How can I create an icon on the launcher to disable keyboard + rotate the screen?

Question

I have 2 in 1 pc with Ubuntu. I was wondering if there is a way to write a command which toggles an internal keyboard on and off, and rotates the screen 90 degrees left (or right), and put it on a launcher on the left. Is there any way to do that?

It would be nice, if I can just tap it to disable keyboard (+ touchpad) and rotate the screen 90 degrees, and tap one more time to go back to the right orientation with functioning keyboard (+touchpad).

Answer 1

Script + launcher to rotate the screen and toggle Keyboard, in one step

The script below will both

• rotate (toggle) your screen (either left or right)

• disable (toggle) the keyboard you defined to be disabled

  

  

The script

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess

# --- set the name of the screen, and the rotate direction and the id of your keyboard below
screen = "DVI-I-1"
rotate = "left"
disable = ["9", "14"]
# ---

matchline = [
    l.split() for l in subprocess.check_output(["xrandr"]).decode("utf-8").splitlines()\
    if l.startswith(screen)
    ][0]
s = matchline[
    matchline.index([s for s in matchline if s.count("+") == 2][0])+1
    ]

newset = ["normal", "1"] if s == rotate else [rotate, "0"]
subprocess.call(["xrandr", "--output", screen, "--rotate", newset[0]])
for item in disable:
    subprocess.call(["xinput", "set-prop", item, "Device Enabled", newset[1]])

How to use

1. Copy the script into an empty file, save it as rotate.py

2. Copy the launcher below into an empty file, save it as rotate.desktop

   [Desktop Entry]
   Exec=python3 /path/to/rotate.py
   Icon=preferences-desktop-keyboard
   Name=Rotate & Disable Keyboard
   Type=Application
   

   In the line Exec=, replace the /path/to/rotate.py by the real path to the rotate.py script. Make the .desktop file executable. It will show an icon like:

   

3. Now you have to find out two things:

   a. the name of your screen (the one you want to rotate): Run in a terminhal:

   xrandr
   

   Look for a line with "connected" in it. The first string is the screen name, looking like the example in the script. (could also be VGA-1 or something like that)

   b. The id of your keyboard, the one to be disabled. Run in a terminal the command:

   xinput -list
   

   as described in this answer.

4. Enter the found items in the head of the script:

   # --- set the name of the screen, and the rotate direction and the id of your keyboard below
   screen = "DVI-I-1"
   rotate = "left"
   disable = ["9"]
   # ---
   

Now you're done, either use the .desktop file directly from your desktop or move it to ~/.local/share/applications and drag it to the launcher from Dash.

If you do the latter, note that after rotating the screen, the icon will be unresponsive for appr. 7 seconds.

Have fun!