Overly sensitive touch pad?

[woodsman]

thanks - i kind of thought that too.

[az2020]

FWIW: I've been iso testing *ubuntu 20.04 daily images. I have old/new laptops to test on. I've been paying more attention to the touchpad.

It does seem to me that MX is more sensitive than the *buntu distros (on the same machine). For example, with Lubuntu 20.04 daily image installed on an old Dell XPS L502X, the touchpad feels relatively normal. With MX 19.1 installed on that same laptop, it has about 30% more "juice." It moves faster/further, seems touchier.

I compared the synclient output between MX (left) and Lubuntu (right). I only repeat Lubuntu's values where they differ:

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$ synclient                 MX           Lubuntu
Parameter settings:
  LeftEdge                = 1746
  RightEdge               = 5124
  TopEdge                 = 1640
  BottomEdge              = 4496
  FingerLow               = 25  
  FingerHigh              = 30  
  MaxTapTime              = 180 
  MaxTapMove              = 226 
  MaxDoubleTapTime        = 180 
  SingleTapTimeout        = 180 
  ClickTime               = 100 
  EmulateMidButtonTime    = 75  
  EmulateTwoFingerMinZ    = 282 
  EmulateTwoFingerMinW    = 7   
  VertScrollDelta         = 102 
  HorizScrollDelta        = 102 
  VertEdgeScroll          = 1   
> HorizEdgeScroll         = 1          = 0
> CornerCoasting          = 1          = 0
  VertTwoFingerScroll     = 1 
> HorizTwoFingerScroll    = 1          = 0
  MinSpeed                = 1
> MaxSpeed                = 2          = 1.75
> AccelFactor             = 0.075      = 0.0389029
  TouchpadOff             = 0    
  LockedDrags             = 0    
  LockedDragTimeout       = 5000 
> RTCornerButton          = 0          = 2
> RBCornerButton          = 9          = 3
  LTCornerButton          = 0 
> LBCornerButton          = 8          = 0
> TapButton1              = 1          = 1
> TapButton2              = 2          = 3
> TapButton3              = 3          = 0
  ClickFinger1            = 1
  ClickFinger2            = 1
> ClickFinger3            = 1          = 0
> CircularScrolling       = 1          = 0
  CircScrollDelta         = 0.1
> CircScrollTrigger       = 7  
  CircularPad             = 0  
  PalmDetect              = 0  
  PalmMinWidth            = 10 
  PalmMinZ                = 200
> CoastingSpeed           = 8          = 20
  CoastingFriction        = 50  
  PressureMotionMinZ      = 30  
  PressureMotionMaxZ      = 160 
  PressureMotionMinFactor = 1   
  PressureMotionMaxFactor = 1   
> ResolutionDetect        = n/a        = 1
  GrabEventDevice         = 0 
  TapAndDragGesture       = 1 
  AreaLeftEdge            = 0 
  AreaRightEdge           = 0 
  AreaTopEdge             = 0 
  AreaBottomEdge          = 0 
  HorizHysteresis         = 25
  VertHysteresis          = 25
  ClickPad                = 0 

The ones that stand out to me as possibly behind the OP's impression (that MX's touchpad handling is more sensitive) are MaxSpeed, AccelFactor, CoastingSpeed & maybe CircularScrolling(?)

Since Ubuntu is based upon Debian, and if MX's values come unchanged from Debian, then it appears Ubuntu toned things down a little(?). There is a difference. Not sure where the differences come from.

One that stands out to me is ResolutionDetect. Lubuntu has that. MX doesn't. From the man page:

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Option
              ResolutionDetect" "" boolean " Allow or prevent the synaptics driver from reporting
              the  size  of  the  touchpad  to  the  X  server.   The X server normally uses this
              information to scale movements so that touchpad movement  corresponds  visually  to
              mouse  cursor  movements  on  the  screen.   However,  in some rare cases where the
              touchpad height/width ratio is significantly different  from  the  laptop,  it  can
              cause  the  mouse  cursor  to  skip  pixels in the X or Y axis.  This option allows
              disabling this scaling behavior, which can provide smoother mouse movement in  such
              cases.  Property: "Synaptics Resolution Detect"

Earlier in this thread someone said all laptops have different sensitivities. I've been thinking about that, and wondering if it has to do with screen resolution. I wonder if that option could mediate that (and MX not having that option might cause a problem?). I set MX's value to "n/a." But, that parameter doesn't appear in MX's synclient output. (That's the only parameter appearing in Lubuntu, but not MX.).

[adilodha]

i used xinput to resolve this issue.
$ xinput set-prop <device number> <property number of Tap Time> 150

$ xinput list -> this command will list all the input devices available on your device followed by it's id/device number.
$ xinput list-props <device number/id> -> will list down all the properties for specified input device from which you can find out number of property of your interest.

in my case, device ID for my touch pad was 17. property number of Synaptic Tap Time was 328 and its default value was 180.
so my command was : $ xinput set-prop 17 328 150, which worked for me. if you set this property to 0, the touchpad is disabled.

[wollyflapp]

https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/591429

THIS WORKED FOR ME

[az2020]

I still feel like the default settings could be more balanced for the average laptop. (I'm sure there's no perfect setting for everyone. If there were, there would be no settings to set. But, it seems like the installed sensitivity is insanely high for "most people."). I don't know if that's at the source (Debian), or part of the MX installed config. Ubuntu must be installing a different config because it doesn't seem so sensitive (but, Ubuntu comes from Debian too.). I just wonder why that wouldn't be good to do with MX too.

