I have tried some linux desktops (gnome, cinnamon, mate, xfce, lxde, budgie, etc), but only KDE that doesn't have option to disable touchpad completely. I only saw these options on Touchpad setting:
* Disable touchpad when typing
* Disable touchpad when mouse is plugged in

I am using Thinkpad laptop which has trackpoint / pointing-stick. I only use trackpoint, so I want to disable the touchpad completely. But it seems KDE lacks of option to disable the touchpad completely.

Thinkpad user here as well and the only way around it for me is to keep my usb mouse transceiver plugged in. The plus side is that the mouse doesn't have to be turned on so I could leave the mouse at home but leave the transceiver plugged in and it will still keep the touchpad disabled. I hate touchpads. I tend to hit it while typing. The first thing I do when using a new flavor of linux is to disable it but not on plasma/kde. There might be an option to disable it in the bios. I'm going to try a restart and see.

Yup, hit the blue thinkVantage key to interrupt startup - hit F1 to enter bios - use arrow keys and Enter key to make choices -

Config > Mouse & Keyboard > Touchpad - (Automatic or Disable are the two choices). It's probably set to Automatic - hit enter > use arrow keys to highlight Disable > hit Enter > Hit F10 to save and exit.

I use a Logitech M325 mouse. Cordless, usb, not too big, not too small, faster than the trackpoint for me but on the go, I use the trackpoint.

Disabling touchpad in bios doesn't work for some thinkpad like T450. I find out the touchpad setting in bios for T450 doesn't really disable the touchpad, it only set a flag that a touchpad driver (in Windows particularly) could read and respond accordingly. Unfortunately, linux driver won't read the flag so that's why the touchpad is still working in linux even if you have disabled the touchpad in bios.

After digging around I found a workaround:
1) Enable "Disable touchpad when mouse is plugged in" option.
2) Remove "IBM Trackpoint" from the Ignored devices list.

This will make the OS sees the trackpoint device as a mouse hence it will disable the touchpad.

You can also set a shortcut key for "Disable touchpad" or "Toggle Touchpad" and hit they key, but I don't really like this method. Also The Toggle Touchpad functionality is currently broken (tested in fedora v27 + kde), when I pressed the toggle shortcut key, it will always disable touchpad only, pressing the shortcut key again won't enable the touchpad, it keeps showing the disabled touchpad indicator.


I hope someone can mention this issue to the kDE developer so they can add UI input to disable the touchpad completely rather than just disable for certain condition. It's hard to believe the most popular linux desktop doesn't have this simple feature.

Add your vote here in the brainstorm board; viewtopic.php?f=83&t=142784

Found another option for disabling touchpad

System Settings > Starup and Shutdown > Background Services - under Startup Services you can disable touchpad

Strike that. touchpad still works when disabled under Startup Services - It does however disable the ability to enable/disable Input Devices > Touchpad > Enable/Disable