External touchpad for Ubuntu?

[Liam Proven]

On Mon, 21 Dec 2020 at 21:36, Owen Thomas <owen.paul.thomas at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The usual reason: didn't think it relevant at the time.

:facepalm:

> Bum! Your advice renders my objective unreachable with an external touchpad. I did see your point made in other posts too, and hence it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge this.

Yes, and AFAICR you didn't ask before now. You also never told us the
model of your old laptop and you've not told us that about the new one
-- so if for instance it does have a toggle control for the pointing
device, we can't tell you.

> I'm sure the solution is completely effective and will give me precisely what I want.

You say "you're sure", which implies to me that you haven't actually tried it.

Have you tried it?

If not: why not?

> A couple of questions that come to mind about this solution are these: First, why do I have to implement this myself?

It's Linux. It's an OS for people who fix things themselves and go
digging for answers. You repeatedly asked for guidance, albeit not in
a specific way -- see my comment about model numbers, or about asking
for buying advice -- but ISTM that you've not actually acted on the
advice.

Am I wrong?

> Shouldn't Ubuntu automatically support touchpad disablement like any other self respecting OS?

I do not know of any OS of any form which automatically disables
hardware, so: no.

Windows does not automatically disable trackpads. I have 3 or 4
laptops with Windows on, one Windows Thin PC (i.e. Win7 but still in
support) and the other Win10. None do this. I have 2 Apple laptops;
macOS doesn't do it either.

What I _think_ you are asking about is what Apple calls "accidental
trackpad input."

This _used_ to be an option -- see:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/210936/how-to-disable-accidental-trackpad-input-in-yosemite/262149

Now it is no longer, because it's automatic and on by default:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201822

MacOS also has an option to automatically disable the internal
pointing device if an external pointing device is attached:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/getting-trackpad-to-ignore-touches-while-typing.2103667/

This is possible on Ubuntu:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/787433/how-do-i-disable-touchpad-when-using-a-mouse/1050387

https://ostechnix.com/automatically-disable-touchpad-when-external-mouse-is-connected-in-ubuntu/

The fact that you have not used a more specific term in the 3 years
that you've been asking suggests to me that you haven't researched
this yourself, but if it bothers you that much, honestly I find that a
remarkable, hard-to-believe conclusion. Is it the case?

>  Second, some touchpad manufacturers had a disablement feature built into the touchpad itself - neither the BIOS nor the OS were involved when the user wanted to turn their touchpad off and back on. Why remove this feature?

It does. This is a built-in Ubuntu feature and you have been told
exactly where to find it and how to use it. Also, there could well
_also_ be a firmware feature too. Have you looked? Have you tried
refining your search terms and using other words?


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