Trackpad issues on 2012 MBP running Linux

[firelighter487]

so i have a 13" 2012 Unibody MBP, and it's finally reached it's useful end on macOS, Ventura running OCLP on this thing is full of issues.

i installed Linux to remedy this, but i've ran into a problem. the trackpad randomly freezes. i can move the mouse around for 2 or 3 seconds and then the cursor stops, and i have to lift my finger off the trackpad and start over to continue moving the cursor.

this is obviously really annoying, particularly when trying to scroll.

i have a 2011 15" running Linux with no issues, i thought the 2012 and 2011 use the same trackpad so this is very odd. the trackpad works fine on macOS so i don't think it's faulty.

is there a fix for this?

i've been using linux for around a decade, i'm very comfortable in the terminal and editing config files and stuff, just need some guidance on what to do.

 

[Yael-S.]

Which distro did you use? Some problems are specific to one distro or a similar group of distros, so you can always test if you see the problem in the following systems.

1. Mageia
2. GhostBSD
3. Mint
4. Void Linux
5. MX Linux
6. Devuan
7. Artix Linux
8. Nobara Project
9. NixOS
10. Clear Linux

 

[firelighter487]

Which distro did you use? Some problems are specific to one distro or a similar group of distros, so you can always test if you see the problem in the following systems.

1. Mageia
2. GhostBSD
3. Mint
4. Void Linux
5. MX Linux
6. Devuan
7. Artix Linux
8. Nobara Project
9. NixOS
10. Clear Linux

i've tried Fedora, Manjaro, EndeavourOS, Ubuntu...

 

[Yael-S.]

i've tried Fedora, Manjaro, EndeavourOS, Ubuntu...

You can give GhostBSD a try. It's a BSD system so it might use different drivers for the trackpad.

And one last thing I would recommend is to give Debian a try. Debian has an older kernel version than all the systems you've already tested, maybe the driver is less buggy there.

If none of the above tips help, you can of course use a mouse instead of the trackpad.

 

[firelighter487]

You can give GhostBSD a try. It's a BSD system so it might use different drivers for the trackpad.

And one last thing I would recommend is to give Debian a try. Debian has an older kernel version than all the systems you've already tested, maybe the driver is less buggy there.

If none of the above tips help, you can of course use a mouse instead of the trackpad.

this issue has been happening for years, literally 4 years... so i doubt an older kernel will fix it.

 

[Yael-S.]

this issue has been happening for years, literally 4 years... so i doubt an older kernel will fix it.

Did you install xf86-input-synaptics or xf86-input-mtrack or the equivalent package?
If so, you don't need to test Debian in that case.

I would still recommend testing BSD systems though:

A simple, elegant desktop BSD Operating System | GhostBSD

www.ghostbsd.org

OpenBSD

the main OpenBSD page

www.openbsd.org

The NetBSD Project

www.netbsd.org

And if none of these options work, you can bring a regular mouse to solve the problem.

Apple products don't always have the best support for Linux/BSD systems, as Apple doesn't cooperate and also resists by keeping their hardware secret. There are currently enough laptop manufacturers that specifically focus on Linux or manufacturers such as Dell that offer laptops with good Linux support.

 

[GuyDudeman]

so i have a 13" 2012 Unibody MBP, and it's finally reached it's useful end on macOS, Ventura running OCLP on this thing is full of issues.

i installed Linux to remedy this, but i've ran into a problem. the trackpad randomly freezes. i can move the mouse around for 2 or 3 seconds and then the cursor stops, and i have to lift my finger off the trackpad and start over to continue moving the cursor.

this is obviously really annoying, particularly when trying to scroll.

i have a 2011 15" running Linux with no issues, i thought the 2012 and 2011 use the same trackpad so this is very odd. the trackpad works fine on macOS so i don't think it's faulty.

is there a fix for this?

i've been using linux for around a decade, i'm very comfortable in the terminal and editing config files and stuff, just need some guidance on what to do.

I have the same Macbook pro and am running Zorin OS 17.1 (A Ubuntu variant that uses Wayland and Gnome)... I've got the exact same trackpad issue you do. Did you ever find a solution?

 

[GuyDudeman]

I have the same Macbook pro and am running Zorin OS 17.1 (A Ubuntu variant that uses Wayland and Gnome)... I've got the exact same trackpad issue you do. Did you ever find a solution?

so i have a 13" 2012 Unibody MBP, and it's finally reached it's useful end on macOS, Ventura running OCLP on this thing is full of issues.

i installed Linux to remedy this, but i've ran into a problem. the trackpad randomly freezes. i can move the mouse around for 2 or 3 seconds and then the cursor stops, and i have to lift my finger off the trackpad and start over to continue moving the cursor.

this is obviously really annoying, particularly when trying to scroll.

i have a 2011 15" running Linux with no issues, i thought the 2012 and 2011 use the same trackpad so this is very odd. the trackpad works fine on macOS so i don't think it's faulty.

is there a fix for this?

i've been using linux for around a decade, i'm very comfortable in the terminal and editing config files and stuff, just need some guidance on what to do.

So, I just ran "sudo apt update" and then “sudo apt upgrade” and it seems to have helped a little bit. The trackpad is definitely more responsive, though it does freeze still. Just not as much. It's tolerable at least. But it would be cool to find a real solution.

 

[swamprock]

I just install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics and all of my trackpad problems go away, on all of my older Intel Macs running Linux.

 

[TimSmall]

I fixed this on a 2014 Macbook Pro Retina (MacBookPro11,2) running Debian 12 by increasing the libinput AttrPalmSizeThreshold quirk.

On Debian and derivatives:

apt install evtest libinput-tools

First identify your touchpad input device:

libinput list-devices

... on my device the trackpad is a USB devices, and shows up with:

Device:           bcm5974
Kernel:           /dev/input/event8
Group:            6
Seat:             seat0, default
Size:             107x75mm
Capabilities:     pointer gesture
Tap-to-click:     disabled
Tap-and-drag:     enabled

You can then verify using evtest that input events do keep occurring even after the trackpad seems to stop:

evtest /dev/input/event8

(you may need a different device number depending on the output of the previous command).

Assuming that's the case, see what the AttrPalmSizeThreshold is set to:

libinput quirks list /dev/input/event8

In my case it was:

AttrPalmSizeThreshold=800

I found that 950 fixed the touchpad behaviour for me.

You will need to make an override file. This is not trivial unfortunately. Maybe start by:

mkdir /etc/libinput/
cp /usr/share/libinput/50-system-apple.quirks /etc/libinput/local-overrides.quirks

and then editing the local-overrides.quirks file to see which setting is getting used on your device. Re-run the "libinput quirks list" command to see which one it is. You can then delete the other entries and settings, to end up with a file with a single entry with just Match lines and a AttrPalmSizeThreshold setting. Like this:

[Apple Touchpads USB]
MatchVendor=0x05AC
MatchBus=usb
MatchUdevType=touchpad
AttrPalmSizeThreshold=950