[SOLVED] Text Jumping to cursor mid-sentence while typing
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Thought you guys at LQ might now how to fix this annoying trait
Tried moving cursor off the visible page yet text insertion will still jump mid word so I have to do a couple of Ctrl+z undoes.
It also happens in other scenarios whilst typing
You do not say whether your system is a laptop or not, but I experienced this on a newer laptop with large sensitive touchpad, this fixed it very well (on Slackware64-15.0).
I use this script from my KDE session via terminal command line;
Code:
./touchpad.sh
Code:
~$ cat touchpad.sh
#!/bin/bash
# touchpad.sh Written by Atanas S / Siteground Support Team
# First we need to get the device ID from the xinput
# if it does not work for you, you may need to set the cut -f option to another number
# I would suggest that you test the command in your terminal first to see the result
# It should output an integer usually between 8-15, at least on my lap top :D
getdev=`xinput list |grep pointer |grep PS |cut -f 2`
devid=${getdev/id=/}
#Second we need to get the device status, if it is enabled or not
# if it does not work for you, you may need to set the cut -f option to another number
# I would suggest that you test the command in your terminal first to see the result
# It should output 0 or 1
getstatus=`xinput list-props $devid |grep 'Device Enabled' |cut -f 3`
#once we get the device status depending on the status we set it the other way arround
if [ "$getstatus" == "1" ]; then
newstatus="0"
else
newstatus="1"
fi
`xinput set-prop $devid "Device Enabled" $newstatus`
My big hands and fingers would always cause unwanted actions on my laptop when the touch pad is enabled.
Hope this helps!
Last edited by onebuck; 03-27-2023 at 01:07 PM.
Reason: typo
Hey, thanks guys - I suppose with LXDE Openbox; settings could be different or do not exist. Mouse and keyboard settings but no touchpad settings.
I desperation I removed the entire LibreOffice suite and installed Abiword to no avail.
I have just reduced mouse sensitivity towards low from high but that has not helped much - or has it...? Will reboot to confirm either way.....
LXDE Openbox has a mouse settings GUI with slider bars for Acceleration and Sensitivity.
Think it has helped so have reduced the sensitivity further.
Leaving mouse cursor buried in nearby text I cannot provoke errand behaviour - fingers crossed
Will leave this setting as is and report back soon.
If I am honest I am not sure what mouse sensitivity is, in any context...
I managed to extract this information but doubt if of any use...?
With respect to all who have replied, at the risk of repeating myself and acknowledging that my own experience is limited to Slackware so your mileage may vary, I will ask again whether you have tried to configure libinput?
The problem I experienced was so annoying, and the fix so simple and perfect, at least in my own case, I would look no further until I gave it a try!
From the page linked above:
Quote:
From the libinput wiki page:
libinput is a library to handle input devices in Wayland compositors and to provide a generic X.Org input driver. It provides device detection, device handling, input device event processing and abstraction to minimize the amount of custom input code compositors need to provide the common set of functionality that users expect.
The X.Org input driver supports most regular input devices. Particularly notable is the project's goal to provide advanced support for touch (multitouch and gesture) features of touchpads and touchscreens. See the libinput documentation for more information.
...
Configuration
... For Xorg, a default configuration file for the wrapper is installed to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf. No extra configuration is necessary for it to autodetect keyboards, touchpads, trackpointers and supported touchscreens.
The italicized part was my experience exactly.
And from man 4 libinput:
Code:
Option "DisableWhileTyping" "bool"
Indicates if the touchpad should be disabled while typing on the
keyboard (this does not apply to modifier keys such as Ctrl or Alt).
I am not sure whether/how it is available for non-Slackware distros, but I am sure it should be similar and simple, for Xorg and Wayland.
Thanks RClark, I have now installed xinput....
Presume xinput disable <device id> can be enabled later as my wife uses the touchpad..? Do I enter text string or just id=14.. for device id..?
# Match on all types of devices but joysticks
#
# If you want to configure your devices, do not copy this file.
# Instead, use a config snippet that contains something like this:
#
# Section "InputClass"
# Identifier "something or other"
# MatchDriver "libinput"
#
# MatchIsTouchpad "on"
# ... other Match directives ...
# Option "someoption" "value"
# EndSection
#
# This applies the option any libinput device also matched by the other
# directives. See the xorg.conf(5) man page for more info on
# matching devices.
Think we are getting above my experience, confidence level with:
# If you want to configure your devices, do not copy this file.
# Instead, use a config snippet that contains something like this:
Er, why do they repeat the same text (paragraph) over and over..?
I provided a script in my post to control a laptop touchpad. You can disable the pad. And rerunning the script will toggle the state. If you look at the script you will see the xinput being used to test state and to toggle the state.
I think this is turning into quite an interesting topic so need to say a big thank you to all you kind people that understand my lack of confidence in writing config snippets or config files in general.
Thanks again to rclark and onebuck - yes will try xinput --disable 14 followed by xinput --enable 14 or I could use xinput --disable AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad but that’s a bit long winded
I might as well disable the nipple id=15 or AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint Stick as that never gets tweaked, sorry used
As pan64 says there should be a FnX or keystroke to toggle the touchpad on/off. Do we know of one, common to most linux distros or DEs..?
Hope it does not rely on SystemD as Debian based Antix and Loc-OS are deliberately systemd free. What do you guys think...?
Would be very clever if it works in practice to solve our in window trait.
Also - peculiar to Dell laptops; Double tap in the upper left hand corner to disable the touchpad quickly without having to make any changes to the drivers or the settings. OMG My brain hurts (Monty-Python) https://www.dell.com/community/Linux...g/td-p/4718542
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Text Jumping to cursor mid-sentence while typing
Don't know how to switch off touchpad but......
My brain hurts
