Keyboard Jumps While Typing
Well a year has past since my original post:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...typing-946138/ So I imagine a lot of Inspiron 15R laptops have been sold by Dell. I figured I'd ressurect this thread and aim to solve this problem before I completely give up on this laptop (and Dell) and move onto a new laptop. In a nutshell this laptop is essentially unusable on Linux. Over the last year I've jumped around from Slackware, to OpenSuse, to Arch, to Kubuntu and all result in the same infuriating problem whereby anytime I'm typing anything the cursor will jump around and screw up what I'm typing. I have 2 choices; I can type really s-l-o-w-l-y or I can unload the generic psmouse driver, perform my work with the keyboard and then reload the driver to turn back on the touchpad. Code:
# Everytime I need to type more than a few words I have to unload the module The laptop has some handy hotkeys (FN+F3) to disable the touchpad but that function only works in Windows. I guess I could look into making my own keyboard shortcut to unload and reload the psmouse driver? |
Since you're using KDE, synaptiks is the program you're looking for. Enable the "disable touch when typing" option.
Here's a step-by-step from OpenSUSE mailinglist: KDE Kickoff Application | Openning on All Applications->System Configuration->Synaptiks. Open Synaptiks Touchpad Management | Automatically Switch off touchpad on keyboard activity (Checkbox) This is not a Dell-specific problem. All "hypersensitive" touchpads will infuriate users until configured. Google's your friend:) |
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On my laptop I use a little script that I have created a keybinding for to switch the touchpad on or off:
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#!/bin/bash |
Get yourself an external mouse and leave psmouse unloaded.
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Sorry, it was my first thought:)
Can you give us a lsusb and dmesg | grep pad outputs here so we can identify the specific hardware? |
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synclient Quote:
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lsusb | grep -i pad |
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So apparently the touchpad is recognized as a ps/2 mouse instead of a touchpad.
This has been fixed in Ubuntu 12.04 for some of the affected models according to this. I'd contact someone in any of the touchpad driver projects and hear whether they'd be interested in creating a driver. Seems like there is recent work going on here: https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/2007961/ They would probably be interested in bug reports from you. |
Hi not sure if you solved this?
This is how I solved it in Centos either way: My touchpad was getting identified as a PS/2 Generic mouse, you can confirm this by unplugging your mouse and typing: xinput --list xinput list-props "PS/2 Generic Mouse" : gives you more details about the device. To disable the touchpad from moving: Code:
xinput --set-prop "PS/2 Generic Mouse" "Device Enabled" 0 To renable the touchpad Code:
xinput --set-prop "PS/2 Generic Mouse" "Device Enabled" 1 |
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# Need to use the keyboard so I have to disable touchpad In reality I think this machine is going to the trash bin. Next time I'll not assume Dell machines work in Linux and dig around to find a vendor that works out of the box. |
If this works:
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# Everytime I need to type more than a few words I have to unload the module Script example: Code:
#!/bin/bash Code:
$ sudo chown root:root /home/username/whatever.sh Code:
username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /home/username/whatever.sh Finally, in your ~/.xbindkeysrc add Code:
"/home/username/whatever.sh" Running CTRL+Alt+m will run whatever.sh and enable or disable the touchpad depending on the current setting. |
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It's only meant as a workaround. They already did fix this bug for other models in the same series, so don't give up:)
Personally, I always bring a USB mouse with me wherever I go, but that's not for everyone. Also, let me know how/if the script works. I can help debug it if something doesn't work. |
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:-) Code:
#!/bin/bash |
Not bad! :)
Does it work as intended? |
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Just thought I'd drop by and mark this thread solved. The underlying issue has not been resolved but binding the script to a keyboard shortcut has been an absolute lifesaver. For the 1st time since purchasing this computer I can actually use it for tasks other than web surfing.
Huge thanks again to everyone who helped me with this. |
Having this post here means others can find it as well:)
This problem seems to be caused by the manufacturer using the same name for different underlying hardware. And while a _subset_ of these cases are solved in the kernel, your particular subset is not. Pretty niche it seems, but make it known to the kernel devs so maybe they'll scratch your itch:) Great the work-around made your life easier, glad I could help! |
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https://www.google.com/search?q=dell...s+while+typing |
Thanks guys, being a avid Slackware fan, I found this to be very helpful.
@thund3rstruck, thank you very much. at least now I can work. ;-) |
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