Touchpad sensitivity on Dell XPS using Ubuntu 20.04

Question

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.

same issue since update 20.04 with XPS13.... it is very annyoing. — ArthurLambert, Nov 06 '20 at 16:30
Lenovo T480s, sometimes having similar random touchscreen clicks — ruX, Jan 23 '21 at 00:41
Dell seems to have a fix for this on their website. Haven't tried it yet though https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/fr-fr/000150104/precision-xps-ubuntu-general-touchpad-mouse-issue-fix?lang=en — m.evans, Jun 30 '21 at 06:16
Same with Ubuntu 20.04 after update Kernel to 5.15 - No way to make touchpad working. I've Acer Aspire ES1-331 I'm very annoyed with 20.04... — user1625042, Aug 21 '22 at 16:07

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 30 '21 at 06:42

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.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 21 '23 at 17:30

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".

answered Mar 21 '23 at 17:30

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Touchpad sensitivity on Dell XPS using Ubuntu 20.04

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