TWC Just tried Desktop Session: Plasma (Wayland) on my 22.04 install

[Snowhog]

Switched from Desktop Session: Plasma (X11) to Plasma (Wayland) at the SDDM Login screen. Not so long story made shorter: As long as Plasma (X11) remains an option, I won't be using Plasma (Wayland) for my Desktop Session.

Under Plasma (Wayland), there is a missing configuration setting in Touchpad (System Settings > Input Devices) that is an ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE for me, and that's the Enable/Disable Touchpad. It includes the setting: Disable touchpad when mouse is plugged in

Package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics gives me that feature, and on my laptop, I always look for and install that package after installing a new Kubuntu.

[Beerislife]

I tried it once, after I entered my password and hit the enter key it thought about it for a while then went straight back to the login screen. I couldn't be bothered to troubleshoot it and have never tried again since. Not for me...

[claydoh]

Xorg is not disappearing any time soon, and neither will Plasma require it, at least for some time as well.

Anyway. ,The missing disable option is odd. Been using Wayland exclusively on my laptop (Intel) and dual-monitor PC AMD graphics), since at least August.
Won't say it has been painless over the past 6+ months, but other than Latte Dock on the PC being a bear in the early stages, it has been mostly painless on my laptop, with the added bonus of trouble-free and hacky-script-free automatic screen rotation.
I could not tell the difference in gaming via Steam on the PC, either.

As to disabling the touchpad, I definitely have this option on my Ideapad, as well as the option to enable the systray widget to toggle it off and on.

I am on Neon, so the same Plasma, but older kernel.
I wonder what the difference is that might be causing this? I definitely am not using the old synaptic touch pad driver, for sure. I wonder if its presence on your system breaks that, as it doesn't support Wayland at all iirc?. Just hypothesizing.
I'll have ti check in the morning, but the trackpad *may* be disabled automatically by kwin when a mouse has plugged in. I am probably wrong though. Maybe it is just has more modern palm rejection methods? Been a while since I used a mouse on a laptop, so I may be rusty in the memory gas tank.

[kc1di]

Switched from Desktop Session: Plasma (X11) to Plasma (Wayland) at the SDDM Login screen. Not so long story made shorter: As long as Plasma (X11) remains an option, I won't be using Plasma (Wayland) for my Desktop Session.

Under Plasma (Wayland), there is a missing configuration setting in Touchpad (System Settings > Input Devices) that is an ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE for me, and that's the Enable/Disable Touchpad. It includes the setting: Disable touchpad when mouse is plugged in

Package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics gives me that feature, and on my laptop, I always look for and install that package after installing a new Kubuntu.

I don't even have that ability on the X11 Plasma any longer. It is not there under settings. So I've installed touchpad-indicator via a ppa to do it for me. I'm with you however would like to see it added back as an option. Especially the disable touchpad when mouse is plugged in. Touchpad-indicator is only a work around for a feature that used to be native.

[GreyGeek]

For me, neither Kubuntu, since I can't remember when, nor Neon, since I first installed it last September, have the option to turn off the touchpad when the mouse is plugged in. Now, as you know, it supposedly disables the mouse when one starts typing, but I don't see an option to set how long it turns off, and while typing I've had the cursor leap across the page to other locations while typing.

I had never considered using Wayland and always thought that it would automatically become the default setting sometime "soon". I just set Wayland as my default DDM.
I am using the 5.14.0-1024-oem #26-Ubuntu SMP Thu Feb 17 14:35:50 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux kernel.
Glxgears only shows the vert refresh rate of 60fps, as it did in X11. Testing some graphical apps my Intel IRISxe GPU is running great. I just finished a round of solitaire to see how the graphic speed was, but my acid test is UniverseSandbox^2, which runs as smooth as silk.

So, I'll stay with Wayland until it barfs a lung.

[kc1di]

For me, neither Kubuntu, since I can't remember when, nor Neon, since I first installed it last September, have the option to turn off the touchpad when the mouse is plugged in. Now, as you know, it supposedly disables the mouse when one starts typing, but I don't see an option to set how long it turns off, and while typing I've had the cursor leap across the page to other locations while typing.

