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Google wants to make Apple's Magic Trackpad 2 work on Linux

AlTech
By AlTech
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Google apparently wants to make Apple's Magic Trackpad 2 work on LInux.

 

Google is adding support for Apple's accessory to the mainline Linux kernel.

 

They're hoping to enable it to be used wirelessly and via USB.

 

Quote

Although it’s been 3 years since Apple announced the Magic Trackpad 2 Linux users have needed to rely on out-of-tree patches and drivers to use the multi-touch device with desktop Linux distributions like Ubuntu, in both wired and wireless mode.

—But not for much longer!

Google engineers are, as reported by Phoronix, currently working on a patch to add Magic Trackpad 2 Linux support to the Linux kernel’s HID Magic Mouse driver.

 

Quote 

Add support for Apple Magic Trackpad 2 over USB and bluetooth, putting
the device in multi-touch mode.

 

So yeah, this is definitely interesting. I couldn't tell you why Google wants this. I would have to assume that a number of Google employees own iMacs and have this as their primary pointer device instead of a mouse and happen to want to run Linux.

 

I don't know.

 

Source: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/09/google-working-on-apple-magic-trackpad-2-linux-support

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Interesting, I'm amazed it's not been usable this whole time.  I guess the overlap of users of it, and of Linux was super small

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Hecc. They should. Microsoft should do the same, though Apple should help. 

 

Magic Trackpad is flipping awesome....but only in macOS. The Windows Bootcamp driver gave me an STD. 

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Why the hell would you buy a trackpad for a desktop? Sounds like an unhealthy amount of self-loathing.

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1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Interesting, I'm amazed it's not been usable this whole time.  I guess the overlap of users of it, and of Linux was super small

I imagine it would work like a regular mouse, but with no gestures akin to MacOS.

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5 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Why the hell would you buy a trackpad for a desktop? Sounds like an unhealthy amount of self-loathing.

 

2 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

Who the fuck buys a wireless touchpad for a desktop?

Apple customers :D. And some Google engineers apparently ?

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2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

So yeah, this is definitely interesting. I couldn't tell you why Google wants this. I would have to assume that a number of Google employees own iMacs and have this as their primary pointer device instead of a mouse and happen to want to run Linux.

It's simple: Google has a lot of Apple gear.  People like to think it's all Chrome OS, Linux and Windows on the desktop, but Macs represent a significant part of its hardware makeup.  And shh... you're allowed to use an iPhone and wear an Apple Watch.  Odds are that a Googler used their 20 percent time to write drivers and got permission to contribute it to the Linux kernel.

 

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22 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

I imagine it would work like a regular mouse, but with no gestures akin to MacOS.

I'm not sure what gestures the common DEs support these days but I see no reason it shouldn't work with all of them

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6 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I'm not sure what gestures the common DEs support these days but I see no reason it shouldn't work with all of them

Me neither, but I also don’t see why the touchpad wouldn’t work at all in Linux when the MacBook touchpads work fine. Perhaps they are integrating more native gestures or spaces support?

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7 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Me neither, but I also don’t see why the touchpad wouldn’t work at all in Linux when the MacBook touchpads work fine. Perhaps they are integrating more native gestures or spaces support?

Yeah that is odd

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https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures

?

also is it just me or is the forum slightly different today 

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13 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures

?

also is it just me or is the forum slightly different today 

Mortis disabled the bit showing who's viewing a thread cos it's slowing down the forum and it has bugs.

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