Steps to get a simple shourtcut to enable/disable touchpad on a dell 3750 (it should work also on other laptops):
1. create a custom bash script “toggle-touchpad” (see details here) with this code:
#!/bin/bash # this script queries the status of the ImPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint device # via xinput and disables / enables the device accordingly. #get touchpad id XINPUTNUM=`xinput list 'ImPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint' | sed -n -e's/.*id=\([0-9]\+\).*/\1/p'` TPSTATUS=$(gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled) #if status fails, exit 1 test -z $TPSTATUS && exit 1 if [[ $TPSTATUS == true ]]; then xinput set-int-prop $XINPUTNUM "Device Enabled" 8 0; gconftool-2 --type bool -s /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled false else xinput set-int-prop $XINPUTNUM "Device Enabled" 8 1; gconftool-2 --type bool -s /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled true fi
Thanks to http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11504018 for this script (these guys kick ass)
2. check that the script works (run the script to enable/disable touchpad).
3. create a keyboard shortcut for your script:
- open “System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts”
- click on “+” and type “toggle-touchpad” in the name field, and the path to your script in the command field (should be something like “/home/john/bin/toggle-touchpad” )
- click “Apply”
- click on “Disabled” column and type the shourtcut you’d like to use (something like Ctrl+Alt+0)
4. close and test your new shortcut


Recent Comments