I am using KDE 4.8.5 and I cannot find a way to disable the mouse pad. I am using a laptop and the mouse pad is flush with the typing area, as a consequence it is almost impossible to type without activating the mouse pad causing all kinds of bizarre behavior. I can turn it off by session by using a function key combination. However, I would like to turn if off permanently or at least until I decide to activate it again. I have gone over the system settings numerous times but I have not been able to locate a way to disable the pad.

Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

systemsettings -> input devices -> touchpad ->

do you have package synaptiks installed? https://synaptiks.readthedocs.org/en/latest/

you could also try the command

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synclient TouchpadOff=1

systemsettings -> input devices -> touchpad ->

systemsetting -> input devices -> yields -. keyboard, mouse, joystick and remote controls, the touch pad option is not listed on 4.8.5 or at least not in my system.

do you have package synaptiks installed?

Unfortunately no, and the repositories for my system (Slackware 14.0) do not carry several of the dependencies. Searching
package providers like Slackbuild.org I was not able to find them either. I went ahead and attempted an install using pip but I was unable to install successfully.

synclient TouchpadOff=1

This works fine for the current session, but I was hoping to be able to disable the mouse pad permanently. Looks like I may have to wait until
Slackware updates KDE to 4.9 or 4.10.

I appreciate your help but it doesn't look like there is an easy fix to the problem.

try placing the command in ~/.kde[4]/env/myenv.sh if the folder/file does not exist create it, make it executable and add as the first line

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 #!/bin/bash

restart KDE and see if it works

might also work in your .login file

The Touchpad control module is part of Synaptiks to the best of my knowledge, and is not part of the KDE 4.10 or earlier releases to the best of my knowledge.

try placing the command in ~/.kde[4]/env/myenv.sh if the folder/file does not exist create it, make it executable and add as the first line

Works like a charm!

It may seem a simple thing but it was a constant annoyance for me, and I had spent considerable time, trying to find a solution previously - So, many thanks my friend!

Yep, our very own google is always a great source of all sorts of info

Could you mark this topic as solved so that people who are looking for a solution will find this thread and look at it?

Cheers

A handy script for "mousepad on ! off". Alt-F2 opens a line which enables one run "mousepad on | off".
#!/usr/bin/ruby

on_or_off = ARGV[0].to_s
if on_or_off.downcase == "on"
puts "Turning on mousepad"
`synclient TouchpadOff=0`
else
puts "Turning off mousepad"
`synclient TouchpadOff=1`
end

You might want to post that in the Tutorial & Tips forum as others may find it helpful.
As a further note - you could configure a keyboard shortcut (using Custom Shortcuts in System Settings > Shortcuts & Gestures) to execute either command as well.