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I just made a clean install of Lubuntu 14.04 on a Macbook 3,1, and I got most of the hardware working except for the touchpad. Two fingers are recognized because I can scroll through websites, clicking works as well, though tapping and swiping don't work. When I really press on the touchpad hard the pointer moves, but only then. I don't have any problems with the touchpad in Mac OSX. I installed gpointing-device-settings and the appletouch touchpad is recognized as such, yet the swiping isn't working even tough it isn't disabled. Is there a way I can put the touchpad more sensitive or something?

Edit: Today I ran Boot Repair and weirdly enough the mousepad worked (almost) perfectly. It looks like Boot repair is based on Lubuntu 13.04 (Raring). So it works on the 64 bit Lubuntu 13.04 Boot Repair USB boot, but not on the 32 bit Lubuntu 14.04 boot from the internal HDD. Why...? And how can I make it to work on my main boot too?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I had the same issue on my MacBook4,1 and the following worked for me (using an older distro):

I added a file at /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf with the following:

# See: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man4/synaptics.4.html
# For current settings: `xinput list-props bcm5974`
Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "touchpad catchall"
    MatchIsTouchpad "on"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Driver "synaptics"
    Option "FingerHigh" "10"
    Option "PalmDetect" "on"
    Option "LockedDrags" "on"
    Option "JumpyCursorThreshold" "90"
EndSection

However, in the newest updates of the distro I use (Linux Mint Debian), that file no longer was being picked up at startup for some reason. I edited the existing synaptics.conf file at /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf (even though the file clearly says not to ;)

Just edit the section that starts with Section "InputClass" to something like this:

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "touchpad catchall"
Driver "synaptics"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
    Option "FingerLow" "2"
    Option "FingerHigh" "4"
    Option "PalmDetect" "on"
    Option "LockedDrags" "on"
    Option "JumpyCursorThreshold" "90"
    # This option is recommend on all Linux systems using evdev, but cannot be
    # enabled by default. See the following link for details:
    # http://who-t.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-ignore-configuration-errors.html
    # MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
EndSection

Those settings aren't perfect, but work much better.

Note: If all else fails, you can try looking at synclient from the command line and running it with synclient FingerHigh=5 && synclient FingerLow=3 or something similar at startup.

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  • You are my hero! I changed the 50-synaptics file, logged out and the touchpad was working perfectly!
    – Peter Raeves
    May 16, 2014 at 15:38
  • @Peter glad I could help! The settings are kinda hidden in there. Note that file that was already in there will probably be overwritten if you upgrade. That's why I try the first option first and just do the second if that doesn't work.
    – blakek
    May 16, 2014 at 15:44
  • The file mentions this too. It says to copy and rename the file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ I copied the changed file to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ folder and deleted the added Options again from the original file, rebooted and it still seems to work. access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/… According to this site, even if ubuntu updates, the user specific configuration should still overwrite the changes.
    – Peter Raeves
    May 16, 2014 at 16:09
  • Would the downvoter explain the reasoning? This worked for the OP just fine. I really want to know if there is something wrong with this answer so it could be edited. Thanks.
    – blakek
    May 21, 2014 at 20:36
  • This solution is working great for me. I also am trying out @PeterRaeves suggestion, but I had to create the xorg.conf.d folder in Ubuntu 14.04. Is that still going to work?
    – jackbijou
    Oct 25, 2015 at 16:02
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This thread on the Ubuntu Forums http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=813884&page=6 discusses the Macbook touchpad. I do not use a Macbook so I cannot vouch for the results but other people have obviously had good results.

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