Overly sensitive touch pad?

[CharlesV]

@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.

Excellent point, I forgot that! Yes, property ID's would need to be changed!

[kd4e]

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

OK, multiple distractions here ...

I'm trying to understand what I'm looking at in your example.

Is this what

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 $ xinput list-props

reported as your initial settings for "Synaptic Edges"?
# 2177 4900 2200 4455

Then this is how you changed it?

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xinput --set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" 310 2200 4980 3200 4455

My existing settings for "Synaptic Edges (321)" are
# 142 3411 80 1419

Is there any reason why there isn't a simple MX Tool where one may toggle the touchpad on or off,
or set the sensitivity to something like Off, Low, Medium, High?

Thanks

[CharlesV]

Sorry, I assumed you were a little further ahead in the xinput discovery.

First, you find device ID's using:

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xinput list

For me, that result was :
SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=14

then using

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xinput list-props 14 

It dumps out ALL settings for the touchpad.

Working with the docs for the Synaptics driver and trial and error, I found which settings made a difference and then started tweaking those until I came up with that script. (That script runs *every* time I login !)

The identifiers for each of the Synaptic settings are that FIRST number after "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad", and each setting as a different number .
Example: for me, 310 was the "edges" number. (It looks like from your post yours is 321 )

Using the combination of those settings in that script, I had to change :
Edges
Palm Detection
Palm Dimensions
Pressure Motion
Noise Cancellation

By changing the pad dimensions, I "moved" the area that I was hitting with my palms, out of the way (mostly)

To answer your question about "a simple tool" . In looking at this there are lots of variables when you start talking about different machines, pads, areas, etc that would be pretty difficult to make a tool that resolved it all. I did find a tool that helped me identify areas of the pad, and that helped identify what pad areas I was touching. (I will have to go back and find what that tool was, it showed me X & Y when I touched the pad.)

Also, SAVE YOUR ORIGINAL SETTINGS :-) ... I had to revert back many times to get the pad stable as I was playing with it !

[TTwrs]

Does this checkbox appear on you Mouse/Touchpad settings?

touchpad.png

[kd4e]

Does this checkbox appear on you Mouse/Touchpad settings?
touchpad.png

Where is that found, please?

If I type "Mouse" into the menu search window - nothing shows up.

Do I need to install it - because it's not installed by default?

[CharlesV]

Mouse and Touchpad should show up typing just mouse ... but you can find it under Menu | Settings.

Caution, make sure you have a mouse handy if you turn that off. On my HP that killed ALL touchpad use.

[kd4e]

Weird.
When you first posted that and I typed "mouse" nothing popped up.
Just got back to the computer and tried again - and it came right up.
Npot a hint of a clue why the difference but glad for it.
Chose trackpad and clicked on the slider - and no more trackpad activity.
Thanks!

[a_freed_man]

I've been suffering from this problem for far too long! I am one of those who was nearly ready to blast my laptop with a bazaooka!

I echo many of the voices here that find it perplexing that such a popular distribution would have this issue. It is NOT fringe hardware. If I don't see the issue with other distros THEN IT MUST BE A SOFTWARE ISSUE.

For me I finally found the solution, a single setting using the synclient app. The version of touchpad-indicator on this latest mx-ahs-21 I have is next to worthless. It provides no feedback, no manpage and the command line "help" offers only 4 options that weren't much better than the [non-existent] manpage. From what I gather here this must be a different and more crippled version that doesn't provide the same functionality. It clearly is not a "well written" app IMO.

Ok, done ranting. The solution for my Asus UX490 Zen Deluxe 3 laptop was simply using synclient to set Palm Detection = 1. I didn't even need to change the dimensions or alter other settings. Fortunately xinput also has this setting, so if xinput eventually replaces synclient & it goes away, I'm covered.

Given the magnitude of aggravation this problem causes, it's shocking such a simple solution hasn't been provided in the GUI.

Other than that and the difficulty in editing the xfce menu structure used by MX, I L O V E M X !!!

[a_freed_man]

Does this checkbox appear on you Mouse/Touchpad settings?

Yes it does, tho as a different widget (slide switch)