Touchpad not working in Ubuntu

Doxpak
Doxpak Member Posts: 3 New User
edited October 2018 in Aspire Laptops
Hello, i recently bought an Acer Aspire 7 and the touchpad works just fine on Windows but on Ubuntu 16.04 it doesnt seem to recognize the touchpad. Any help?

Best Answer

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Sorry. Most if not all ubuntu-flavored distros support only basic mode operation of input devices on machines designed for the Windows environment. And even then the basic mode operation is often not as good or smooth as it is under Windows. Given time, the situation will improve but for now there are some drawbacks (as well as benefits) on also using Linux on Windows machines. Not perfect yet.  Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    Enter xinput in the terminal. If you don't see the touchpad listed, it's not supported by the kernel yet. Some distributions like Mint has some but not all touchpad support. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Doxpak
    Doxpak Member Posts: 3 New User
    JackE said:
    Enter xinput in the terminal. If you don't see the touchpad listed, it's not supported by the kernel yet. Some distributions like Mint has some but not all touchpad support. Jack E/NJ
    The thing is when i enter the BIOS and set touchpad to basic mode it works on Ubuntu but on Windows the gestures dont work and when i set it to advanced the gestures start working and the touchpad on ubuntu doesnt do anything
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Sorry. Most if not all ubuntu-flavored distros support only basic mode operation of input devices on machines designed for the Windows environment. And even then the basic mode operation is often not as good or smooth as it is under Windows. Given time, the situation will improve but for now there are some drawbacks (as well as benefits) on also using Linux on Windows machines. Not perfect yet.  Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • chipmonk
    chipmonk Member Posts: 1 New User
    The touchpad stopped working;  I had been using Kubuntu long term sevice for a long time, then the touch pad would not work;  I started using the wireless mouse, then went online to find a fix for the touchpad.  The fix I found started the touchpad working again: continuously press the fn7 key until the pointer starts working again.

  • rishav141
    rishav141 Member Posts: 1 New User
    chipmonk said:
    The touchpad stopped working;  I had been using Kubuntu long term sevice for a long time, then the touch pad would not work;  I started using the wireless mouse, then went online to find a fix for the touchpad.  The fix I found started the touchpad working again: continuously press the fn7 key until the pointer starts working again.

    Thanks a lot.
    It worked for me