Can I automatically deactivate my touchpad when a USB-mouse is connected?
I know that I can check if the touchpad is active with
gconftool-2 --get /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled
and I can set it disabled / enabled with
gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled true
With lsusb I can see all connected USB-devices. Which is for my mouse:
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c00e Logitech, Inc. M-BJ58/M-BJ69 Optical Wheel Mouse
More information with lsusb -v:
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:c00e Logitech, Inc. M-BJ58/M-BJ69 Optical Wheel Mouse
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 8
idVendor 0x046d Logitech, Inc.
idProduct 0xc00e M-BJ58/M-BJ69 Optical Wheel Mouse
bcdDevice 11.10
iManufacturer 1
iProduct 2
iSerial 0
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 34
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 98mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 1
bInterfaceClass 3 Human Interface Device
bInterfaceSubClass 1 Boot Interface Subclass
bInterfaceProtocol 2 Mouse
iInterface 0
HID Device Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 33
bcdHID 1.10
bCountryCode 0 Not supported
bNumDescriptors 1
bDescriptorType 34 Report
wDescriptorLength 52
Report Descriptors:
** UNAVAILABLE **
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0004 1x 4 bytes
bInterval 10
And here is the information from tail -n 10 -f /var/log/messages:
Aug 27 08:36:47 pc08 kernel: [ 1795.936583] usb 5-2: USB disconnect, address 3
Aug 27 08:36:55 pc08 kernel: [ 1804.208042] usb 5-2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
Aug 27 08:36:56 pc08 kernel: [ 1804.384272] usb 5-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Aug 27 08:36:56 pc08 kernel: [ 1804.400743] input: Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb5/5-2/5-2:1.0/input/input13
Aug 27 08:36:56 pc08 kernel: [ 1804.400923] generic-usb 0003:046D:C00E.0004: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-2/input0
And even more information:
$ udevadm info --query=all --name=/dev/input/mouse1
P: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb5/5-2/5-2:1.0/input/input15/mouse1
N: input/mouse1
S: char/13:33
S: input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB-PS_2_Optical_Mouse-mouse
S: input/by-path/pci-0000:00:1d.0-usb-0:2:1.0-mouse
E: UDEV_LOG=3
E: DEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb5/5-2/5-2:1.0/input/input15/mouse1
E: MAJOR=13
E: MINOR=33
E: DEVNAME=/dev/input/mouse1
E: SUBSYSTEM=input
E: ID_INPUT=1
E: ID_INPUT_MOUSE=1
E: ID_VENDOR=Logitech
E: ID_VENDOR_ENC=Logitech
E: ID_VENDOR_ID=046d
E: ID_MODEL=USB-PS_2_Optical_Mouse
E: ID_MODEL_ENC=USB-PS\x2f2\x20Optical\x20Mouse
E: ID_MODEL_ID=c00e
E: ID_REVISION=1110
E: ID_SERIAL=Logitech_USB-PS_2_Optical_Mouse
E: ID_TYPE=hid
E: ID_BUS=usb
E: ID_USB_INTERFACES=:030102:
E: ID_USB_INTERFACE_NUM=00
E: ID_USB_DRIVER=usbhid
E: ID_PATH=pci-0000:00:1d.0-usb-0:2:1.0
E: DEVLINKS=/dev/char/13:33 /dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB-PS_2_Optical_Mouse-mouse /dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:00:1d.0-usb-0:2:1.0-mouse
How can I use this to automatically deactivate my touchpad when a USB-mouse is connected and activate it again as soon as the USB-mouse disappears?
Solution 1:
This project appears to be no longer maintained.
For natty there is a touchpad indicator app. it can be set to disable/enable the touchpad when a mouse is plugged in or out. I have no idea if it might also work for older Ubuntu versions.
https://launchpad.net/touchpad-indicator
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install touchpad-indicator
Solution 2:
You can set up udev rules to disable/enable touchpad. ArchLinux wiki has these rules for toggling a Synaptic touchpad from udev:
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="input", KERNEL=="mouse[1-9]", ENV{DISPLAY}=":0.0",
ENV{XAUTHORITY}="/home/USERNAME/.Xauthority", ENV{ID_CLASS}="mouse", RUN+="/usr/bin/synclient TouchpadOff=1"
ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="input", KERNEL=="mouse[1-9]", ENV{DISPLAY}=":0.0",
ENV{XAUTHORITY}="/home/USERNAME/.Xauthority", ENV{ID_CLASS}="mouse", RUN+="/usr/bin/synclient TouchpadOff=0"
Solution 3:
I'm not sure if all the laptops use Synaptiks, but you could try to use it. In case you haven't installed, write in a terminal: $sudo apt-get install kde-config-touchpad, then $synaptiksand finally in the menu «Touchpad management» check:
- Automatically start at logon
- Automatically switch off touchpad, if a mouse is plugged
I hope this information has been valuable for you!
Solution 4:
You can create a script, and execute it when you want to disable/enable touchpad.
/usr/local/bin/touchpad_toggle.sh
#!/bin/bash
declare -i ID
ID=`xinput list | grep -Eio 'touchpad\s*id\=[0-9]{1,2}' | grep -Eo '[0-9]{1,2}'`
declare -i STATE
STATE=`xinput list-props $ID|grep 'Device Enabled'|awk '{print $4}'`
if [ $STATE -eq 1 ]
then
xinput disable $ID
# echo "Touchpad disabled."
# notify-send 'Touchpad' 'Disabled' -i /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/48x48/devices/input-touchpad.png
else
xinput enable $ID
# echo "Touchpad enabled."
# notify-send 'Touchpad' 'Enabled' -i /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/48x48/devices/input-touchpad.png
fi