Turn KDE Trackpad Off

I use Slackware Linux on a DELL D630 laptop. I never use a mouse and I rely on the trackpad for all my mousing needs.

I was trying to adjust the brightness. DELL uses the Function (Fn) key + Up and Down Arrows.

I was trying to turn the brightness down and I accidentally pressed: Fn + (auto brightness) Left Arrow which apparently is a KDE keyboard-shortcut to turn off the touchpad permanently.

How handy… Not! There is a popup message letting you know the touchpad has been turned off.

Now it is only turned off for the user that is logged in. I can’t find a keyboard shortcut for turning it back on.

So now every time I reboot, I have to get out a mouse and search for the trackpad and turn it back on.

Here’s what I have to do now each and every time I reboot. Open a terminal.

# xinput list

I usually find my touchpad on 11 or 12. It seems to jump around each boot. This is what it looks like

AlpsPS/2 DualPoint TouchPad id=12 [slave pointer (2)]

So this time it is #12. Next run this command:

# xinput set-prop 12 "Device Enabled" 1

This immediately restores the trackpad.

set-prop to whatever id number your touchpad is. I believe the 1 at the end means true.

I don’t know if there is a permanently way to restore the trackpad. I’m sure there is a setting somewhere. Of course I could create a new user.