This should work with most synaptics built-in touchpads on most laptops. The only laptop I tested this on is the HP Pavilion g7 2010nr.

Here is how you can set it up so that the touchpad is turned off by default. I also include making scripts to toggle it on or off as you need to. You could make icons for this on your desktop or menu if you want.

1. Create a file called touchpad-off. Add this to the file:

       #!/bin/bash

       synclient TouchpadOff=1

2. Change the permissions of the file:

       $ sudo chown root:root touchpad-off

       $ sudo chmod 755 touchpad-off

3. Move it to the user bin directory: $sudo mv touchpad-off /usr/local/bin

4. Do steps 1 – 3 for a file called touchpad-on and use 0 for the TouchpadOff value. This way you can toggle it back on if needed.

Now follow these steps in KDE:

1. System Settings – Startup and Shutdown – Autostart – All Scripts

2. Add: /usr/local/bin/touchpad-off to the scripts to run on startup.