[solved] How can I disable the laptop touchpad & its mouse buttons?

[Member ModdIt]

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RELATED:
Not all dell devices BIOS can be unlocked by easy methods, from an older support post by dell.
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/712748-bios-hard-drive-password-requests-please-read

Presumably the procedure still applies. Dell quoted unlock code misuse and procedure streamlining
as change reason.

Should you require a BIOS or hard drive password unlock code,
please contact Dell Technical Support for your country.
Telephone numbers for Technical Support are available at http://www.dell.com/support
(click on the Contact Us link at the side of the page and select ”Get technical support”)

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by ModdIt.

[Member sybok]

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Hi again.

A) Hack:
You could try the ‘syndaemon’ approach with maximal allowed idle time and forget about the ‘-t’ switch included in previous tips.
syndaemon -i <largest value possible to input and be accepted> -d
I expect int8 = 255 (4 minutes) or uint8, int16 = 65535 (18 hours) or uint16 etc to be reasonable starting values for your tests.

B) See the answers at https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/388963/how-can-i-enable-disable-the-synaptics-touchpad-in-debian-9-with-libinput
Quite similar to what @rayluo already posted.

C) Method 2) at https://vitux.com/disable-touchpad-when-mouse-is-connected-to-your-debian-10-system/ could work.
The package ‘dconf-editor’ is present in the repositories (antiX 21, testing).

[Moderator caprea]

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You can try to disable the touchpad while typing. Open terminal and type
syndaemon -i 2 -d
The number stands for the delay time in seconds,until the touchpad works again.

If this works for you you can make it permanent.Go to
control-centre > session > User Desktop-Session

There make one line in the startup file with the above command, close and save.

[Member sybok]

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@caprea: It seems that @scruffyeagle does not find a temporary disabling while typing sufficient.
Or may be, he/she/they got misguided it not to function (as desired) due to the ‘-t’ switch that was present in some of the links posted (quite) some time ago.

[Moderator caprea]

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Sorry sybok, I have not read through the whole thread so very carefully.Also saw that the solution was close to yours but just for completeness and larger choice I wanted to add this.

[Member scruffyeagle]

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How can I disable the laptop touchpad & its mouse buttons? After MUCH screwing around with various methods, I finally achieved

SUCCESS!

Here’s what I did:

1) I installed “xinput” from the repo, using Synaptic Package Manager.

2) Typing “xinput” as a command in the terminal returned:

⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech USB-PS/2 Trackball id=9 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint Stick id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Dell WMI hotkeys id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]

From this output, I was able to deduce that the current name of the touchpad within my Latitude computer is ” AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad”.

3) Using the following command in the terminal disabled the touchpad(!):

xinput set-prop “AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad” “Device Enabled” 0

——————–

The preceding achieved a 90% success, via disabling the cursor functions of the touchpad. But, this touchpad had 5 buttons to serve as mouse keys. There are 3 across the top edge, and 2 across the bottom edge. The bottom keys were disabled – but pressing either of the 2 side keys (3 in a row) still triggered (toggled) a window menu. I had no idea what “Stick” was referring to, but its ID number was immediately after “Touchpad” in the list – so, I experimented.
——————–

4) I entered into the terminal, the command:

xinput set-prop “AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint Stick” “Device Enabled” 0

And, the buttons went dead!
SUCCESS!

——————–

For those newbies who might not understand this, here’s how that first command breaks down:

* xinput is the name of the program.
* set-prop is what you want the program to do (setting a property).
* “AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad” is the name of the touchpad device within the operating system’s list of devices for obtaining input from.
(“Stick” is the name for the top keys, on my touchpad, which explains the 2nd command being both different & necessary.)
* “Device enabled” is a property flag as a named variable, which can be either set or unset.
* The last character is the value being assigned to the variable. It can be either a “0” or a “1”; off or on.
In this case, its assigned value has been set to “0”, which means off; i.e., indicating it’s not true that the device is enabled. Setting it to a “1” would indicate on, meaning that it’s true the device is enabled.

Therefore, to re-enable the “Touchpad” device, just replace the ending zero with a one. The same applies to the “Stick” device.

—————

I rebooted to test, and found that the solution of entering

xinput set-prop “AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad” “Device Enabled” 0
xinput set-prop “AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint Stick” “Device Enabled” 0

into a terminal didn’t survive the reboot. This tells me that the commands only function as a software over-ride, not actually changing the values in the BIOS.

———————-

5) I edited the .desktop-session/startup file, to insert those 2 commands immediately after the command which enables the mouse configuration at startup. This placement follows what I was taught in school 40 years ago, “Keep logically related data together.” I inserted an appropriate comment before the 2 new commands. Here’s what I added:

————-

# After dl’g xinit from the repo, the following 2 commands
# should disable the touchpad:
xinput set-prop “AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad” “Device Enabled” 0
xinput set-prop “AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint Stick” “Device Enabled” 0
# Note: In a terminal, you can enter these commands with zeros
# changed to ones, to re-enable the touchpad.

———————

I rebooted again, and found that this worked perfectly (as far as I could tell). The touchpad and its buttons are all disabled, without the need for manually entering those 2 commands into a terminal.

—————————–

This is a huge step toward fixing this machine’s BIOS-caused shortcomings. But, it’s not 100%, because I’m running a dual-boot system on the Latitude, with both Antix v19.4 & Windows 10 Professional. This fixes the touchpad during use of AntiX, but it doesn’t help Windows. I’ll need to seek a similar solution for use there… OR, if that proves impossible, fall back to my more extreme option, of surgery to physically disconnect the touchpad cable inside the computer. If it comes down to that, I won’t consider this wasted time. Instead, everything which I’ve done in AntiX for solving the touchpad problem will get filed as an educational exercise, successfully completed.

