ThinkPad Pointers

[Jarod Wilson]

On Jan 14, 2008, at 10:19 AM, TARogue wrote:

> HELP!!!!
>
> I use ThinkPads for a number of reasons, mostly because I prefer the
> nipple stylle pointer to the touchpad style. My new ThinkPad (R61) has
> both. I am *not* a good typist; my wrists stay down all the time. This
> leads to alot of straying pointer issuse when my wrists or thumbpads  
> hit
> the touchpad or the touchpad's buttons.
>
> Please tell me how I can turn off the touch pad without turning off  
> the
> nipple?

man synaptics

There's an xorg.conf option you can add to disable the trackpad, but  
leave the pointer active.

        TouchpadOff (Integer)
               Switch off the touchpad.  Valid values are:

               0   Touchpad is enabled
               1   Touchpad is switched off
               2   Only tapping and scrolling is switched off


You can also turn on palm detection in the synaptics driver. I believe  
I've got that enabled on my T61, and I never have any issues with the  
trackpad picking up unintentional movement or clicks. I still prefer a  
trackpad myself, particularly since I also have mine set up to do two- 
finger scrolling...

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com