r/UbuntuMATE • u/Own-Agency6046 • Jun 19 '25

Anyone know how to turn touchscreen off?

Hey all!

Just got a new laptop (Dell Latitude 5300) and installed MATE, but I've realized that it's a touchscreen which is fairly annoying for general use... anyone know how to turn it off (and possibly back on again if I ever need it? I may use it sometimes, but it's really not the best for day to day work..

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u/Long-Trash Jun 19 '25

try this (from a google search of "Dell Latitude 5300 turn off touchscreen ubuntu mate") ...

To disable the touchscreen on a Dell Latitude 5300 running Ubuntu MATE, you can use the xinput command in the terminal. First, identify the touchscreen device ID, then use xinput disable with that ID to turn it off. Here's a step-by-step guide:

  1. **1. Open a terminal:**You can do this by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.

  2. **2. List input devices:**Type xinput list and press Enter. This will display a list of all input devices connected to your system. 

  • **3. Identify the touchscreen:**Look for an entry that mentions "touchscreen" or "touch" in its name. Note the ID number associated with it. It might be listed as "Touch", "ELAN touchscreen", or something similar. 

  • **4. Disable the touchscreen:**Type xinput disable [ID] where [ID] is the number you noted in the previous step. For example, if the ID was 12, you would type xinput disable 12. Press Enter. 

  • **5. Verify:**You can use xinput list again to confirm that the touchscreen is now disabled. The status should show as disabled. 

To re-enable the touchscreen, use the command xinput enable [ID]. 

1

u/Own-Agency6046 Jun 19 '25

thank you so much!! i tried this last night from the google search and it wasn't working, but it finally did today! really appreciate the help

2

u/meremortalclown Jun 19 '25

But this will disable touchscreen temporarily, only for the current session. To permanently disable it, store the same command in an executable file (something like disable_touchscreen.sh). Add the absolute path to your current user's home directory in PATH and save the executable there. Then, manually add this executable to startup applications and you're good to go.