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mntmn/mbp_retina_trackpad.md

Created November 10, 2013 19:02
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Good setup for MacBook Pro Retina 13" trackpad in Linux/Xorg/X11 (Debian jessie for me). Handles resting thumb and thumb-click-indefinger-drag correctly. Also fixes jerk/jump on very small movements that ought to be precise.
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mbp_retina_trackpad.md
  1. Use xf86-input-mtrack

Debian Jessie (w/ gnome3) uses the "synaptics" xf86 input module as a default. It is very precise but doesn't support "resting thumb" behaviour that you're used to from OSX.

xf86-input-mtrack is an enhancement of xf86-input-multitouch which is configurable. I built it from source from here: https://github.com/BlueDragonX/xf86-input-mtrack But i see that it's also in the debian package repo. So you probably only need to do:

sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-input-mtrack

I created an override config in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf (create the directory if it doesn't exist) which looks like this:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "touchpad catchall"
    Driver "mtrack"
    MatchIsTouchpad "on"
    Option "Sensitivity" "0.2"   # fixes jerky motion. crank up mouse pointer acceleration in gnome settings to accomodate for higher speed.
    Option "IgnoreThumb" "true"  # ignore resting thumb
    Option "ClickFinger1" "1"    # click with thumb+resting index finger = left mouse button
    Option "ClickFinger2" "3"    # click with thumb+2 fingers = right mouse button
EndSection

Restart X:

sudo pkill X
@jrussell88
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On my Ubuntu 16.10 xorg.conf.d is present in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/

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