PSA: Plasma Wayland on laptop could still be a pain to use (bugs.kde.org)
from JokaJukka@lemmy.world to linux@lemmy.ml on 09 Sep 2023 09:09
https://lemmy.world/post/4725811

I thought it would be great to spread awareness about this issue, hence I’m sharing it with you here.

In X11 there is a nice feature called “Turn off touchpad while mouse is plugged in” - it’s a lifesaver when you have a laptop with big touchpad; me and lots of people with this issue accidentally hit it all the time while typing.

Plasma X11 touchpad settings

However in Wayland this setting is missing. After some digging people found out that this is not an issue with the libinput driver itself (used for touchpads on Wayland), as it is supporting this feature for a while now; rather it’s an issue with the settings app itself, simply not implementing this feature while using Wayland.

Hope this will get attention from the community, as the recognition from the dev’s side is minimal.

#linux

threaded - newest

heartfelthumburger@sopuli.xyz on 09 Sep 2023 09:33 next collapse

Hmm, I’ve never noticed this. Hope it gets added back.

moreeni@lemm.ee on 09 Sep 2023 10:10 next collapse

The only time I could describe my experience with Plasma Wayland on laptop as painful was when Zoom was constantly crashing when I tried to screen share and it wasn’t even Plasma’s fault. So don’t exaggerate, Wayland session has its problems and the dev team is aware of it but generally it is usable for most people

bacteriostat@lemmy.one on 09 Sep 2023 10:16 next collapse

That’s just one specific issue. It doesn’t mean that the whole plasma wayland session is a pain. Been using it for more than a year now.

JokaJukka@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 10:20 next collapse

I do agree, and I’ve never said that. All I’m saying is that Plasma Wayland on laptops is for many people pain to use (and it looks like many agree with me here too).

I do believe that this should be resolved as Plasma 6 is shifting towards Wayland-first approach, and this would annoy most laptop users.

Rustmilian@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 19:19 collapse

Never been an issue for me; didn’t even know that the setting was missing.

BautAufWasEuchAufbaut@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Sep 2023 10:42 collapse

I was actually really confused, the title and post seemed so disconnected

Sir_Simon_Spamalot@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 10:56 next collapse

It could be a pain, yes, but not a showstopper.

JokaJukka@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 11:10 collapse

What a nice and civilized way to say that title is misleading. Changing it rn. Thank you sir!

That’s why Lemmy >> Reddit

MaliciousKebab@sh.itjust.works on 09 Sep 2023 12:46 next collapse

Well, even when using X11 I preferred manually toggling my touchpad, but usually my mouse stays plugged for more than a few days so even then it doesn’t bother me that much to just toggle it once a week maybe. Not to invalidate the problem, it’s just how my experience is with wayland currently.

backhdlp@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Sep 2023 14:23 next collapse

me and lots of people with this issue accidentally hit it all the time while typing.

Can’t you just use the disable while typing setting?

JokaJukka@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 14:36 collapse

I’ve checked and not only for me this setting does not seem to work on Wayland. It is briefly mentioned in the linked bug report.

Limitless_screaming@kbin.social on 09 Sep 2023 15:57 next collapse

It does work, and it's pretty annoying when you discover it's on, by playing HTML games.

moreeni@lemm.ee on 09 Sep 2023 18:26 collapse

I discovered it when playing Minetest and had to use trackpad for 2 days until I finally discovered I can just disable that setting

backhdlp@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Sep 2023 18:55 next collapse

It works for me on Wayland

Hildegarde@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 19:08 collapse

It works for me on wayland. I’m running KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.7.

dinckelman@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 16:34 collapse

If anything, plasma on a laptop specifically had been more usable a considerable amount of time before it became usable on desktop, due to a whole range of reasons. The touchpad has never been an issue for me, but depending on how yours works, it could be problematic