It’s been exactly 3 months since I started this endeavor (January 10th -> April 10th). I’d like to express my deepest thanks to all of those who helped me, and especially to the Linux guru, “sybok”, whose link pointed me toward the xinput touchpad solution for the AntiX OS.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by scruffyeagle. Reason: improving content

[Member scruffyeagle]

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NOTE: I tried to use “Edit Topic” to add the word “Solved” to the title of this thread, but the script wouldn’t let me do that. I would appreciate it, if some admin would take care of this. Thank in advance.

[Moderator christophe]

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Marked solved.

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member scruffyeagle]

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I had this thread marked “solved”, but there was still an unresolved issue involving touchpads. You see, I’ve got 2 machines; each, with double-booting between Antix & Win 10 Pro. The software solution fixed the touchpad on both machines – but, only in the Antix OS’s. In the Precision machine, I was able to wipe the BIOS password, and disable the touchpad from there. So, that W10p OS is okay; problem solved. But, in the Latitude machine, the BIOS is locked with a password.

I’ve been researching disabling the touchpad in W10p. I found several methods, but none of them worked. Most frustrating, W10p lacks any controls for disabling the touchpad. Various articles mention the control (a simple on/off slider) – but, it’s not in either copy of W10p on my machines. It’s simply not there.
—————–

I found a Registry hack, which was supposed to disable the touchpad:
* Backup registry as precaution, then find
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PrecisionTouchPad\Status
* Set Status/Enabled = 0.

The registry hack flopped – no change. Even deleting the key from the registry entirely still didn’t disable the touchpad in the Latitude. I tried to uninstall the driver for the “P/S2 mouse” (which this OS names the touchpad) – and it wouldn’t uninstall. Rebooted 2x, no joy.

After screwing around with this for 3 hours, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way to disable the Latitude’s touchpad under Windows, is to unplug the cable inside the machine. I was hoping to avoid that, disabling in a less permanent & less awkward fashion – but, I’ve come to realize there’s no other option. Unless I can somehow unlock the BIOS… Update: I discovered that I was right, that the Dell E6400 Latitude laptop’s BIOS password is being stored on an EEPROM. That’s why unplugging the coin battery won’t fix this. Dell can issue a password, if given the Service Tag # and payment of a $60 fee. They call this setup an “anti-theft” method, but really it’s an extortion scheme, to extort money from 2nd-hand (3rd, etc.) owners – and I refuse to cooperate. So, my only option remaining is to unplug the touchpad from the system board.

I studied the Latitude’s service manual again, before digging into it.

4:28pm -> 6:28pm = 120m: Working on disconnecting the Latitude’s touchpad, testing, etc.

The cable end was extremely difficult to disconnect from the socket, as if it had been glued into place. (It looked like there was traces of glue, on the cable end.) This led to really chewing up the plastic of the connectors. But, I finally got it separated – and that was IT, with a capital IT. The keyboard was a little difficult to get out, and difficult to reinstall this time, but the trick was to use the tip of a dart to press on the metal tabs one at a time to flex the keyboard slightly, to get the tabs to go into the slots. Now, for testing,… If the d*mned touchpad still functions, then the manual misled me, and I disconnected the wrong cable.

I disconnected the correct cable, but it also disabled the keyboard – which, it shouldn’t have done. (The keyboard is a thin, flat unit with a connector which plugs into the computer like a card into a slot.) I took the keyboard out, and reinstalled it – still, no joy. No keyboard functions at all.

I removed the keyboard, and plugged the touchpad back in; reinstalled the keyboard again. Testing, I found the keyboard working – except for the up arrow key. Messing around, rebooting, using LibreOffice in Antix v19.4, I found the up arrow key was now working. Rebooting, the up arrow key continued working into GRUB.

This was a HUGE relief. I’d been worried that I’d physically damaged the keyboard or its card connector, during the screwing around with it… Now that it’s working again, I’m going to chalk up disabling the touchpad as a lost cause and leave it alone. I’ve got the software method for disabling the touchpad in AntiX, which takes care of one OS. For Windows in the Latitude, I’ve taped a piece of thin cardboard over the touchpad. It’s not 100% effective, but it does minimize the pointer being thrown around from accidental touches of the pads of my thumbs.

6:28pm – diary update, finished. I spent most of my day on this touchpad problem, and only achieved failure. I’ll never purchase another Dell Latitude E6400.

After all this, I can’t help wondering WHY Dell was so deeply determined to keep the touchpad functional. I suspect it’s more than the $60 they can extort from users of the machines, for the master password (unique for each machine) to unlock the BIOS… What other function(s) is that touchpad performing? Surveillance?

* The software control in BIOS gets disabled, once the password is set.
* They spent the necessary money to design & install an EEPROM chip, to prevent the password being wiped by normal methods. (Unless the user pays $60 for a unique master password.)
* They used a cable end which has no notches or protuberances necessary for removing the cable end from the socket – entirely flat & smooth.
* They glued the cable end into place.
* They set it up so unplugging the touchpad also disabled the keyboard.

What was Dell Corporation up to? Obviously, Microsoft is complicit, entirely removing the control for disabling the touchpad. What might be hidden in this computer, also tied into the touchpad? There’s enough evidence, to make this a reasonable question.

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