"Disable touchpad while typing" doesn't disable Synaptics touchpad on Lenovo ThinkPad T410i on Ubunutu 11.x

[Stuart Shelton]

In the "Mouse and Touchpad" application, "Disable touchpad while typing" is ticked - however, this seems to have no effect. Catching the trackpad whilst typing sends the cursor ricocheting across the screen.

Expected behaviour:
"Disable touchpad while typing" does indeed disable the touchpad within {x} seconds of a key-press occurring - or, if this functionality isn't available with this hardware, the option should be greyed-out/disabled.

Actual behaviour:
The "Disable touchpad while typing" check-box seems to have no effect on the system - there is no noticeable change of behaviour no matter what the state of the control.

Xorg.0.log says:

[ 36.173] (II) config/udev: Adding input device SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad (/dev/input/event5)
[ 36.173] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: Applying InputClass "evdev touchpad catchall"
[ 36.173] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: Applying InputClass "touchpad catchall"
[ 36.173] (II) LoadModule: "synaptics"
[ 36.174] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/synaptics_drv.so
[ 36.194] (II) Module synaptics: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 36.194] compiled for 1.10.4, module version = 1.4.1
[ 36.194] Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
[ 36.194] ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 12.3
[ 36.194] (II) Using input driver 'synaptics' for 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'
[ 36.194] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/synaptics_drv.so
[ 36.194] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: always reports core events
[ 36.194] (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event5"
[ 36.240] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: x-axis range 1472 - 5888
[ 36.240] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: y-axis range 1408 - 4820
[ 36.240] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: pressure range 0 - 255
[ 36.240] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: finger width range 0 - 15
[ 36.240] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: buttons: left right double triple
[ 36.240] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found
[ 36.240] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: always reports core events
[ 36.244] (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input5/event5"
[ 36.244] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" (type: TOUCHPAD)
[ 36.244] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) MinSpeed is now constant deceleration 2.5
[ 36.244] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: MaxSpeed is now 1.75
[ 36.244] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: AccelFactor is now 0.036
[ 36.244] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
[ 36.244] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration profile 1
[ 36.244] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
[ 36.244] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
[ 36.244] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found
[ 36.245] (II) config/udev: Adding input device SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad (/dev/input/mouse0)
[ 36.245] (II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
[ 36.245] (II) config/udev: Adding input device TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint (/dev/input/event12)
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: Applying InputClass "evdev pointer catchall"
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: Applying InputClass "trackpoint catchall"
[ 36.245] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint'
[ 36.245] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/evdev_drv.so
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: always reports core events
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: Device: "/dev/input/event12"
[ 36.245] (--) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: Found 3 mouse buttons
[ 36.245] (--) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: Found relative axes
[ 36.245] (--) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: Found x and y relative axes
[ 36.245] (II) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: Configuring as mouse
[ 36.245] (**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
[ 36.245] (**) Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
[ 36.245] (**) Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
[ 36.245] (**) Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: YAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
[ 36.245] (**) Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: XAxisMapping: buttons 6 and 7
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: EmulateWheelButton: 2, EmulateWheelInertia: 10, EmulateWheelTimeout: 200
[ 36.245] (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/input/input12/event12"
[ 36.245] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" (type: MOUSE)
[ 36.245] (II) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: initialized for relative axes.
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: (accel) acceleration profile 0
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
[ 36.245] (**) TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
[ 36.245] (II) config/udev: Adding input device TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint (/dev/input/mouse1)
[ 36.245] (II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 11.10
Release: 11.10

(... although 11.04 was likewise affected)

$ apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics:
  Installed: 1.4.1-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.4.1-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.4.1-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Bradford Hovinen (hovinen)]

This also happens on my Lenovo T420s, exactly as described above.

$ dmesg|grep -i touchpad
[ 4.098907] Synaptics Touchpad, model: 1, fw: 7.2, id: 0x1c0b1, caps: 0xd047b3/0xb40000/0xa0000
[ 4.148669] input: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input10
$ grep -i touchpad /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[ 4.793] (II) config/udev: Adding input device SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad (/dev/input/event10)
[ 4.793] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: Applying InputClass "evdev touchpad catchall"
[ 4.793] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: Applying InputClass "touchpad catchall"
[ 4.797] (II) Using input driver 'synaptics' for 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'
[ 4.797] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: always reports core events
[ 4.840] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: x-axis range 1472 - 5888
[ 4.840] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: y-axis range 1408 - 4820
[ 4.840] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: pressure range 0 - 255
[ 4.840] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: finger width range 0 - 15
[ 4.840] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: buttons: left right double triple
[ 4.940] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: always reports core events
[ 4.940] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" (type: TOUCHPAD)
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) MinSpeed is now constant deceleration 2.5
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: MaxSpeed is now 1.75
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: AccelFactor is now 0.036
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration profile 1
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
[ 4.940] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
[ 4.940] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found
[ 4.940] (II) config/udev: Adding input device SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad (/dev/input/mouse1)

[Fred (staubi)]

Same story here! Is there any fix known? I tried "syndaemon" but it just crashed the touchpad...

[Michiel Janssens (janssensm)]

Same here on HP Elitebook 8740W with fresh install 13.04
However running syndaemon does disable typing as it should.