It used to be an option to disable the touchpad when mouse was plugged it but it has not been there for at least several releases of plasma now. If you install debian KDE it's still there in that version which is quite old now. I think MX-KDE it's also there. I kind of miss it wish the dev's would put it back in. But touchpad-indicator via PPA works well also. (Note: if you are using 22.04 you will need to change the ppa to focal to be able to install it since they wont' upgrade the repository until sometime after final is released.)
Wayland seems to be working well here. But haven't really put it to any tests yet.
My old fingers don't work well with a touchpad any more

[claydoh]

Ok, I am having brane fahrts while investigating, so while I do kinda know the answer, I am looking for search inspiration:

If we have palm rejection (ie disabled while typing), why exactly do we need to have the touchhpad disabled with a mouse plugged in?
I am trying to discover why this isn't an option in libinput, and only finding rabbit holes :O (this issue is all Red Hat's fault lol)

[claydoh]

If you install debian KDE it's still there i

Debian and MX are old enough that they are still using the old, unmaintained/abandoned synaptics driver over the kernel driver (libinput). It is a general Linux thing, and not specificc to KDE in any way.

[Snowhog]

If we have palm rejection (ie disabled while typing), why exactly do we need to have the touchhpad disabled with a mouse plugged in?

Well, for me, my laptop has a small-ish, off-centered touchpad, and my palms barely make contact with it when typing.

One might then opine: "What's the issue then? If you aren't contacting the touchpad, then it isn't controlling cursor movement."
To which I'd reply: "I don't want an active touchpad when my mouse is plugged in, which it always is. I don't like touchpads. I don't use touchpads. I want the touchpad OFF when the mouse is plugged in. Period."

[GreyGeek]

Amen! Preach it, Bro!

[MoonRise]

To which I'd reply: "I don't want an active touchpad when my mouse is plugged in, which it always is. I don't like touchpads. I don't use touchpads. I want the touchpad OFF when the mouse is plugged in. Period."

AMEN to that!!

[kc1di]

I'll Second Snowhog's comments and add with my touchpad even with the setting disable while typing it still cause the cursor to jump while I'm typing. Which cause real problems if i'm typing fast.
It sure would be nice to have that setting back. Like I said there are work a rounds but they are not KDE centric. On Mint Cinnamon the option is there. But not in Gnome. I know Mint uses libinput so it can be done there also. For some reason KDE Dev's choose to eliminate that function. But they may have had good reason. Just wish it was still there.

[claydoh]

For some reason KDE Dev's choose to eliminate that function.

The other are probably applying a workaround (such as a custom udev rule or device quirk), as libinput iirc doesn't have such an option in itself.

In any case, it wouldn't be Linux if we didn't have something to gripe about, and someone blame

I also forget I an probably the 'youngster" here. I should be used to to the cane-shaking
I''ll shut up now,

[GreyGeek]

I switched back to X11. Wayland had too many little niggles that interfered with the operation of the desktop.
For example, pop open a menu on foxpro and move the mouse down the list of options. The highlighted option is often one or two options or more above the option underneath the mouse pointer.

Since X11 isn't going away any time soon I will give it another try next year.

[simonsaysthis]

For me and my 4k monitor, choosing between X11 and Wayland on Plasma feels like a lose-lose situation. If I go with X11 (200%) I have to live with all sorts of KWin elements which remain unscaled. No surprise since you have Plasma, Qt and KWin all having their own scaling logic. Some GTK apps like Timeshift also don't scale properly and look atrocious.

If I go with Wayland, I have to deal with blurry upscaling of apps running with xWayland. VLC, Steam, Timeshift, a lot of snaps etc are all affected.

And here comes the kicker: none of these problems exist on Gnome. I so want to use Plasma that I exchanged my Nvidia card for an AMD GPU. But I am less inclined to now also sell my 4k monitor, so I can run Plasma unscaled on FHD.

[GreyGeek]

.....
Since X11 isn't going away any time soon I will give it another try next year.

A year has past and I just switched to Wayland. The touchpad setting has the checkbox "Device enabled". I checked it and hit "Apply". The touchpad is off.

Now I'm going to see how stable it is.