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can I make Linux deactivate laptop's touchpad?

I assume there's some Linux command to deactivate (and reactivate) a laptop's touchpad or other pointing device? I'm using my laptop only on desks and tables, and used the BIOS editor to deactivate the touchpad because I don't need or want it. (This laptop is used, and the trackball is erratic--that's why I bothered to shut it off.) But if I ever need to use it because I don't have a hard surface to use the mouse, I'd have to reboot to get into the BIOS again. I do also have one of those soft round plugs in the middle of the keyboard resembling a pencil eraser (I forget what they're called), but I don't like it any more than a touchpad. (Who prefers laptop native pointing devices to a mouse?)

If you have a Synaptics touchpad you can use this little script to toggle the touchpad on/off:

Code:

#!/bin/bash



synclient TouchpadOff=$(synclient -l|grep -c 'TouchpadOff.*=.*0')

I have set up a keyboard shortcut to run it, works fine here.

Some laptops have a hardware key to toggle the touchpad on and off. On my Acer Travelmate, it's one of the function keys and has an icon that looks like a football field with a rocket shot into it--it's supposed to be a touchpad with finger on it, but you'd never crack the code without help.

My Dell does not have such a key.

Hi,

Another useful script;

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`

This should work for any touchpad.

Whoot - ta muchly @onebuck