SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
I have a Lenovo thinkpad which has both a touchpad and a trackpoint device. By default both are enabled which (for me) is not welcome. I prefer the trackpoint device and when I use this I inadvertently make "gestures" on the touchpad which do things like flip to a new desktop, scroll up my file etc.
I have found a good and reliable way to disable the touchpad from within an X session but using the x input command. I have written a little script which does the job fine.
However I would really like to go one step further and disable it before I ever start X. Currently, even when I disable it with xinput, it comes back enabled whenever I wake up from sleep state. I tried putting my disabling script into the "hooks" for pm-utilts, but of course these all run as root and there is no root X session open when they are running, so that fails.
I also tried calling the script from the ~/.xsession script, but with no success here either.
I guess the correct way to do this is through writing or modifying some udev rules. I have not dabbled in this magic before. Any ideas on where to start?
Most ThinkPads have an option in BIOS to disable your TrackPoint or UltraNav. I just bought my new X201 without the UltraNav, but they sent me one with it! Talked to customer support, and since it's a refurbished unit, they wouldn't take it back. All I had to do was press the ThinkVantage button on startup, and disable the Trackpad.
Thanks for those very quick replies - the thread suggested by corp769 looks particularly useful since it explains how to use synclient (thanks, dive) in the absence of a running X session. Jinx_wolf's suggestion will be a fallback if I cannot fix it through synclient / udev since disabling in the BIOS means I could not easily re-enable it.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.