[PLUG] Issue on laptop w/trackpad disabled

[Ben Koenig]

This reminds me of 2012 when they released the unity desktop for 12.04 LTS
(the first Unity LTS release, unless I'm forgetting something). Unity adds
a lot of keyboard-driven functionality that typically wasn't included in
many distros by default.

I was at oscon that year, and I stopped by the Ubuntu booth to ask about
all these new fancy features. The guy manning their booth was about 19/20
years old (close to my age at the time), and immediately started showing me
all these fancy keyboard shortcuts to search files, open apps, the works.

At this point I was having trouble keeping up with the key combos, so I
asked him "Those shortcuts look cool, but what if I forget the key
combinations? Is there a way to pull up a list, like a cheatsheet?"
Without saying anything, one of his fingers twitched, and a list of all
keyboard shortcuts appeared on the screen. Then he told me, "You can open
up a list of all the keyboard shortcuts as a reminder"

It is nice to see that here in 2019, 7 years later, Ubuntu still relies on
a keyboard shortcut to teach users how to use keyboard shortcuts.

On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 4:10 PM Denis Heidtmann <denis.heidtmann at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Found it!
> super held down launches keyboard short cut list.
> super 9 launches system settings, then two tabs followed by four right
> arrows gets to Mouse and touchpad icon.
> Enter then launches the Mouse and touchpad screen.  Then three tabs and
> Enter toggles the touchpad on.
> Now the touchpad is on, and it can be used as usual.
>
> Easy when you have the secret pirate treasure map: super 9, 2 tabs, 4 rt.
> arrow, enter, 3 tabs, enter.
>
> On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 3:22 PM Ben Koenig <techkoenig at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Looks like I need to update my desktop comparison table with the
> following:
> > +-----------------+
> > | DE      | Score |
> > +-----------------+
> > | KDE     |  1    |
> > | Ubuntu  |  0    |
> > +-----------------+
> >
> > Sorry, I like competition. Gotta compare those pros and cons :)
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 5, 2019 at 6:44 PM Denis Heidtmann <
> denis.heidtmann at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Great idea for a keyboard shortcut.  But Ubuntu 18.04 does not seem to
> > have
> > > a default related to the touchpad.  I will have to learn how to create
> a
> > > custom shortcut.
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jul 4, 2019 at 8:47 PM Ben Koenig <techkoenig at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Wow, according to the manual for the x240 there isn't an Fn
> > > > combination to enable/disable the touchpad. And now that I look at my
> > > > Thinkpad E485... I don't have one either. Maybe that's the new trend.
> > > >
> > > > Alternatively, you could set a normal keyboard shorcut in your
> desktop
> > > > of choice. I'm using KDE5 and the default "toggle touchpad" shortcut
> > > > works. I assume that other desktops would offer equivalent shortcuts,
> > > > which might be what you want to do here. I'm using <super>+t as a
> > > > touchpad toggle.
> > > >
> > > > On Thu, Jul 4, 2019 at 6:24 PM Fred James <fredjame at fredjame.cnc.net
> >
> > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Denis Heidtmann wrote:
> > > > > > On my Lenovo X240 I have the trackpad disabled because my errant
> > > thumbs
> > > > > > have a nasty tendency to move the pointer around unwittingly.  I
> > use
> > > a
> > > > > > wireless USB mouse, which is always fine.  Except if the mouse
> were
> > > to
> > > > > > fail, I have no way to do anything, including saving, shutting
> > down,
> > > or
> > > > > > other recoveries.  This has not happened, but I have tested it
> and
> > > have
> > > > > > found no solutions.  The track pointer still moves the cursor,
> but
> > > > there is
> > > > > > no way to "click".  The function keys do not include access to
> the
> > > > track
> > > > > > pad.  Any suggestions for a recovery should I have a failure?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks,
> > > > > > -Denis
> > > > > I am thinking maybe keep a USB mouse on hand (not wireless) ... I
> am
> > > > > thinking that by switching to that, the box should see it and be
> able
> > > to
> > > > > use it?  I am seeing USB meeses for less than $15.
> > > > > Hope that helps
> > > > > Regards
> > > > > Fred James
> > > > >
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