'Disable Trackpad while typing...' option ignored on Macbook Pro 5,2

[Gambit-]

This bug originally exhibited itself as: Macbook Pro 5,2 trackpad spurious input, jumps to horizontal screen edges

While typing the mouse occasionally jumps horizontally to the edge of the screen. It is not consistent which edge it jumps to. I notice this due to xmouse.

I believe this is due to the touchpad being overly sensitive. By tapping the very edges of the trackpad (similar to how my palms might touch the trackpad while typing) I am able to sporadically reproduce this behavior. As such, I believe that this can best be fixed by the trackpad driver either watching for this kind of behavior while typing, or the 'Disable touchpad while typing' option (which I have enabled) having an increased timeout.

Actually, now that I test this, I'm able to use the touchpad while holding down keys on the keyboard. This bug should almost certainly be applied against the maintainer of that package, as that option is not respected on this laptop.

[Slick (slick666)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately, we cannot work on this bug because your description didn't include enough information. You may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem.

We have instructions on debugging some types of problems at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures

At a minimum, we need:
1. the specific steps or actions you took that caused you to encounter the problem,
2. the behavior you expected, and
3. the behavior you actually encountered (in as much detail as possible).
Thanks!

I cannot reproduce this using my MacBook 1,1 running Karmic 9.10 When moving the mouse a type on the keyboard does interrupt the mouse. Please provide a more detailed step by step description on how to reproduce this bug

[Gambit- (g-launchpad)]

MacBook 1,1 has substantially different hardware than a 5,2. Testing on a 1,1 is unlikely to reproduce the behavior, due to different trackpad hardware being involved.

[Rainer Rohde (rainer-rohde)]

I have a MBP 5,2 and the behavior under Gnome is correct - i.e. I am typing, and while I am typing, the trackpad is disabled (My Lucid is updated to the Apr 14, 2010 release).

On the other hand, it would be nice to have the same feature already working at GDM login time, because here it is quite obvious that the cursor jumps around while typing in the password, stealing the focus from the password field, which can get annoying really quick.

-Rainer

[JohnnyJboss (johnnyjboss)]

I have the MacBook4,1 with Ubuntu 9.10 (actually MythBuntu) and the sporadic jumping of the mouse while I'm typing is a severe problem.

Often I'm near the end of a lengthy email or well written bug report and suddenly my mouse has jumped, highlighted and deleted all my text because I was still typing.

I found a script at http://miteshjlinuxtips.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/disabling-macbook-pro-touchpad/ which I will start using to disable the trackpad when I'm typing.

Also it seems the option to disable clicks on the trackpad will sometimes be re-enabled even though the selection is not checked when I open gnome-mouse-properties. This exhibits itself as I am able to launch icons on my desktop with a double-tap even though I've de-selected that option in the gnome-mouse-properties. The expected behavior would be that this option does what it says: it should disable the ability to double-tap to click on the trackpad.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Gambit-,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 494292

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

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[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[noisygecko (sim-noisygecko)]

I run into this problem on my Macbook Pro running 10.04. I even changed the timeout for syndaemon to 2 seconds thinking that was the problem. But it looks like the touchpad isn't always being disabled while typing. This is making Ubuntu pretty unusable on my Macbook.

Should I open a new bug report? What information do I need to post? The behavior I am seeing appears to be the same as the original reporter:

- The touchpad is extremely sensitive and picks up my hand when close to the edge of the pad

- The touchpad isn't always disabled when typing

[Mike (bild85)]

Same problem on MBP 6,2 running fully-updated 64 bit 10.04. Found a workaround that works sometimes:
syndaemon -d -t

I tried adding this to a startup application entry, but it doesn't seem to execute on startup. Guess I need to put it into a script and execute it.

[gmud (gmud)]

For me it helped to add the "-i" option with 2 seconds as delay. The problem almost always nagged me, when I was pausing my writings for a short time.

@itismike: Take a look at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro6-2/Lucid#Touchpad%20%28bcm5974%29 for instructions how to put the script at startup.

[Mike (bild85)]

I think I was the one who posted that comment! But I found that it still doesn't work, so I removed my instructions (see the history for the page if you like.) I still do not have a solution to this VERY annoying problem.

[greenfellow (greenfellow)]

I've got this problem on my MacbookPro5,2. I've disabled the trackpad while typing on a fully up-to-date 10.4, but it fails to disable the trackpad. Due to the size of the trackpad on recent MBP, it is difficult to keep the palms from touching while typing.

I have also installed the recommended pommed and all settings from the community wiki on the 5,2 in lucid. It seems there are some settings that may be related for sensitivity:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro5-1_5-2/Lucid

What about a package called Pointing Devices, referenced here:
http://wiki.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7128346

[greenfellow (greenfellow)]

Looks like JumpyCursorThreshold in the synaptics X config may be the sensitivity setting we're looking for, but which one and what number? It looks like this will correct variations in implementation.

/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf

Or what about xinput or SHMConfig from here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad#Enabling%20SHMConfig

(and the disabling section just above)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Miguel Negrao (miguel-negrao)]

On my macbook pro 8,2 this fixed it:

    xinput set-prop 10 "Synaptics Palm Detection" 1

and just to be on the safe side I also turn off the tap:

    xinput set-prop 10 "Synaptics Tap Action" 0