Trackpad not working on Acer C720

haroldj97

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Jun 9, 2013
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After following a guide this wiki, I managed to instal Linux Ubuntu 14.10 on my Acer C720 chromebook. I knew before installing I would have issues with the hotkeys (volume, brightness etc.) and the trackpad. I got the hotkeys working after installing a package, however after following the guide on the wiki I cannot get the trackpad to work. When looking at this page on the ubuntu website and running "xinput list" I get this:

Code:
user@chrubuntu:~$ xinput list
Virtual core pointer                        id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
Virtual core XTEST pointer                  id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
Logitech USB Receiver                       id=12    [slave  pointer  (2)]
Logitech USB Receiver                       id=13    [slave  pointer  (2)]
Virtual core keyboard                       id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
Virtual core XTEST keyboard                 id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
Power Button                                id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
Video Bus                                   id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
Power Button                                id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
Sleep Button                                id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
Sleep Button                                id=10    [slave  keyboard (3)]
HD WebCam                                   id=11    [slave  keyboard (3)]
AT Translated Set 2 keyboard                id=14    [slave  keyboard (3)]

and there is no mention of a trackpad or ADB mouse. How do I go about installing the trackpad drivers for my Acer C720? Also instead of creating a whole new thread, when I shut the lid of my laptop (to put it to sleep), it goes to sleep fine however when I lift the lid again, the laptop comes back on but the screen doesn't so I have to force shutdown with the power. How do I fix this also?
 
Solution
The trackpad for chromebooks was added to the mainline kernel in version 3.17

So upgrade to kernel 3.17+ and it will just work. I believe there are ppa available for the Linux mainline kernel (currently 3.18)
For additional trackpad configuration add this to you xorg.conf:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_C720_Chromebook#Post_Installation_Configuration

I run archlinux on my c720 with kernel 3.17 and btrfs with compression=lzo on /root and /home. Everything works great. I believe there was an issue with suspend on haswell inel chipsets (which c720 has) regarding suspend recently but it was fixed in mainstream kernel.
The trackpad for chromebooks was added to the mainline kernel in version 3.17

So upgrade to kernel 3.17+ and it will just work. I believe there are ppa available for the Linux mainline kernel (currently 3.18)
For additional trackpad configuration add this to you xorg.conf:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_C720_Chromebook#Post_Installation_Configuration

I run archlinux on my c720 with kernel 3.17 and btrfs with compression=lzo on /root and /home. Everything works great. I believe there was an issue with suspend on haswell inel chipsets (which c720 has) regarding suspend recently but it was fixed in mainstream kernel.
 
Solution

haroldj97

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Jun 9, 2013
160
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10,680


Great, I upgraded the kernal to 3.18 and the trackpad works, thank you! . I thought the latest kernal would be installed automatically when I installed Ubuntu 14.10, but apparently not. Thank you anyway for your help.
 
Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives try to run more stable (tested) software than bleeding edge distributions like ArchLinux. Thus the latest Ubuntu release will always be behind the mainline version of most software!

Be sure yo read the archwiki page for the c720. Specifically the xorg.conf really makes the trackpad more usable.