Any plan to toggle trackpad sensing with a F1 - F12 Key?

Framework Laptop 13
1

I almost exclusively use my Framework 13 for programming. I almost never use the mouse when programming. As such, I want the ability to toggle touchpad input.

Having the touchpad erroneously pick up the palm of my hand as input is maddening! When this happens when programming, it completely takes me out of the zone and it feels like the time wasted adds up to at least a minute per hour. A minute per hour is the same as an entire hour wasted per 60 hours of programming. (This is a non-trivial amount of time!)

I used to have a laptop where there was a dedicated F1-F12 key for disabling the touchpad… and it was a godsend.

I know I’m not the only person who wants such a key. Does anyone know if the framework team have plans to map one of the F1-F12 keys to a touchpad toggle? (Or even release a opt-in patch that does it?)

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3

Obviously I’m aware of software-based solutions to this, but I have zero interest in them. I don’t think using a software-based solution to a hardware-based flaw is the right approach long-term.

4

If it’s really that maddening for you, then I would think any solution would be welcome, even if you feel it might be less than ideal.

As to the solution you would prefer, I have not seen the Framework team mention plans to add that. And technically your preferred solution would also be a software solution. It’s just a difference of implementing it within the EC (Embedded Controller) instead. Firmware is a type of software.

The EC firmware is open source. So you’re welcome to create a patch if you want. github.com/FrameworkComputer/EmbeddedController

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5

The only hardware flaw here is your palm. Root cause identification is important [to get right] before finding a solution…obviously.

Now, as to a hardware fix: Get a wrist rest and place it over (and across) the touchpad. If you look at traditional touch typist, the fingers hang down, while keeping the wrist relatively neutral. If your palm is is touching the touchpad, then your wrist is actually bending upwards. Poor ergonomics if you aim to type well. You need to get the desk / keyboard deck lower or raise your chair, then use an external monitor (at eye level ish).

There, hardware fix. :slight_smile:

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6

There’s no need to insult people who are genuinely struggling and asking for assistance.

That said, thompson, this is a user forum, and while Framework team members do read the posts here, it’s not ensured that a team member will see or respond to your feature request. The community has offered you alternate solutions such as using software to remap the keyboard or to patch the EC yourself, but like it was mentioned earlier, this doesn’t seem to be a feature currently on the roadmap for the Framework team. While I understand that it’s important to you, the Framework team don’t seem to agree that it is necessary to their customer base as a whole, though we appreciate you leaving this suggestion for a future feature to be added.

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7

You may think such a response is funny, but be aware that on average three people approach me a month upon seeing that I’m working on a Framework 13, and ask me how I’m finding the laptop.

I try to describe my experience with them, which includes both positive and negative experiences, but I will now also be telling them that a portion of the Framework community is toxic.

8

Thank you, this is most helpful. Although I have zero experience with embedded systems, now knowing that I could, after some learning, create a fork of the EC firmware which maps (say F9) to a touchpad toggle makes me feel like I have overwhelming power at my fingertips. I will likely look into this further, hopefully the build process for the EC is straightforwards.

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9

I believe I responded factually.

  1. If the “touchpad erroneously pick up”…then it’s a faulty touchpad.

  2. If your palm is not there, does it pick up phantom touches? (Similar thinking to “What spills out of your cup?”, goes to this point, and the next point)

  3. If you find another person informing you that “mistakes is made by your palm” is insulting, I can’t help what you think.

10

I do recognise the struggle is real. I, too, experience this on multiple laptops with varying degree depending on my palm size, my energy level, palm rejection implementation, touchpad size and location…and other factors. I find a wrist rest works for me, in a simple universal way across multiple laptops.

12

I’ve learnt a different set of lessons:

  1. The world doesn’t need any of us, and certainly doesn’t fit into anyone’s world view. But also, you don’t owe the world anything.
  2. You owe yourself the truth, not some chewed up, digested and spat out form of truth that fits your particular appetite.
  3. Help comes in many forms, even in ways you dislike.

Yes, I don’t disagree.

1 Like
13

I always switch touchpad tapping off completely and use the two clickers under the pad that require quite a firm press for left and right-clicking. I find it far easier on all laptops, both when I am using a mouse and when I am using the touchpad.

14

Did anybody find a simple hardware or software solution to toggling the trackpad on and off from the keyboard without having to go into the Windows settings app? Thank you!

16

I did, but I couldn’t see anything at that link (or the one at the bottom of your message) that answered my question; nor could I find it searching the forum:

Did anybody find a simple hardware or software solution to toggling the trackpad on and off from the keyboard without having to go into the Windows settings app? Thank you!

The best solution I’ve come up with so far (under Windows 11) is to set up a desktop shortcut pointing to:

ms-settings:devices-touchpad

And then setting the shortcut key for that shortcut to Ctrl + Alt + T.

If you run the shortcut either by clicking on it or using the shortcut key, the spacebar will toggle the touchpad on and off.

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17

You can turn the touchpad on and off with wmi or powershell.

Edit: check this out Checking for enabled/disabled PNP devices in powershell - Stack Overflow

Make your script toggle the touchpad
Make a shortcut to powershell
Edit shortcut to run the powrshell script you made
Move pin shortcut to position on taskbar
Press windows 1-9 based on left to right position of shortcut to toggle youe touchpad

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18

Well this is the working code to do it:

$device   = Get-PnpDevice | Where-Object {$_.FriendlyName -like '*touch pad*'}
if ($device) {
    switch ($device.Status) {
        'OK'    { Write-Host "Disabling device"; Disable-PnpDevice -InstanceId $device.instanceid -Confirm:$false; break }
        default { Write-Host "Enabling device";  Enable-PnpDevice -InstanceId $device.instanceid -Confirm:$false }
    }
}
else {
    Write-Warning "Device with ID '$deviceId' not found"
}

Issue is that it requires elevation to administrator

1 Like