Ubuntu
totem package

how to disable trackpad while using an external mice attached

Asked by ndv

I am a osx and ubuntu user. One of the feature I miss most using ubuntu is the OSX ability to automatically disable the trackpad while using an extenal plugged mouse on my laptop. Is there a way to achieve such behaviour with ubuntu (I'm using gutsy)?
thanks

a Second question is:
is thee a way to add bookmarks in the default ubuntu movie player in order to access frequent accessed video streams?
(i often see RAI television and it has the same url for the live feed)

thanks a lot and thanks for Ubuntu and your support!
Nicola Del Vacchio

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Herbert V. Riedel (hvr) said : 		#1

Have you noticed the System->Prefrences->Removable Drives and Media->Input Devices settings?
There you can provide a command to run upon hot-plugging input devices (but for some reason not when unplugging them... :-/), that way if you know how to disable your trackpad by command-line, you should be able to disable it on hot-plugging an external mouse...

hth

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ndv (ndv-excite) said : 		#2

Thanks Herbert,
I really appreciate your effort, but let's face it, it is not viable to disable the trackpad completely without the ability to automatically re-enable upon external mouse disconnection (it may leave me without mouse at all).
Second I don't have a clue on how to disable the trackpad programmatically.

thanks for your support, I really appreciate it
ndv

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Herbert V. Riedel (hvr) said : 		#3

well... you can also go low-level, and plug in into the udev framework and hook in your script there (of course this still needs you to know how to disable it "programmatically"); but I can't help you there right now, this is just meant as a hint where to look for a possible solution to your problem; maybe somebody else can provide more help

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