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It seems to be a common problem that the touchpad is far too sensitive causing random jumps and clicks, but none of the suggestions I've found seem to work for me on:

  • Dell XPS 15 Model 9560
  • Ubuntu 20.04

Most of the solutions, including what is described here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad imply that a Synaptics touchpad and Synaptics drivers are in use. But in my setup the touchpad is Synaptics (I believe) but it does not seem to be using the Synaptics drivers. Here is what is listed:

# xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ ELAN Touchscreen                          id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ DLL07BE:01 06CB:7A13 Mouse                id=13   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ DLL07BE:01 06CB:7A13 Touchpad             id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ PS/2 Generic Mouse                        id=19   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                     id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Integrated_Webcam_HD: Integrate           id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Intel HID events                          id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Intel HID 5 button array                  id=16   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys                          id=17   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=18   [slave  keyboard (3)]

I then do:

# xinput --list-props 14 
Device 'DLL07BE:01 06CB:7A13 Touchpad':
    Device Enabled (200):   1
    Coordinate Transformation Matrix (202): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
    libinput Tapping Enabled (356): 1
    libinput Tapping Enabled Default (357): 0
    libinput Tapping Drag Enabled (358):    1
    libinput Tapping Drag Enabled Default (359):    1
    libinput Tapping Drag Lock Enabled (360):   0
    libinput Tapping Drag Lock Enabled Default (361):   0
    libinput Tapping Button Mapping Enabled (362):  1, 0
    libinput Tapping Button Mapping Default (363):  1, 0
    libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (340):   1
    libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (341):   0
    libinput Disable While Typing Enabled (364):    0
    libinput Disable While Typing Enabled Default (365):    1
    libinput Scroll Methods Available (342):    1, 1, 0
    libinput Scroll Method Enabled (343):   1, 0, 0
    libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (344):   1, 0, 0
    libinput Click Methods Available (366): 1, 1
    libinput Click Method Enabled (367):    0, 1
    libinput Click Method Enabled Default (368):    1, 0
    libinput Middle Emulation Enabled (369):    0
    libinput Middle Emulation Enabled Default (370):    0
    libinput Accel Speed (347): 0.000000
    libinput Accel Speed Default (348): 0.000000
    libinput Left Handed Enabled (352): 0
    libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (353): 0
    libinput Send Events Modes Available (321): 1, 1
    libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (322):    0, 0
    libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (323):    0, 0
    Device Node (324):  "/dev/input/event15"
    Device Product ID (325):    1739, 31251
    libinput Drag Lock Buttons (354):   <no items>
    libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (355):   1

"Synaptics Finger" is not listed, nor does there seem to be any equivalent property for the sensitivity setting.

How does one go about adjusting the sensitivity? The default setting is almost impossible to use with the cursor jumping all over the place and phantom clicks frequently happening which can be very destructive.

tdudgeon
  • 193
  • 3
  • 5

3 Answers3

1

I had a similar issue (running Ubuntu 18.04 on Dell Precision 5550) of the touchpad being too sensitive but not having a synaptics driver to adjust it. I followed the instructions on the Dell website about this and it seems to have helped a bit (though still not perfect):

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/fr-fr/000150104/precision-xps-ubuntu-general-touchpad-mouse-issue-fix?lang=en

Because I don't have the synaptics driver, I was able to skip the steps 5,7, and 8. Also, all my HWE settings were up to date on 18.04 so really all I had to do was add some lines to my libinput.conf file (step 8). This doesn't result in something as customizable as seems like would be possible with Synaptics, but it helped a little.

m.evans
  • 113
0

I had the exact same problem and then found this question. If you run sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics and restart the computer, it should list "Synaptic Fingers".

Unnamed
  • 303
0

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and later generally get delivered with Wayland by default. Most of the workarounds found on SE and on the internet still provide solutions that refer to Synaptics drivers and settings which work if we still stick to X.org (typically, some xinput command).

I don't want to switch back to X.org as Wayland is not going to be replaced anytime soon and it is an upgrade from X.org. So this is how to somehow tweak ultra-sensitive touchpad settings on Ubuntu 20+ under Wayland.

This was tested on a DELL XPS 9315 laptop.

  1. Requirements In Wayland, libinput replaces xinput. So make sure that you have it installed:

    sudo apt install libinput libinput-dev libinput-utils

  2. Identify your touchpad device

    sudo libinput list-devices

    This will generate a series of entries. Look for a the block with Device including Touchpad and make a note of the Kernel associated with that device which is a path to a special file in the form of /dev/input/eventX. In my case it is X=6, i.e. /dev/input/event6.

  3. Find out which touchpad properties can be set

    sudo libinput quirks list /dev/input/event6

This will produce a list of properties. Only some are documented in the libinput docs (browse "Debugging Quirks"). For those that are not documented, even ChatGTP 3.5 can give some basic knowledge. The important property that you need to look for and set your touchpad sensibility to unwanted palm touches is AttrPalmPressureThreshold. In my case it was 180, and it sufficed to increase this value to 10000 for example. Another possible property that may be bothersome is AttrThumbPressureThreshold which if not set, you may want to set manually to some high value e.g. 10000.

  1. Set custom thresholds

    cd /usr/share/libinput
sudo nano local-overrides.quirks

Create a file with this content

[Touchpad custom settings]
MatchName="Your Device Name"
AttrPalmPressureThreshold=10000
AttrThumbPressureThreshold=10000

where "Your Device Name" is precisely the Device entry associated with your touchpad as read by sudo libinput list-devices. Note: You won't need quotes. Just copy the full string. Save the file and exit.

  1. Check and validate changes

    sudo libinput quirks list --verbose /dev/input/event6

This should produce a list of all quirks, where you can read at the bottom the customized values for the thresholds (as local-overrides.quirks is read as the last file).

  1. Further adjustments by dconf-editor Use dconf-editor and navigate to org/gnome/desktop/peripherals/touchpad. Adjust speed between -0.1 and -0.2 for a smooth experience. And make sure that tap-to-click is disabled.
maurizio
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