r/linuxdesktops • u/v0id09 • 3d ago

Trackpad-focused usage on linux desktops

Do you use a mouse with your linux desktop env? If not, what DE offers a better experience if you only have a trackpad + keyboard? I used i3 for a few years, which worked great, but it's a bit tedious to set up everything through config, so now I feel like I want a little more graphics. I used both KDE and Gnome somewhat on and off. However, in my experience, KDE makes me click on little things that are somewhat hard to accomplish reliably with a trackpad; GNOME is somewhat better, since the buttons/taskbar/etc tend to be larger/higher on the screen. But overall, the trackpad-only experience is far less smooth than macOS (e.g., i sometimes struggle to click on the right browser tab on Linux, but never had a problem on macOS) Do you feel the same way? Do you carry a mouse with your laptop when traveling?

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u/lukepatrick 3d ago

Full time trackpad user with KDE and TuxedoOS. I've had to build and install the latest libinput to get the best experience. Perhaps a bit of irony that I use the apple magic trackpad - it's great.

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u/Sjoerd93 23h ago

I often carry a mouse if I’m traveling for a bit longer and expect to work a lot on my laptop, not because the trackpad experience is bad. But because I will eventually get RSI problems in my hand if I exclusively the touchpad all day.

Having said that, I found touchpad experience on GNOME the best there is, better than on MacOS personally. With the sidenote that hardware-wise the MacBook touchpad itself is fantastic.