Find the xinput ID for the touchpad

Question

1

Ubuntu 22.04 not disabling trackpad

rated 0 times [ 1] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 483 / 2 Years ago, tue, april 19, 2022, 4:03:42

I disabled the touchpad on my Dell XPS 13 to work around a bug (the mouse cursor jumps around randomly as I type, selects text, etc.), possibly in 22.04, but the OS ignores it and the touchpad remains active.

Why, you may ask, do I think disabling the touchpad would help? Because I noticed that as long as my hands are far enough away from the touchpad, the problem doesn't occur. So before I open up the laptop and pull the plug on the touchpad, I thought I'd check in here. Has anyone else experienced this in 22.04?

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answered 2 Years ago restlerfin · Accepted Answer

Find the xinput ID for the touchpad

open a terminal and use the command:

xinput list

This will output something like this:

Virtual core pointer                        id=2    [master pointer  (3)]

⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]

⎜   ↳ SYNA30D2:00 06CB:CE08                     id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]

⎜   ↳ SYNA30D2:00 06CB:CE08                     id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]

⎜   ↳ SYNA30D2:00 06CB:CE08                     id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]

⎣ Virtual core keyboard                     id=3    [master keyboard (2)]

For the next part, try all the ID numbers for the slave pointer to find out which is your touchpad. Mine works with id=12.

Test

Enter the command:

xinput set-prop N 'Device Enabled' 0    # Disable touchpad

Replace N with the number in id=. before entering the above command and then try the touchpad to see if it is disabled. If it does not work, use the command:

xinput set-prop N 'Device Enabled' 1    # Enable touchpad

This command will enable the device disabled by the previous command. Note which N disables the touchpad.

Script

Save the script below as /home/$USER/bin/touchtoggle.

#!/bin/bash

# Purpose: Toggles the touchpad on and off with keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z

# set via System settings > Keyboard > keyboard Shortcuts > Custom



# Change the ID below to your touchpad ID



ID=12



TOGGLE=$HOME/.touchpadtoggle



if [ ! -e $TOGGLE ]; then

    touch $TOGGLE

    xinput set-prop $ID 'Device Enabled' 0    # Disable touchpad

else

    rm $TOGGLE

    xinput set-prop $ID 'Device Enabled' 1    # Enable touchpad

fi

exit 0

Use your file manager to set the script executable, or use the terminal and enter:

chmod +x /home/$USER/bin/touchtoggle

Check if the script works as expected by running it from the terminal by typing:

touchtoggle

Shortcut

If it works assign a keyboard shortcut like Ctrl+Z, or something similar in System settings > Keyboard > keyboard Shortcuts: View and Customize Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts. Enter the following:

Name: Toggle touchpad on and off

Command: /home/$USER/bin/touchtoggle

Shotcut: Press the shortcut you want

Change $USER to your username.

Hope this helps