
Ask HN: Linux laptop with good multi-touch trackpad - true_tuna
I’m running a couple Linux machines (a Lenovo X1 and an otherwise nice Dell with an abysmal trackpad) but I’ve never gotten a good multitouch  trackpad working. I suspect the trackpad hardware I’m working with is limited since no amount of tweaking is working for me. Has anyone gotten a good trackpad working under any flavor of Linux on any hardware (except Apple, I’m trying to get away from their hardware monopoly)
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tony
There may be more avenues left to try with your current hardware, before you
make a choice:

Check to makes sure you're running a distro with recent enough Xorg/linux
kernel (but not _so_ bleeding edge stuff like libinput-gestures isn't
supported). Also if you use integrated graphics, life may be easier since you
can pick between Wayland and Xorg to find which DM supports inputs best in
your case.

Xorg drivers: [https://github.com/p2rkw/xf86-input-
mtrack](https://github.com/p2rkw/xf86-input-mtrack)

libinput:
[https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/index.ht...](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/index.html)

libinput-gestures: [https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-
gestures](https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures) (example:
[https://gist.github.com/SkyBehind/d664448838d065428eded7eb6d...](https://gist.github.com/SkyBehind/d664448838d065428eded7eb6d562d4b))

Gnome extension with some gesture edgecases: 3-finger swiping to different
windows like macOS: [https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1253/extended-
gesture...](https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1253/extended-gestures/)

Also if you really like trackpads and want a consistent experience, you can
get a logitech t650 / apple magic trackpad and share your configuration for
libinput/etc. across machines.

Edit: I reread and noticed you're trying to stay away from apple hardware. You
could try logitech's trackpad, but apple magic trackpad may be better a la
carte. If you did I'd recommend using via USB w/ bluetooth off to avert
pairing headaches

~~~
true_tuna
Thanks, that’s good advice. I’m ok with an external apple Magic Trackpad. As
long as I can bring my own device so to speak.

------
karmakaze
Curious, do you really mean multitouch, or just a trackpad with two finger
gestures? I only use the latter.

I got a Surface Go with the intention of running Linux on it but Firefox and
WSL/bash works well enough for me. And it has a decent trackpad. The Surface
Pros can run Linux with varying degrees of success and is what I'll be looking
at when I move away from Mac as they're lighter than competing laptops.

------
muddi900
The lenovo has a decent trackpad. At least mine does, and works great for me
with the windows driver. I am guessing no one has written any decent drivers
for them on Linux.

~~~
true_tuna
There’s an active project to make good trackpad drivers for Linux. I suspect I
could get better performance from the x1 given some work. I’ll focus on that
one. The dell latitude 7250 I suspect just has a crap trackpad.

