Aral Balkan
If things don’t improve, this StarLite will likely be the last Linux device I get.
Not asking for much, just:
- Battery life to at least match my ten-year-old iPad. (I’d be happy with something lasted more than two-
(sorry, cursor just jumped while typing that – see point 2, below)
-three hours.
- Trackpad that disables while typing so I can, well, type.
Basically, just a machine that gets the basics right.
(Really - sorry cursor jumped - want to love this machine. Just can’t.)
Aral Balkan
The trackpad issue, by the way: https://github.com/StarLabsLtd/firmware/issues/182
(And the battery issue… well, that’s been a problem with the previous Starlabs labtop I had too.)
Aral Balkan
(And yeah, I’d much rather be coding instead of typing th – cursor just jumped, sorry – -is but, due to this trackpad issue, I really can’t.)
Aral Balkan
@hyde How’s the battery life?
~/hyde
@aral I have a Tuxedo one for 5 years if I remember correctly, and it works well so far.
F7 Boot Option
@aral Buy without an OS and stick your own Linux distro on it. I'm afraid that Star Labs has declined in product, IMHO.
Aral Balkan
@linuxgnome I did :) (Although StarLabs installs a wide range of operating systems, to their credit.) This is a firmware and/or hardware issue with the magnetic keyboar, ju- oops, cursor just jumped while I was writing the apology for almost accidentally closing this reply – d – sorry –
*sigh*
Aral Balkan
Right, disabled the trackpad entirely and I can at least type again.
Thankfully, it’s a tablet (although you can’t use it for programming – at least in Terminal, e.g., with Helix – in tablet mode because the on-screen keyboard in GNOME does not have all the keys you need. e.g., ESC is missing. Kind of a biggie when using a modal editor) so I can use the touch-screen if I need to (not ideal ergonomically when using it docked but goodness it feels good to be able to type again.
Aral Balkan
@bitnik @linuxgnome Hmm, actually, I’m wondering if it’s only an issue when tap-to-click is enabled. (I believe so.)
Flittermouse 🔞🐩 :ablobbass: :ablobdrum: :ablobkeyboard:
Aral Balkan
@linuxgnome Ah, sorry to hear it. I wouldn’t be brave enough to open this up :)
F7 Boot Option
@aral My bad, then. What I dislike most is the non-modular construction (yes, a common problem). I HATE soldered RAM. I dislike it when, if you disengage the battery, you can' get the sodding thing connected again. I almost bricked my StarLite - which I can now only use with the power cable.
Aral Balkan
Hmm, I wonder if this is actually an issue with tap-to-click not getting disabled when the disable touchpad while typing setting is on in GNOME and/or the StarLite firmware.
I’ve just re-enabled the trackpad but turned off tap to click and I don’t seem to be seeing the problem (and the mouse cursor does disappear while typing, which is did before too).
Hmm… I’ll update the issue and fingers crossed they’ll be able to fix it for tap-to-click too.
Aral Balkan
@bebna Yep, I’m wondering now if it doesn’t work for tap-to-click… https://github.com/StarLabsLtd/firmware/issues/182
Bebna
are u using libinput? that comes with palm detection and disable-w-typing
```bash
libinput list-devices
```
rateexportpilot
@aral @starlabssystems I have System 76's Lemur Pro and I don't think I've ever had the track pad problem. Batter life is pretty great on it too. Might be worth a look - it's also entirely user serviceable, which is nice.
Aral Balkan
@rateexportpilot @starlabssystems Thanks – I would have but I’ll be giving @system76 a miss after this interaction:
Jakub Klawiter :mastodon:
@aral
??
> Trackpad that disables while typing so I can, well, type.
maybe you have to turn it on? :>
> Basically, just a machine that gets the basics right.
Maybe i'm using it too long, but it is working right IMO
Aral Balkan
@wariat Yep, the setting is on but, while tap to click is on, it still registers taps as clicks while typing.
entropealabs
@aral I've moved to a desktop machine full time now, but System76 has some solid laptops. I've had 4 of them. The new ones have some pretty strong battery life as well.
Aral Balkan
@entropealabs Thanks, I’m on desktop too usually but currently visiting family. I’d have considered System76 (and was previously a fan of their work, but not after this: https://ar.al/2024/06/23/fedora-has-been-shipping-with-a-broken-screen-reader-for-nine-years-but-the-real-problem-is-me/)
~/hyde
@aral so 3hours and 15 minutes more or less a couple of minutes.
I put a movie in loop to see, and had signal opened, and librewolf with 188 tabs opened
Aral Balkan
@hyde Thanks :)
Aral Balkan
@acesabe @bitnik @linuxgnome Yeah, it’s set as disabled in GNOME for me under Fedora but that doesn’t disable tap-to-click.
Acesabe
@aral
According to this post https://community.frame.work/t/solved-disable-touchpad-while-typing-ubuntu-linux/26477/6
touchpad is auto disabled while typing by default in Ubuntu 22.04 (and newer presumably) I don't know what flavour distro you are using but it's a pretty popular query/request but I'm not seeing a lot of extensions/apps etc to manage this behaviour (messing with lib configs yes, gui not so much)
@bitnik @linuxgnome
Aral Balkan
@GuerillaOntologist @linuxgnome GNOME has that too. And it’s on. So it’s either an issue in GNOME where tap-to-click isn’t disabled as part of that or it’s an issue with @starlabssystems StarLite firmware.
Josh Davis
@aral @linuxgnome
Shitty. Plasma has a specific setting for turning off the touchpad when typing, so maybe it's a DE thing and not a linux thing? No idea about the battery life and other issues though. I've never owned a new laptop, so battery life on mine has always been low and I've always just assumed it's the age of the battery and not the OS. Not great to find out otherwise 🙄
StarLabs Systems
@aral @GuerillaOntologist @linuxgnome
Hi Aral,
After a brief chat in the office, I've been told it's an issue with GNOME.
I spent the best part of the day trying to construct a reply to that effect without feeling like I was finger-pointing because, on the company account, that's a no-go.
And then I went down this rabbit hole:
Aral Balkan
@starlabssystems @GuerillaOntologist @linuxgnome Thank you for looking into it. Good to know :)
Aral Balkan
@bebna Thanks, yeah, the issue appears to be that GNOME doesn’t disable tap to click as part of disabling the trackpad while typing.
Bebna
otherwise palm detection should take care of most problems.
How is the keyboard u use designed? how are you hands positioned on it ?
Bebna
uff Gnome
didn't expect you to use such a fat monster
Gnome overrides settings you have to check with
```bash
gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad disable-while-typing
```
that tool can also set
```bash
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad disable-while-typing true
```
u can find all options here: https://github.com/GNOME/gsettings-desktop-schemas/blob/master/schemas/org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.gschema.xml.in
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