I am currently using Fedora 43 KDE, and this issue only recently popped up. My trackpad is being exceptionally borky, I can’t accurately use it without any jitters and jumps! I have no idea why this is happening. Like when I try and click a button, the trackpad decides to jump to the button below for who knows why. For reference, when I use a mouse, it tracks fine, and the touchscreen still works. I think my stylus does as well. It’s just something to do with the trackpad. How do I fix my trackpad? Is there a way to “recalibrate” it or something?
The issue does not disappear when I a) restarted sddm and b) restarted my computer
Video link for reference: https://codeberg.org/sbird/video_share/src/branch/main/Screencast_20260203_101257.webm (p.s. if anyone knows a better solution to sharing videos that doesn’t involve making accounts, please let me know! Codeberg isn’t really designed for this…)
edit: It’s way worse now, the trackpad has a mind of its own!!! A link to a screencap (I tried my best to keep it in the rectangular box…): https://codeberg.org/sbird/video_share/src/branch/main/Screencast_20260203_102732.webm
My trackpad has fully gone rogue, it’s moving incredibly erratically and now it’s even clicking and holding when I’m not! Infuriating indeed.
edit 2: I have restarted again and it magically seemed to fix itself! That’s fun. Why the first restart didn’t work I have no idea. Two is bigger than one I guess, and bigger is always better…
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Do you know which trackpad you have?
I’ve had that experience before on some laptops where the battery that sat right under the trackpad started to inflate.
throw a different live distro on and see if the problem persists. if so, put in some windows install media and see if it works during the install process. if neither do, it’s probably hardware.
try booting windows pe usb (you can make one from linux), this may be a hardware issue.
you can use xinput disable command to disable the trackpad inside x11
if anyone knows a better solution to sharing videos that doesn’t involve making accounts, please let me know!
You can upload small files (under 200MB) to https://catbox.moe/
I don’t know how to fix your trackpad issue though. Sorry.
Sounds like you might have a Synaptics trackpad with humidity in the layers.
Do you know the model of the machine?
Have you tried completely shutting down to power it off and then seeing how it behaves after rebooting?
I have tried restarting. Sometimes it fixes the issue, but later in the day it always reappears
It is an Asus Zenbook Flip UP3404 (thank god it has a touchscreen)
I believe this is a Synaptics. If you’ve ever spilled anything on it, it’s probably toast.
You can try to find a replacement for fairly cheap though.
I have the same laptop! Is there anything that didn’t work with it on Linux like function keys lightening up and doing the right things, webcam/IR camera, sleep/suspend, screen rotating in tablet mode turning of the keyboard, etc.? Did you get the number thing on the trackpad and those gestures working? (I never use that though). Can you change fan profiles? Can you do a “flicker free” dimming of the oled screen? On Windows I have a problem where the laptop will always get stuck in “tablet mode,” so I’ve been thinking to switch it to Linux at some point. I tried a live USB boot once at it seems like some of the function keys were acting strange, so I’m especially interested in what you might have noticed from many hours of use (if anything else other than the trackpad issue). Thanks in advance, and I hope your problem is only a software and not a hardware thing.
(I forgot to mention that my same Asus Zenbook had these weird trackpad issues before too on Windows. I forgot what I figured out was going on though. If you press the function key to disable the trackpad on Linux does that work? Does the light display? Maybe try turning the trackpad on and off from there to see if that does anything. Anyway my issue just sort of resolved itself, so you can be hopeful).
The keyboard lighting up does work for me, IR camera works (with Howdy I can use facial recognition!), sleep/suspend works, tablet mode works. I’m surprised everything did work considering it’s a weird flippy 2-in-1 thing. The numberpad on the trackpad doesn’t work but I never used that anyways. I fixed the issue by restarting (twice, not once for some reason, that didn’t work).
I have had Fedora installed since last year and it’s been great! The amount of Windows-exclusive stuff is shrinking, the only thing now is, ironically, reinstalling Windows lol (though you can use cli magic to write bootable media I think. Installation Assistant won’t work though). The few games I do play all work fine with Wine/Proton. I might remove my Windows dual boot soon…
Thank you so much for reporting back that everything works!
And glad to hear that your trackpad issue was fixed! It sounds like it was probably an Asus rather than a Linux issue. For the numberpad on the trackpad did you try using a program like the one below and still not get it working? (Maybe it would be a useful feature if the gesture could be customized, or fun to tinker with):
https://github.com/iamkroot/asus-numpad?tab=readme-ov-file
What I remember from testing Fedora my UP3404 in the summer of 2023 was that there was some strange behavior of the function keys; I remembered that some of the keys which were not brightness keys were changing the brightness too. On Windows I am able to adjust the brightness using both DC dimming (which actually lowers the voltage to the screen to dim it) as well as the standard PWM dimming (which turns the screen off and on fast to make it appear dimmer); is this possible in Linux?
