switch off auto-selection of text (or what ever it is called ..)

[Owen Thomas]

On 27 December 2017 at 11:26, Peter Flynn <peter at silmaril.ie> wrote:

> On 26/12/17 22:14, Owen Thomas wrote:
>
>> I have a Dell Latitude E5570, and I know well the frustrations of
>> the Dell touchpad. I had an HP once running Windows 8 (I think?), and
>> I found the feature where the touchpad could be disabled while one
>> is typing to be very useful. So far, I have not been able to find or
>> enable the same functionality in Dell that can be used in Ubuntu.
>>
>
> I have seen that, either in the BIOS settings (hunt) or in the system
> settings, possibly while I was testing other distros (Bodhi would be a good
> start). I though of turning it on but (a) I had never used it before, so I
> didn't know how it would work (ie how would it detect starting to type
> continuously from just pressing a couple of keys in answer to a prompt?)
> and (b) at the time I didn't want to go changing something extra while I
> was still trying to get a full install to work.
>

I decided to reboot my Dell Latitude E5570, and I found that it does not
appear to me by looking through the BIOS settings of this computer that
Dell has entertained a facility that would disable a user's touchpad when
it is not being used so to avoid a calamity precipitated through the
unintentional brushing of one's hand on the touchpad. I suppose they have
resolved (as I have) that the frequency of use of an editor's undo/redo
facility would increase to cover most situations where this would occur.
The consequence of this is that one must wear the consequences in cases
where the calamity has no undo/redo facility (sending an unfinished email
being but one example).


>
>
> However, it seems that I may have provided a clue as to Robert's
>> (and indeed my) problem. Perhaps something will come of this...
>> perhaps someone from Dell is listening.
>>
> I don't think Dell are either listening or interested. Big corporations
> tend to lose interest once you have bought their kit.
>

Probably you're right at some level. The life that I want to live must
inevitably take precedence over ignored features.

I haven't killed my Dell yet; I fear that Dell could be cynical in their
sense of opportunism and this fear quells my temper. If HP make their
computers work more generally (I have indeed killed a few of them), I might
go back to HP being that HP do appear at least to have a more considerate
touchpad.
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