Default Synaptic settings for touchpad on Macbook Air do not enable palm detection

[Iván Pérez]

I'm on a Macbook Air 7,2, running Linux 4.14.0-041400rc7-generic #201710292231 SMP Sun Oct 29 22:32:07 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux, with Ubuntu 17.10.

By default, when I type on the keyboard, it's very easy to make a mistake and touch the touchpad with my palm. Even though I disabled the touchpad while typing:

$ gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad send-events 'enabled'
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad natural-scroll false
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-to-click false
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad two-finger-scrolling-enabled true
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad left-handed 'mouse'
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad click-method 'default'
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad speed 0.0
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad scroll-method 'two-finger-scrolling'
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-and-drag true
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad edge-scrolling-enabled false
org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad disable-while-typing true

This still happens. With xinput, I'm getting:

$ xinput list-props 11
Device 'bcm5974':
 Device Enabled (141): 1
 Coordinate Transformation Matrix (143): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
 Device Accel Profile (275): 1
 Device Accel Constant Deceleration (276): 2.500000
 Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (277): 1.000000
 Device Accel Velocity Scaling (278): 12.500000
 Synaptics Edges (279): -3791, 4311, 423, 6027
 Synaptics Finger (280): 70, 75, 0
 Synaptics Tap Time (281): 180
 Synaptics Tap Move (282): 522
 Synaptics Tap Durations (283): 180, 180, 100
 Synaptics ClickPad (284): 1
 Synaptics Middle Button Timeout (285): 0
 Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure (286): 283
 Synaptics Two-Finger Width (287): 7
 Synaptics Scrolling Distance (288): 237, 237
 Synaptics Edge Scrolling (289): 1, 0, 0
 Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling (290): 1, 0
 Synaptics Move Speed (291): 1.000000, 1.750000, 0.016855, 0.000000
 Synaptics Off (292): 0
 Synaptics Locked Drags (293): 0
 Synaptics Locked Drags Timeout (294): 5000
 Synaptics Tap Action (295): 2, 3, 0, 0, 1, 3, 0
 Synaptics Click Action (296): 1, 3, 0
 Synaptics Circular Scrolling (297): 0
 Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance (298): 0.100000
 Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger (299): 0
 Synaptics Circular Pad (300): 0
 Synaptics Palm Detection (301): 0
 Synaptics Palm Dimensions (302): 10, 200
 Synaptics Coasting Speed (303): 20.000000, 50.000000
 Synaptics Pressure Motion (304): 30, 160
 Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor (305): 1.000000, 1.000000
 Synaptics Resolution Detect (306): 1
 Synaptics Grab Event Device (307): 0
 Synaptics Gestures (308): 1
 Synaptics Capabilities (309): 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1
 Synaptics Pad Resolution (310): 1, 1
 Synaptics Area (311): 0, 0, 0, 0
 Synaptics Soft Button Areas (312): 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
 Synaptics Noise Cancellation (313): 39, 27
 Device Product ID (267): 1452, 657
 Device Node (266): "/dev/input/event15"

Which includes:

 Synaptics Palm Detection (301): 0

If I run:

$ xinput set-int-prop 11 301 8 1

Then the problem goes away.

I don't know whose "fault" it is, or where the bug is.

I just think this should work, and do so out of the box.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.