How does Ubuntu handle laptops with Microsoft Precision Touchpads?

Question

If I buy a laptop with a Microsoft Precision Touchpad, how does Ubuntu handle it? Does it work with the Synaptic drivers because the hardware is made by Synaptics? Or does the OS itself handle and interpret the event stream, like Windows 10 does? Is Ubuntu set up for this?

People (including Dell!) have installed Ubuntu on Dell XPS machines which feature PTP hardware, so I know it works. I want to know if it works as well in Linux as it does in Windows, and if it doesn't, what the configuration options are.

Solution

The answer is that it doesn't make a difference; it's just a better, higher-resolution touchpad. The synaptics driver or libinput will both drive it without complaint, albeit with higher resolution and perhaps more fingers at a time recognized.

Comments

[wb9688]

Why don't you just try it out?

[iLikeDirt]

I don't have one. I'm contemplating buying one but want to know that it will work first.

[RBF06]

Thats not true, the precision driver's tracking is way better than what you get with linux synaptics drivers. They synaptics tracking is garbage compared to the precision drivers.