something like 80 words per minute,
so, I'm positive that I know *where* my hands go.

Specifically, the palms are straight back, touching the front of the
keyboard. And, guess what is exactly where the palms go? Yup. The
touchpad.

It's basically impossible *not* to physically touch the touchpad with
your palms if you type properly. Proximity has nothing to do with it.

 

[Ken Blake]

I took typing in high school way back when (big green heavy IBM
Selectrics, IIRC). With the ball that bounced around. We weren't allowed
to use the erase tape!

When I went to high school (I graduated in 1955) girls took typing and
boys didn't. It was way before the Selectric became available.

So, yeah. I know where to put my fingers (many people have apparently
never even noticed that the F and J keys have 'locator' knobs).

I've noticed, but it's meaningless to me, Since I don't type
correctly, there's no right place for my fingers.

A number of years ago, I started taking PC-based typing
self-instruction. I did OK for a while, then decided to give it up. If
you type correctly, you can look at the page you are typing from,
rather than at the keyboard. Since I'm not a secretary, there's no
page I'm typing from, and looking at the keyboard isn't a problem for
me.

So I use all the wrong fingers, and look at the wrong place, but
nevertheless I can type pretty fast. That's why I gave up trying to
learn to type correctly. Correctly has no real value for me.

 

[Pamela Rease]

Thanks for looking. I agree with your assessment.

Power down the machine > remove the keyboard > detach the lead wires for
the touchpad from the motherboard and then reboot.

 

[VanguardLH]

Hmmm... I took typing and I type at something like 80 words per minute,
so, I'm positive that I know *where* my hands go.

Specifically, the palms are straight back, touching the front of the
keyboard. And, guess what is exactly where the palms go? Yup. The
touchpad.

It's basically impossible *not* to physically touch the touchpad with
your palms if you type properly. Proximity has nothing to do with it.

Speed of typing has nothing to do with sensitivity of device. That's
like saying your typing speed would change depending on whether the
keycaps were black, white, grey, or some other color. Sensititivity of
a pointing device is irrelevant of your typing speed.

Laptop keyboards are NOT designed for fast typists, lazy typists, or
slow typists. They are designed for hunt-and-peck typists. Considering
the low-profile of the keys, undersizing of the keycaps, and poor
feedback (tactile feel), they are hardly anything any world speed typist
would consider viable for rapid typing. However, the quality of the
keycaps isn't the issue.

The issue is where the touchpad is placed along with the proximity of
your palms while you type. They expect you to have the laptop's
keyboard at the wrong height (too low -- like on your, um, lap) which
results in a sharp angle of your wrist which would tend to raise your
palms as you strive to reduce strain on your wrists. Laptop keyboards
are designed for punching the keys versus tapping them.

So you can keep sensitivty high on the touchpad and suffer errant mouse
events from the touchpad or you can decrease sensitivty to reduce those
proximity errors. Have you tried reducing sensitivity of the touchpad
to see if the errors diminish or disappear? Do you really notice use of
the touchpad is significantly altered when you reduce its sensitivity?

 

[Tommy]

On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 00:04:38 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D."

A number of years ago, I started taking PC-based typing
self-instruction. I did OK for a while, then decided to give it up. If
you type correctly, you can look at the page you are typing from,
rather than at the keyboard. Since I'm not a secretary, there's no
page I'm typing from, and looking at the keyboard isn't a problem for
me.

So I use all the wrong fingers, and look at the wrong place, but
nevertheless I can type pretty fast. That's why I gave up trying to
learn to type correctly. Correctly has no real value for me.

Whether you look at the keys, or not (I do occasionally after moving from
the home keys), two exercises to help speed and accuracy ----- >

The quick brown foxes jumped over the lazy dogs....

and

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party is/are the
most commonly used keys.

I had a spare session one half-day per week in Com-college and took
business - one of the modules was typing (hint, this was where the girls
were). We did bookkeeping too. Ahh the joys of it
Underwood - Royal - Remington,,, IBM came up with the first (for me)
electric ... clickketty clack all day long..

Cheers
Tommy

 

[Ken Blake]

Whether you look at the keys, or not (I do occasionally after moving from
the home keys), two exercises to help speed and accuracy ----- >

Undoubtedly, I could study and practice and improve my speed and
accuracy. But at this point in my life, I have no desire to do that.
I'll remain a two-finger typist.