What about the mic off and camera off buttons on the function row? Do even those work? Do they light up? Does the Asus function key do anything or can you make use of it?
I think I will probably switch my laptop over to Linux eventually. The desktop version of Microsoft office is the main Windows app keeping me from switching, as well as a concern that my laptop wouldn’t work with Linux well. I have a older surface pro with debian on it that I just use for browsing the web and doing Linux tinkering (couldn’t setup IR camera Howdy unfortunately). One of my pain points of Linux was removed from Linux now that I found that the Flatpak version of Collabora Office allows for touchscreen scrolling. I just wish that the Gnome desktop would allow for an app to be dragged to a corner to be a quarter of the screen rather than just to the side to be half (but there probably is a good way to do this better than Windows maybe that I need to figure out).
All the function buttons work, aside from the MyASUS one (since there is no Linux version of it, but that should be obvious. You are probably able to remap it to do other stuff though). I am able to change the brightness of the screen but not sure if it’s DC or PWM dimming. There is probably a thing you can install to figure that out.
For Howdy, I found that the latest version of Fedora (43) kind of borked it since Python 3.14 isn’t supported (some dependency issue) so I had to install a fork which bundles the dependency, and now it works!
I am using KDE (not GNOME) which does support quarter windows which is pretty neat. I also found that KDE is much more customisable than GNOME (though some might prefer GNOME’s libadwaita aesthetic)
I personally use LibreOffice, which is awesome and works most of the time, but occasionally there’s a weird formatting bug when viewing from MS Office. OnlyOffice is also quite good and apparently has better MS office compatibility, which I can attest to, but unless you’re doing anything super critical, LibreOffice should be fine.
I thoroughly encourage you to dip your toes into the world of penguinland! Fedora is a great starting point, and lets you pick between so many DEs too…(KDE Plasma and GNOME being the main two, but Fedora also offers some different ones too, like Budgie and COSMIC)
This is why I won’t fully switch to Linux. It’s been out for decades but the most basic shit breaks on it that shouldnt break lol. And I bet the only fix is to open terminal and input 40 lines of commands
So edgy to talk about things you know so little about. I bet you’re so fun at parties.
Nope, all I had to do was restart! Really nice actually, surprised it took two to fix the issue.
The point is you shouldn’t have too imo. Especially for a trackpad.
Sire, on Windows I ran into similar issues (display borked for seemingly no reason, it went portrait in landscape cutting off half the screen for some reason, and this was also fixed with a restart). The flip side is that Linux doeen’t require an internet connection and MS account to install, you’re not fed AI shovelware that nobody wants, your computer that you paid for does not show you advertisements (see Windows begging people to use MS Office, OneDrive, CoPilot, Xbox stuff), and Linux is also quite a bit faster to run which is nice! Not to mention, it really like the additional customisability and the additional themes I can use, esp when it comes to icon packs! (you would either have to use a separate program or do it manually on Windows)
I’m sick of this argument man. You can install windows without internet, you don’t need a Microsoft account to use it, I have ZERO ai anything on my PC. I have seen ZERO ads on my PC about anything. I don’t get asked to use Microsoft apps except when you first install windows it asks you if you want to. Like dude what are you even talking about. I’ve used windows since 95. I’ve used many Linux distros, I’ve used Macintosh computers.
Windows can do everything. Linux can do some things, but needs wine or a full emulator of windows to do everything. Mac has more bloat than a Samsung phone.
The only benefit to Linux is that you can usually find a distro that is made for your very specific need of a machine. I on the other hand produce music with FL and Ableton. Which doesn’t run on Linux at all and runs like ass through emulation or with wine or with proton. I don’t understand this community lol.
The only time I run into a PC problem is when I’m using Linux for something. Second worse is macos
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with workarounds that Microsoft is now blocking
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with workarounds that Microsoft is blocking
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They are adding CoPilot everywhere (taskbar, Paint, even Notepad!), they keep on backtracking and then retracking on Recall (I.e. program that takes screenshots of your computer every few seconds which I’d very alarming for obvious reasons, it’s literally spyware) They are adding a dedicated CoPilot key on newer laptops
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In the settings screen is a huge banner for Office, the computer asks for you to make a Microsoft account once you have switched to a local account in the Start Menu, OneDrive is pushed as a necessary security feature, when Windows is installed fake apps that download when you click on them appear on the Start Menu, etc etc
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Linux runs all the programs I use. I am sure some professional workflows won’t work, but for most people, everything works and has a Linux native or Linux alternative option. Games run fine with Wine/Proton (using Steam/Lutris/Heroic if you play Epic Games games)
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Benefits of Linux have already been described above (particularly much better customisability, you can even swap out your desktop environment, going from KDE to GNOME!)
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