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Comment by Retr0id | Hacker News Reader

I use Fedora+Gnome on a 2021 MBP and the hardware+firmware+driver+software combination is perfect as far as I'm concerned.

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How does the Palm-Detection work? To test this, you can do the following: Place your palm where the X-es are, then try to scroll with two fingers or move your mouse. I don't like that the mouse does not react anymore if the palm is placed there - it should just be ignored.

  ┌─────────────────────────┐
  │XXX                      │
  │XX                       │
  │X                        │
  │                         │
  │                         │
  │                         │
  │                         │
  │                         │
  └─────────────────────────┘

I performed your test and mouse movement and two-finger scrolling still works if my palm is there. Even 3-finger window switching gestures. My palm is effectively ignored.

So this would mean that either my configuration is bad or it might be a hardware limitation. So if you don't mind I would love to see your

  gsettings list-recursively | grep 'peripherals\.touchpad'

Here is mine (before you ask, disable-while-typing=false does not fix my problem) :

  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad accel-profile 'default'
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad click-method 'fingers'
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad disable-while-typing true
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad edge-scrolling-enabled false
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad left-handed 'mouse'
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad middle-click-emulation false
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad natural-scroll true
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad send-events 'enabled'
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad speed -0.044999999999999998
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-and-drag true
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-and-drag-lock false
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-button-map 'default'
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-to-click true
  org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad two-finger-scrolling-enabled true

    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad accel-profile 'default'
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad click-method 'fingers'
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad disable-while-typing false
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad edge-scrolling-enabled false
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad left-handed 'mouse'
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad middle-click-emulation false
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad natural-scroll true
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad send-events 'enabled'
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad speed 0.0
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-and-drag true
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-and-drag-lock false
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-button-map 'default'
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-to-click false
    org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad two-finger-scrolling-enabled true

I have a feeling the magic here is happening in apple firmware, rather than driver or software.

> I have a feeling the magic here is happening in apple firmware, rather than driver or software.

Either the

  disable-while-typing false

(which is the only difference besides speed) or as you said the firmware / hardware. Thank you very much.

OK, now move your palm over half, and then over 3 quarters of the trackpad. Two fingers to scroll still works.

My Dell Precision laptop running Win11 handles this perfectly. Wish I had tried this sooner :P

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