I wish there was a section in the MX manual about this (and the settings to change, how they interoperate; what they do). But, I don't think anyone knows enough about it to explain it. It seems like we all tweak something different and "aha!" Plus, there's libinput & synclient. It's not clear which to use. A few years ago someone on the Lubuntu mailing list said one was replacing the other (I forget which). But, they both seem to be available. They have different options.

[kd4e]

I'm running MX 21 live USB.

And ideas how I desensitize or disable the touchpad unless I need it, please?

Touchpad-indicator isn't playing nicely.

Thanks

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demo@mx1:~
$ touchpad-indicator
<gettext.GNUTranslations object at 0x7faa2db12190>
No LSB modules are available.
#####################################################
Distributor: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Release: 11
Codename: bullseye
Architecture: x86_64
#####################################################

Touchpad-Indicator version: 2.2.3-0mx21
[Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/demo/.config/touchpad-indicator/touchpad-indicator.conf'
=== 2 ===
=== 21 ===
=== 212 ===
==== start set_touch_enabled =====
set_touch_enabled: True
are_all_touchpad_enabled:  True

[kd4e]

I've tried "xinput set-prop 10 337 0" to toggle off the trackpad - no impact.

What am I missing, please?

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$ xinput list-props 10 337 150
Device 'ELAN0709:00 04F3:30A0 Touchpad':
	Device Enabled (189):	1
	Coordinate Transformation Matrix (191):	1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
	Device Accel Profile (317):	1
	Device Accel Constant Deceleration (318):	1.000000
	Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (319):	1.000000
	Device Accel Velocity Scaling (320):	12.500000
	Synaptics Edges (321):	142, 3411, 80, 1419
	Synaptics Finger (322):	25, 30, 0
	Synaptics Tap Time (323):	180
	Synaptics Tap Move (324):	169
	Synaptics Tap Durations (325):	180, 180, 100
	Synaptics ClickPad (326):	0
	Synaptics Middle Button Timeout (327):	75
	Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure (328):	282
	Synaptics Two-Finger Width (329):	7
	Synaptics Scrolling Distance (330):	-77, -77
	Synaptics Edge Scrolling (331):	0, 0, 0
	Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling (332):	1, 1
	Synaptics Move Speed (333):	1.000000, 2.000000, 0.075000, 0.000000
	Synaptics Off (334):	1
	Synaptics Locked Drags (335):	0
	Synaptics Locked Drags Timeout (336):	5000
	Synaptics Tap Action (337):	0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
	Synaptics Click Action (338):	1, 1, 1
	Synaptics Circular Scrolling (339):	1
	Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance (340):	0.100000
	Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger (341):	7
	Synaptics Circular Pad (342):	0
	Synaptics Palm Detection (343):	0
	Synaptics Palm Dimensions (344):	10, 200
	Synaptics Coasting Speed (345):	8.000000, 50.000000
	Synaptics Pressure Motion (346):	30, 160
	Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor (347):	1.000000, 1.000000
	Synaptics Grab Event Device (348):	0
	Synaptics Gestures (349):	1
	Synaptics Capabilities (350):	1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0
	Synaptics Pad Resolution (351):	32, 32
	Synaptics Area (352):	0, 0, 0, 0
	Synaptics Noise Cancellation (353):	19, 19
	Device Product ID (311):	1267, 12448
	Device Node (312):	"/dev/input/event6"

[TTwrs]

This might work to disable/enable the touchpad. Change the '0' at the end to '1' to re-enable. You could assign it as an alias (say, tpoff) if you wanted to switch the pad off and another (say, tpon) to turn it back on.

Disable touchpad...

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xinput --set-prop $(xinput list | grep -i touchpad | sed 's/^.*id=//; s/\t.*//') 'Device Enabled' 0

If you want this to persist between boots you'll need to have it run at startup. The way I would do it in MX-Linux (XFCE) is with the following in 'Session and Startup':

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bash -c "xinput --set-prop $(xinput list | grep -i touchpad | sed 's/^.*id=//; s/\t.*//') 'Device Enabled' 0"

I'm surprised your system doesn't have a simple on/off toggle for the pad. Are you sure there isn't a checkbox in the BIOS or Mouse and Touchpad settings dialog? Or a Function key? Mine is F1 on the keyboard, though that would vary.

By the way, you can run the following to see ALL the settings available for the touchpad:

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xinput list-props $(xinput list | grep -i touchpad | sed 's/^.*id=//; s/\t.*//')

There are way to adjust the sensitivity, let me know if those might be useful...

[CharlesV]

For me, (HP Envy and Synaptics Touchpad ) , creating a login script that does the following brought it all under control ,

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#!/bin/bash

#  Synaptic Edges
   #  LeftEdge, RightEdge, TopEdge, BottomEdge
   #   2177      4900       2200     4455
xinput --set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" 310 2200 4980 3200 4455

#  Synaptics Palm Detection
xinput --set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" 332 1

#  Synaptics Palm Dimisnsions
xinput --set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" 333 1 1 

#  Synaptics Pressure Motion
xinput --set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" 335 250 560

#  Synaptics Noise Cancellation
xinput --set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" 343 20 20

[TTwrs]

@CharlesV
Those settings are not 'universal' and won't work, as is, in the OP's case. To use them, the Property IDs would need to be changed to match those of his touchpad. Just mentioning that so the wrong settings aren't inadvertantly changed.