Comment 15 for bug 1826597

Ahh. Actually xinput now (with kubuntu-desktop installed) now has registered my touchpad as a standard mouse it seems (I don't have multitouch functionality, so no two-finger scrolling, etc).

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech MX Master id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech K800 id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ PS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=14 [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)]
    ↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Jabra Link 370 id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Integrated Camera: Integrated C id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ ThinkPad Extra Buttons id=15 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech MX Master id=16 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech K800 id=17 [slave keyboard (3)]

As can be seen from this:
xinput --list-props 14
Device 'PS/2 Synaptics TouchPad':
        Device Enabled (154): 1
        Coordinate Transformation Matrix (156): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
        libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (290): 0
        libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (291): 0
        libinput Scroll Methods Available (292): 0, 0, 1
        libinput Scroll Method Enabled (293): 0, 0, 1
        libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (294): 0, 0, 1
        libinput Button Scrolling Button (295): 2
        libinput Button Scrolling Button Default (296): 2
        libinput Middle Emulation Enabled (297): 0
        libinput Middle Emulation Enabled Default (298): 0
        libinput Accel Speed (299): 0.000000
        libinput Accel Speed Default (300): 0.000000
        libinput Accel Profiles Available (301): 1, 1
        libinput Accel Profile Enabled (302): 1, 0
        libinput Accel Profile Enabled Default (303): 1, 0
        libinput Left Handed Enabled (304): 0
        libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (305): 0
        libinput Send Events Modes Available (275): 1, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (276): 0, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (277): 0, 0
        Device Node (278): "/dev/input/event8"
        Device Product ID (279): 2, 1
        libinput Drag Lock Buttons (306): <no items>
        libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (307): 1

So for me the only viable workaround is still to use the nouveau-drivers