synaptic touchpad: can't turn it off.

(In reply to comment #0)
> It seems that even with KDE's touchpad module installed, it isn't possible to
> switch the touchpad off.

This also doesn't work with kubuntu 5.10

Thanks for your bug report. Are you having a problem using the Laptop's hot-key's to turn off the touchpad, or are you trying to do so by using the kde settings?

The laptop's touchpad hot-key doesn't work at all.

I don't know if this can be of some help but I'm running an Acer Aspire 1524.

Seems to me that is a driver version problem:
package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics it's version 0.14.3 while
package ksynaptics 0.2.4 wants version 0.14.4 at least:

dinwath@sandhalphon:~$ dpkg-query -W "xserv*synap*"
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 0.14.3+seriouslythistime-0ubuntu3
dinwath@sandhalphon:~$ dpkg-query -W "ksynap*"
ksynaptics 0.2.4-2ubuntu2
dinwath@sandhalphon:~$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log|grep Synap
(**) |-->Input Device "Synaptics Touchpad"
(II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 0.14.3
(--) Synaptics Touchpad auto-dev sets device to /dev/input/event3
(--) Synaptics Touchpad touchpad found
(**) Synaptics Touchpad: always reports core events
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Synaptics Touchpad" (type: MOUSE)
Synaptics DeviceInit called
SynapticsCtrl called.
Synaptics DeviceOn called
(--) Synaptics Touchpad touchpad found

see attachment for screenshoot of ksynaptics window

This bug still persists in Kubuntu 6.10

Corrrection: it does indeed work but I believe that there is somekind of problem with ksynaptics' interface. I've get very different results (working, not working, only scrolling) without tweaking any of ksynaptics' options.

looks like a ksynaptics problem?

Actually this is a Xorg issue. If you do not set the following option in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, then you cannot disable the touchpad.

        Option "SHMConfig" "on"

Richard, I do not believe that that's the issue. As soon as I read your message I took a look at my xorg.conf file. There's already a Option "SHMConfig" "on" entry in it and the "toggle touchpad" keyboard button still does nothing.

So, then is this a ksynaptics issue after all?

Poking the bug to see if it's dead. Half a year untouched and incomplete.

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

You should be able to turn the touchpad off using xinput. The new xserver allows changing input device properties at runtime.