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I have been using my Apple Magic Trackpad 1 with Ubuntu for over 10 years now and it's pretty good. But lately my old trackpad starts to misbehave and I am thinking about replacing it with a new trackpad.

But the Magic Trackpad 1 is no longer sold (at least not as new), only the magic trackpad 2. But is this device supported on linux the same as the version 1 is? I cannot find any information about this combination, only ten year old threads talking about the old trackpad that I already have.

So…

Does the Apple Magic Trackpad 2 work with Linux?

I'm looking mainly for support with either libinput or the synaptics drivers, but other drivers are also ok, as long as multitouch works the same as with my Magic Trackpad 1.

Giacomo1968
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Gerrit Addiks
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4 Answers4

35

I've now just went with it and bought a new Trackpad. Turns out it does work just fine.

At first I thought it did not work correctly, but I was just confused by the new pressure-sensor which prevents clicks and mouse-movement unless pressed hard enough. After a few changed settings (using xinput-gui), everything works fine.

EDIT: Here is my xinput configuration.

xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Synaptics Noise Cancellation" 1 1
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Synaptics Tap Action" 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 2
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Synaptics Click Action" 1, 3, 2
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Synaptics Scrolling Distance" -157, -157
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 1, 1
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 0 0 0
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Synaptics Finger" 0 0 0
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration" 2.0
xinput set-prop "Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2" "Device Accel Velocity Scaling" 18
Giacomo1968
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Gerrit Addiks
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2

I had a similar issue, I am running Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS but I was running the Budgie environment, and I was trying to use xinput-gui, but gestures such as the pinch zoom in and out or scrolling between displays with three fingers were not available. Turns out I needed the GNOME environment to be able to run Wayland (there are other tutorials covering how to enable it within GNOME.

Once installed I had another issue changing the Log in window (the Default Display Manager) where you can choose opting for GNOME or Budgie but it was solved here, in my case using

sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

Finally, I found you can check whether your Ubuntu version is running Wayland or not by going to Settings > About *scrolling all the way down to > Windowing System: Wayland .

I can now use these features! and, to my surprise, even without the magic trackpad

Giacomo1968
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ahh27
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1

Recently I bought Magic Trackpad 2, and it works great on Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (Wayland).

But still has issues with x11 lately, few gestures on Chrome does not work like back/forward gesture on Mac, but works on Firefox flawlessly.

Giacomo1968
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Ali
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0

My Magic TrackPad 2 mostly works fine on Ubuntu 22.04, though I keep it plugged in as that seems more stable (plus, I don't see the charge level, so this way I don't have to guess).

The one bugger is that I do not know how -- or if it's possible -- to enable "drag lock" so that I can lift and then continue the drag.

Glenn
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