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how to turn OFF trackpad in Leopard 10.5.6. *TESTED*

Re: Disabling Track Pad W/mouse Connected.

Lumio said:
Hi,
now I did it with terminal and after that I fixed the permissions (with Disk Utility)... same thing again: After restart Trackpad is availabl... I think it's becaus I have a Bluetooth Mouse that is not connected from the beginning on.
Click to expand...

I doubt that that is the cause: I have a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse & I check the box & it disables the Track Pad. Then when I replace the Track Pad Preference w/the original 1, it stays disabled when my M. M. is in use & automatically re-activates the Track Pad when it is disconnected. This is true on both my PowerBook G4 & on my Late 2008 MacBook Pro. It also works on my sister in-law's Early 2009 MBP.

I don't know what to tell you if you are following procedure & it doesn't work this way. Sorry.

Permissions can also be changed in Get Info of the item in question, you know.
 
Thank you for this fix.

My "disable" function didn't disappear until the 10.5.7 update. I never use a trackpad, so this was driving me crazy.
 
3pointers said:
Thank you for this fix.

My "disable" function didn't disappear until the 10.5.7 update. I never use a trackpad, so this was driving me crazy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Im glad to help you all out, hope, in 10.6 this will be essential feature..

EDIT:

in 10A394 (10.6) seed is as I expected new prefPane, but without feature to ignore trackpad when mouse is presented, Ive tested my modded prefPane and all is working fine!
 
Thanks to kemo for this hack^H^H^H^Hmajor improvement!

I have a question: do any of you happen to know what function is being called under the covers by this pref pane software to tell the system to ignore the trackpad when there is a mouse connected? If so, I could write a program or an Apple Script to invoke this function at the appropriate time after reboot or login.

I want this because I'm another person who has to manually unset and reset the values on this improved preference pane after every restart of my multi-touch MacBook Pro.

Anyway, thanks again for this lifesaving feature!
.​
 
Lumio said:
That would be soo great!!
Click to expand...
I figured it out! (i.e., how to automatically turn off the trackpad upon login when using using kemo's modified pref pane)

Step 1: Install kemo's Trackpad.prefPane as described in the discussion above.

Step 2: Go to System Preferences -> Universal Access and make sure that Enable access for assistive devices is checked. This is needed so that the Apple Script defined below can automatically change checkbox settings.

Step 3: Create the following Apple Script and save it as an app:
Code: 
tell application "System Preferences"
	activate
	set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.trackpad"
end tell
delay 1
tell application "System Events"
	tell process "System Preferences"
		tell window "Trackpad"
			if value of checkbox "Ignore accidental trackpad input" of group 1 is 1 then
				click checkbox "Ignore accidental trackpad input" of group 1
			end if
			if value of checkbox "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present" of group 1 is 1 then
				click checkbox "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present" of group 1
			end if
			click checkbox "Ignore accidental trackpad input" of group 1
			click checkbox "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present" of group 1
		end tell
	end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences"
	quit
end tell

Step 4: Install this Apple Script app to run when you log in (make it one of the Login Items associated with your account).

I just did this under 10.5.7 on my multi-touch MBP, and it works perfectly!
.​
 
HippoMan said:
I figured it out! (i.e., how to automatically turn off the trackpad upon login when using using kemo's modified pref pane)
Click to expand...

Goodness, I have spent most of today searching for a solution to this problem with my MacBook Air, I had a cry and pleaded for help on another forum, grabbed a coffee, and then - find this thread! :eek:

Going to try this out tonight. Would this solution also carry-over and work in Bootcamp? (That is where I do the bulk of my typing at present)

Thanks to kemo and HippoMan :)

UPDATE: Tested it in Bootcamp: did not work first time. Had to go to Device manager, select the trackpad and disable it from there. OMG, after 4 months of typing HELL, I can finally type a sentence without having to correct it and re-type it due to trackpad touches!

Thank you!!

Ang
 
Yes, it works! Thanks to kemo and HippoMan :)

But can I load the script before Finder? because it really takes long :)
 
I've never lost the option to disable trackpad when mouse is present. With the upgrade to Snow Leopard, I couldn't find it in what I thought would be a normal place- mouse settings.

I did find the option to disable trackpad when mouse is present in
System Preference - Universal Access - Mouse/Trackpad - Ignore Trackpad when mouse is present.
 
hmm i lost that ability too :( but i have snow leopard (10.6.0) now and i still cannot disable my trackpad when i have my mighty mouse running....:/ help!
 
the option is still there on 10.6 go to system preferences->universal access->mouse and trackpad and viola. option for disable trackpad when mouse is present.
 
The Mook said:
the option is still there on 10.6 go to system preferences->universal access->mouse and trackpad and viola. option for disable trackpad when mouse is present.
Click to expand...

Thank you.

Why on Earth would they put it there?
 
ScandaLeX said:
I've never lost the option to disable trackpad when mouse is present. With the upgrade to Snow Leopard, I couldn't find it in what I thought would be a normal place- mouse settings.

I did find the option to disable trackpad when mouse is present in
System Preference - Universal Access - Mouse/Trackpad - Ignore Trackpad when mouse is present.
Click to expand...


I DID lose the ability, had the AppleScript running fine, but would lose the BlueTooth Mighty Mouse every once in awhile. So I had to keep a small wired mouse @ hand to get back my M. M.

So far, no such problem with Snow Kitty!!! THANK YOU, APPLE TECH. SUPPORT, for putting the switch back in (so cleanly).:):cool:
 
r.j.s said:
Thank you.

Why on Earth would they put it there?
Click to expand...

[rant]
Apple might have put it there to save face.

Their customer support people have made a big deal about telling callers that the inability to disable the unibody MBP's trackpad is a deliberate feature, and that Apple knows better than anyone what is best for you, the user, and get used to it (in so many words).

But after what was probably a flood of complaints about losing the ability to shut off the trackpad on those MBP models, I assume that Apple reluctantly gave in and re-enabled this feature in 10.6, but they put the option elsewhere so that they didn't have to look like they are actually responding to users' wishes (they'd hate for the user base to get too uppity).
[/rant]

... or at least that's MHO. :)
.​
 
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