syndaemon is a program that monitors keyboard activity and disables the touchpad when the keyboard is being used. If you are using Ubuntu / Debian, syndaemon should already be installed and all you have to do is type this in a terminal to start it as a daemon:
To set the time you want syndaemon to restore your keyboard, run this command:
Where "4" is the time between the period you stopped typing and when the touchpad becomes active.
syndaemon -dTo set the time you want syndaemon to restore your keyboard, run this command:
syndaemon -i 4 -dWhere "4" is the time between the period you stopped typing and when the touchpad becomes active.
Please note that I have noticed you need to kill syndaemon before changing it's settings. So before specifying an option, kill it with:
You can also specify syndaemon to only deactivate scrolling and tapping but leave your mouse pointer active even if you type on your keyboard, by ysing the "-t" option.
To see everything syndaemon can do, use the man command:
The following example invokes syndaemon for 4 seconds after any keyboard activity (-i 4), except when modifier keys such as Alt or Shift are used (-K), and only disables tapping and scrolling (-t) for this period:
And a bonus. A bash script to toggle the touchpad on an off with a hotkey:
Save it in a file and call it whatever you want (for instance "toggle_touchpad.sh"), make the script executable (chmod +x toggle_touchpad.sh) and assign a hotkey for it (for instance by using CompizConfig Settings Manager, on the Commands options).
Note: If you use an EeePC, you can toggle the TouchPad on and off with an utility called EeePC Tray or with Eee Control (see step 9)
killall syndaemonYou can also specify syndaemon to only deactivate scrolling and tapping but leave your mouse pointer active even if you type on your keyboard, by ysing the "-t" option.
To see everything syndaemon can do, use the man command:
man syndaemonThe following example invokes syndaemon for 4 seconds after any keyboard activity (-i 4), except when modifier keys such as Alt or Shift are used (-K), and only disables tapping and scrolling (-t) for this period:
syndaemon -i 4 -d -t -KAnd a bonus. A bash script to toggle the touchpad on an off with a hotkey:
# toggle synaptic touchpad on/off
# get current state
SYNSTATE=$(synclient -l | grep TouchpadOff | awk '{ print $3 }')
# change to other state
if [ $SYNSTATE = 0 ]; then
synclient touchpadoff=1
elif [ $SYNSTATE = 1 ]; then
synclient touchpadoff=0
else
echo "Couldn't get touchpad status from synclient"
exit 1
fi
exit 0Save it in a file and call it whatever you want (for instance "toggle_touchpad.sh"), make the script executable (chmod +x toggle_touchpad.sh) and assign a hotkey for it (for instance by using CompizConfig Settings Manager, on the Commands options).
Note: If you use an EeePC, you can toggle the TouchPad on and off with an utility called EeePC Tray or with Eee Control (see step 9)
