Hate to be “that guy”, but I just hold my palms an inch or so above the trackpad 
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No, I get it. I’m thinking of either cutting off most of my fingers or covering the track pad in wax paper. Either way, can’t lose, right?
I too wish there was some official setting. I just turned down the sensitivity to very low and it’s pretty much serving as my work around until an official setting is released, if ever.
It can be pretty bad. I’m always wondering what is happening with my typing before realizing that it must have been a lack of palm rejection.
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On any MS Windows laptop with a PrecisionTouchpad, if you are an administrator user and comfortable with regedit, then customizing PrecisionTouchpad registry settings for your hands might reduce palm clicks:
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“Create a restore point” to backup the Windows Registry with the original settings, and then
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In
regedit, try adjusting PrecisionTouchpad settings for your hands. Start by adding or increasing “Super Curtain” DWord value(s) for the edge(s) where your palm(s) cause clicks, and then restart MS Windows. Repeat until satisfied.
The settings are documented here:
I think the “himetric” unit is 1/100 of a millimeter, i.e., 10 microns, so 1cm would be 1000.
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I generally only boot into my Windows partition if I need to check out an ebook from my library and transfer it to my e-reader. (It requires a Windows-only Adobe app). I’m not at all knowledgeable about the Registry, so I don’t plan to attempt your suggestion. (Thanks though)
I have played around enough at this point to say the palm rejection problem is equally prevalent in Windows, Fedora GNOME, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Cinnamon, and Fedora KDE. I can’t tell that the KDE option to disable the touchpad while typing does anything.
This seems like a hardware issue but I admit that keeping the computer on my lap while reclining on a couch is worse compared to sitting at a desk.
On Linux, libinput might be relevant, particularly for touchpads by PixArt (not using a driver for touchpads by Synaptics).
libinput offers some local customization of matched touchpad device settings via /etc/libinput/local-overrides.quirks, including settings used for palm rejection like AttrPressureRange xor AttrTouchSizeRange.
A procedure to debug these settings for your touchpad and hands is documented here:
https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/touchpad-pressure-debugging.html#debugging-touchpad-pressure-size-ranges
I appreciate the link, but I’m not sure it’s going to be helpful
matt@mattlappy ~/Downloads> sudo libinput measure touchpad-pressure
Using PIXA3854:00 093A:0274 Touchpad: /dev/input/event12
This device does not have the capabilities for pressure-based touch detection.
Details: Device does not have ABS_PRESSURE or ABS_MT_PRESSURE
matt@mattlappy ~/Downloads> sudo libinput measure touch-size
Using PIXA3854:00 093A:0274 Touchpad: /dev/input/event12
This device does not have the capabilities for size-based touch detection.
Details: Device does not have ABS_MT_TOUCH_MAJOR
This implies to me that palm rejection is not happening at all (which is what it feels like). It’s pretty disappointing. I’ve have to deal with a palm click about once per typed paragraph. It’s a definite step down from my 2017 Macbook Air.
FWIW, I tried out
sudo cat /dev/input/event19
Just to see what happens. It prints out the crazy text with even just a tiny touch from my palm. I have neuropathy and I’m pretty used to the fact that my fingers can touch my smartphone screen without feeling it. I apparently have less sensation in my palms than I thought.
Yeah I’m another of those, that in 30 years, never had an Apple, or Thinkpad, yet using Win 95 to Win 11 an Ubuntu 8 to 23 I’ve never had such an issue.
Maybe my simple one finger of each hand typing means my palms are way off the touchpad.
That’s called pick and peck!
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Another reason why I prefer laptops with physical buttons for heavy typing. You just turn tap to click off completely and the problem is gone.
Pretty sure you can do that with this touchpad, > turn tap to click off
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that’s alarming. is there any way to figure out if the device genuinely can’t do these things, or if it’s just a failure of the driver to access those capabilities?
For Linux libinput “Disable While Typing” (DWT) problems, this page claims libinput will only use the DWT setting if the keyboard and touchpad are either both identified as internal devices, or are both identified as the same device. (The assumption is that if the keyboard and touchpad are separate USB devices, then they won’t be in a fixed position where palm rejection is problem.) If they are identified as different devices, a local device quirk to identify them as internal might help.
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Under KDE NEon, while on travel, I have the enabled palm-detection and disable touchpad while typing.
(On my workstation configuration is different reason the pics don’t show it as active). Will be able to tell how it works when I have the FW 16.
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Yes! Thank you gcf! That “How to Diagnose Disable-While-Typing Issues” link was just what I needed. The final " What if DWT Doesn’t Work?" section worked. I followed its directions to create a quirks file to set the touchpad and keyboard as “internal” devices the palm clicks seem to be gone completely. Based on a few hours use, it is now as reliable as my old Macbook. This is a considerable improvement in the user experience for this laptop.
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Now that it has been a few days, I can confirm quirks fix from linuxtouchpad.org does fix the problem for my FW13-AMD.
I have noticed that while typing, the cursor does sometimes move from the palm, but it does not tap! I’m not the original poster, but I would mark this as [SOLVED] for me.
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I’m on Windows and my only solution has been to turn off tap to click, a feature I use regularly, but I can’t use the touchpad otherwise.
Can you share what the quirks file looks like?
I had been meaning to update this thread. Nothing had fixed the problem and I gave up on it. I disabled tap to click a month or two ago. I use the laptop while on my couch and realized my posture (and how that affected my hands’ position) was the main variable after all.
In any case, the quirks file is below, but I don’t think it helped.
/etc/libinput/local-overrides.quirks
[Serial Keyboards]
MatchUdevType=keyboard
MatchName=AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
AttrKeyboardIntegration=internal
[Touchpad]
MatchUdevType=touchpad
MatchName=PIXA3854:00 093A:0274 Touchpad
AttrKeyboardIntegration=internal