Apple Magic Trackpad 2 on Funtoo
Apple produces a standalone trackpad known as the Magic Trackpad. It is used widely, not only in "Appleland", but also on platforms like Windows and Linux.
The Magic Trackpad 2 provides additional features on top of the original Magic Trackpad, mainly its ability to be used both wirelessly(via Bluetooth) and using a cable.
Connecting the trackpad
The trackpad is designed to be used with both new and old iMac models. Because old models don't have a Bluetooth adapter, a USB-C(male) to Lightning(Male) cable is provided in the packaging. Most PC motherboards don't have USB-C ports, so you might need to either use a USB-C(female) to USB-A(Male) adapter, or a USB-A(male) to Lightning(Male) cable.
To turn the trackpad on, flip the power switch on the top of the pad so that it shows green.
Wired connection
Plug the cable in and try using the trackpad. Sometimes your desktop environment may have the correct configuration added automatically, so no configuration needs to be done.
However, if you cannot move the mouse pointer, then skip to Fixing no pointer movement.
Note: while plugged in, Bluetooth will be turned off.
Wireless connection
If not installed, install Bluez:
root # emerge bluez
Pairing to the pad can be done using the bluetoothctl command, or through a GUI bluetooth manager, like Blueman:
root # emerge blueman
If the device does not show when scanning, try scanning on another device. If both devices don't find it, try charging the pad.
Once connected, try using the pad. Sometimes your desktop environment may have the correct configuration added automatically, so no configuration needs to be done.
However, if you cannot move the mouse pointer, then skip to Fixing no pointer movement.
Fixing no pointer movement
If your desktop environment has not set up configuration for it automatically, you might notice that the pad only responds to clicks. You might also find that you can only move the mouse cursor when clicking and holding on the pad.
To fix this, run the following command:
user $ xinput list
It should produce output similar to this:
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ SONiX USB DEVICE Keyboard id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ SONiX USB DEVICE Wireless Radio Control id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ E-Signal/A-One COUGAR Minos X2 Keyboard id=8 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ E-Signal/A-One COUGAR Minos X2 id=9 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2 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)]
↳ Power Button id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ SONiX USB DEVICE id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Trust GXT 242 Microphone id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
Find the line where it says Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2 and remember its ID, in this case 14. If connected using a wired connection, there may be 2 IDs. You can use either.
Next, using the ID, list the props for the trackpad:
user $ xinput list-props 14
This should return output similar to this:
Device 'Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2': Device Enabled (155): 1 Coordinate Transformation Matrix (157): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000 Device Accel Profile (282): 1 Device Accel Constant Deceleration (283): 2.500000 Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (284): 1.000000 Device Accel Velocity Scaling (285): 12.500000 Synaptics Edges (822): -3374, 3630, -2205, 2314 Synaptics Finger (823): 2, 2, 0 Synaptics Tap Time (824): 180 Synaptics Tap Move (825): 402 Synaptics Tap Durations (826): 180, 180, 100 Synaptics ClickPad (827): 1 Synaptics Middle Button Timeout (828): 0 Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure (829): 279 Synaptics Two-Finger Width (830): 7 Synaptics Scrolling Distance (831): 182, 182 Synaptics Edge Scrolling (832): 0, 0, 0 Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling (833): 1, 0 Synaptics Move Speed (834): 1.000000, 1.750000, 0.021875, 0.000000 Synaptics Off (835): 1 Synaptics Locked Drags (836): 0 Synaptics Locked Drags Timeout (837): 5000 Synaptics Tap Action (838): 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 3, 2 Synaptics Click Action (839): 1, 3, 2 Synaptics Circular Scrolling (840): 0 Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance (841): 0.100000 Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger (842): 0 Synaptics Circular Pad (843): 0 Synaptics Palm Detection (844): 1 Synaptics Palm Dimensions (845): 10, 198 Synaptics Coasting Speed (846): 20.000000, 50.000000 Synaptics Pressure Motion (847): 29, 158 Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor (848): 1.000000, 1.000000 Synaptics Grab Event Device (849): 0 Synaptics Gestures (850): 1 Synaptics Capabilities (851): 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0 Synaptics Pad Resolution (852): 44, 47 Synaptics Area (853): 0, 0, 0, 0 Synaptics Soft Button Areas (854): 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 Synaptics Noise Cancellation (855): 45, 45 Device Product ID (274): 76, 613 Device Node (275): "/dev/input/event19"
The reason for the touch surface not being active is a wrong integer value for the Synaptics Finger property. Using its ID(in this case 823), run the following command:
user $ xinput set-prop 14 823 2, 2, 0
Now, you might notice you can use your touchpad as normal, however tapping may not work as expected. Additionally, you might want to enable palm detection if using right in front of your keyboard.
Enabling palm detection
You can enable palm detection by setting the Synaptics Palm Detection property like this:
user $ xinput set-prop 14 844 1
Enabling tap to click
If you want to use the same click gestures by just tapping(1 finger left click, 2 fingers right click, 3 fingers middle click), you can enable tap to click using synclient:
user $ synclient TapButton1=1 TapButton2=3 TapButton3=2
will map tap gestures to their corresponding buttons.
Enabling scrolling
If not yet enabled, you can enable vertical 2-finger scrolling using synclient:
user $ synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=1
You can also enable horizontal scrolling like this:
user $ synclient HorizTwoFingerScroll=1
More features and further learning
This page simply scrapes the surface of configuring your Magic Trackpad, as it's written to accommodate the most common workload. More features can be modified using xinput and synclient. You can list all synclient options using the following command:
user $ synclient -l
You can also learn about these options on the synaptics man page:
user $ man synaptics