I have switched off the touchpad on my Macbook Air because it's to annoying while typing and using a mouse. But it could happen that the paired mouse is not available, leaving the notebook without any pointing device.
Is there (and how) any possibilty to switch touchpad on and off simple by keyboard strokes?
Or how do I get into the relevant settings section if I have no pointing device?
I'm using Cinnamon but I do have the option under key mapping in the settings under Keyboard to so such a thing. In my system it is under System-Hardware. I can assign Touchpad on or off to a key.
You will have to look in your Gnome settings under your Keyboard settings to find where it resides.
thanks for pointing out, I couldn't find any possibilty to map the keys.
There are some how-to's to write scripts, but that is over my head for the moment. I found this little gnome extension:
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/131/touchpad-indicator/
and it's switching of the trackpad if a mouse is connected and on, if there is no mouse. That does the job for now.
But I'm curious if there is an solution without additional software...?
Look in System Settings->Keyboard->Shortcuts
I believe that is where Gnome keeps them. You shouldn't need an extension or any additional software to do it.
yes I have looked multiple times, there is nothing touchpad relatate their (at least I can't see it). That might or might not related to the fact, that on my keyboard is no key for switching the trackpad on and off.
I checked it on my other notebook, an ASUS Pro HAS an extra key on the keyboard for switching trackpad on and off, and therefor didn't need any special shortcuts for it - but also this machine has nothing in shortcuts...
I found that post here as a possible solution:
I can only navigate to the touchpad switch - BUT CAN'T TOGGLE it with pressing Enter (or any other key)
If you can't find it in the settings this may work for you as well
no sorry it doesn't, the notebook in this case HAS a function key for disableing the trackpad, while mine Macbook Air hasn't one...
You need to read further down past that part. His switch doesn't work anyhow and there is a solution given to the problem . You need to read the whole page, not just the beginning and stop. If you page down someone answers him on how to assign keys to the touchpad using one of the FN keys
no need to be rude - I read the whole page, the wiki and even tried that command.
The problem from that case is, that he HAS a toogle key on his keyboard, but instead of Fn4 the Fn12 is actually toggeling the trackpad and he wants to revert this.
Anyhow, thanks for your time, it might be unsolvable on a T2 Mac
again, I got a hint from the T2 wiki guys. I tried
sudo modprobe -r bcm5974
to disable the trackpad and
sudo modprobe bcm5974
and that worked in both directions so far
Okay, glad for you....
Commands are not the same thing as adding code to a file to remap a key.
But if running a command works, glad for you...
Glad it's solved for you
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