LMDE3-Cindy can't turn off Touchpad [solved by updates ]

[AZgl1800]

I have investigated everything I can find, and while I can change the Preferences in the way the Touchpad works,
there does NOT seem to be a way to just turn the damn thing OFF altogether.

I never, ever, use the Touchpad, it is always getting in my way while typing and causing the cursor jump somewhere I don't want it..... even with the "off while typing" feature, that is not good enough.....

I always move the cursor away from the area I am typing in, and after a few seconds of no typing ( brain is thinking) , the mouse-pad becomes active again, and if I happen to touch the TouchPad, it causes a different window or tab to become active. which just really irks me to no end.

I need a way to turn it OFF for ever and more.

[becherekmg]

You can try BIOS. There is usually opportunity to disable touchpad there.

[AZgl1800]

You can try BIOS. There is usually opportunity to disable touchpad there.

that is a bad idea.....
been there, done that..... then one day the mouse quits working and you are up that creek w/o the paddle.

at least when that does occur, I can use the kybd to navigate to the touchpad and turn it back ON again....
except in this one instance, what it can't be turned off in LMDE3-Cindy period.

[yummi]

I'm not entirely sure I understand your issue as there is in fact an "Enable touchpad" option in the Mouse and Touchpad system settings. That should do it I'd think.

I was drawn to this post because what I wanted was a way to use a laptop's built-in touchpad hardware switch without triggering the OS software toggler which tends to mess things up. I was able to get around the software control by unsetting the 3 touchpad related keyboard shortcuts in Settings>Keyboard>Shortcuts>Hardware.

Maybe that helps?

[AZgl1800]

I'm not entirely sure I understand your issue as there is in fact an "Enable touchpad" option in the Mouse and Touchpad system settings. That should do it I'd think.

I was drawn to this post because what I wanted was a way to use a laptop's built-in touchpad hardware switch without triggering the OS software toggler which tends to mess things up. I was able to get around the software control by unsetting the 3 touchpad related keyboard shortcuts in Settings>Keyboard>Shortcuts>Hardware.

Maybe that helps?

it does now, but at the time of my initial post, it did not, I can assure you.

that is the very first thing I looked for.
so, some updates must have fixed it.
I did not use the kybd shortcuts, I used the System Settings / kybd-touchpad settings
initially, the option to "turn it off" did not exist.