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Seviper

Member

Registered: 2026-07-02

Posts: 4

Acer Aspire SW5-012 (ITE Touchpad) not working properly in Q4OS Trinit

Device: Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012
OS: Q4OS Aquarius Trinity (Debian-based, 32-bit)
Kernel: Linux (current Q4OS default)

After installing Q4OS Trinity on my Acer Aspire SW5-012, the built-in touchpad (ITE Tech. Inc. ITE Device(8595) Touchpad, Vendor=06cb, Product=2968) is not working correctly. I have identified two separate issues:

Isue 1 — Touchpad behaves like a drawing tablet (absolute mode)
The cursor position maps 1:1 to the physical position on the touchpad surface, just like a graphics tablet. Instead, I want the cursor to move relative to finger movement like a normal touchpad. Swiping also draws a selection rectangle instead of moving the cursor.

Isssue 2 — hid_multitouch module must be manually reloaded after every boot
The touchpad only works after running:

sudo modprobe -r hid_multitouch

If `hid_multitouch` is loaded, the touchpad sends no input events at all (verified with `evtest`). I have tried blacklisting it via `/etc/modprobe.d/` but it does not seem to take effect on boot.

What I have already tried:

- Installed `xserver-xorg-input-libinput` and `xserver-xorg-input-evdev`
- Blacklisted `hid_multitouch` via `/etc/modprobe.d/hid-multitouch-blacklist.conf`
- Ran `sudo update-initramfs -u` after blacklisting

Current status:

The touchpad is recognized by the kernel (`/proc/bus/input/devices` shows it, `xinput list` shows it with id=9). It is enabled (`Device Enabled: 1`). However, it still behaves in absolute mode and requires manual intervention after every boot.

dmesg output (relevant lines):

itetech 0003:06CB:2968.0002: Fixing up Acer SW5-012 ITE keyboard report descriptor
hid-generic 0003:06CB:2968.0002: ignoring exceeding usage max
hid-multitouch 0003:06CB:2968.0003: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [ITE Tech. Inc. ITE Device(8595)]

Question:

Has anyone successfully fixed the absolute mode / drawing tablet behavior of the ITE touchpad on this device? And is there a reliable way to make the `hid_multitouch` removal permanent at boot?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,248

Website

Re: Acer Aspire SW5-012 (ITE Touchpad) not working properly in Q4OS Trinit

Welcome to the forum

As far as this issue is hardware dependent, we can suggest some AI generated advice. Some of the AI tips could lead to a solution. If you will find a solution for a plain Debian, it will work for Q4OS as well. Does your touchpad work within Q4OS Plasma edition ?

------
AI response:

The behavior you're describing is most likely a **kernel HID quirk** rather than a Q4OS or Trinity desktop issue.

The Acer Aspire SW5-012 has an ITE Tech. touchpad that can be claimed by either `hid_multitouch` or `hid-generic`. Unfortunately, on some older kernels the `hid_multitouch` driver does not correctly recognize this device as a touchpad, so it either:

* exposes it as an absolute-position device (similar to a graphics tablet), or
* fails to generate pointer events altogether.

When you unload `hid_multitouch`, the device falls back to `hid-generic`, which is why it starts producing events again.

### 1. Verify which driver is actually bound

Run:

```bash
readlink /sys/bus/hid/devices/0003:06CB:2968.0003/driver
```

or

```bash
udevadm info -a /sys/bus/hid/devices/0003:06CB:2968.0003
```

to confirm whether `hid_multitouch` or `hid-generic` is handling the device.

### 2. Check what libinput sees

Please post the output of:

```bash
libinput list-devices
```

If it reports the device as a **Tablet** or **Absolute Pointer** instead of a **Touchpad**, that confirms the kernel is exporting the wrong capabilities.

### 3. Instead of blacklisting, unbind only this device

A global blacklist of `hid_multitouch` is usually not recommended because it may affect other touch devices.

Instead, create a small systemd service that runs at boot:

```bash
#!/bin/sh
modprobe -r hid_multitouch
```

or unbind only the affected device from `hid_multitouch` and bind it to `hid-generic`. This avoids disabling the driver for unrelated hardware.

### 4. Absolute mode is not configurable in X11

If the kernel exports the device as an absolute pointer, neither `libinput` nor `xinput` can convert it into a relative touchpad. The fix must happen in the HID driver or via a kernel quirk.

### 5. Kernel version matters

Please post:

```bash
uname -r
```

There have been several fixes to the HID subsystem over the years. If you're running an older Debian/Q4OS kernel, it's worth testing a newer kernel (for example, from Debian Backports or Q4OS Testing) to see if support for this device has improved.

---

At the moment, this looks like a missing kernel quirk for USB ID **06cb:2968**, rather than a configuration issue. If the device still appears as an absolute pointer on a recent kernel, it may be worth reporting it to the Linux HID maintainers, as they occasionally add quirks for devices like this once sufficient diagnostic information is available.

Seviper

Member

Registered: 2026-07-02

Posts: 4

Re: Acer Aspire SW5-012 (ITE Touchpad) not working properly in Q4OS Trinit

Thank you for the quick response!

I tried working out the issue with help of Claude AI (cause I'm a complete beginner and this is my first Linux Distro I ever tried). Basically I tried installing every possible touchpad driver with no success whatsoever. I also tried using a newer Debian kernel in hope it has fixed the issue (unfortunately it didn't). Also I can't try out Q4OS Plasma cause the Acer Aspire Switch 10 runs on a 32-bit UEFI, which is the reason I chose Q4OS in the first place. Other than that I am so grateful for Q4OS Trinity cause with it I was able to safe my Stepfather's Notebook from getting tossed in the garbage. It just runs so well and he is so happy to be able to use his old notebook again (he just has to use an usb mouse from now on with should fine imo).
Anyways I will report the issue to the Linux HID maintainers. Thank you for the advice!

Here is the full AI response:

Update: Extensive testing done, absolute coordinates problem persists
After extensive testing, here is a summary of what I have tried and found:
Working configuration (but still in tablet mode):

xserver-xorg-input-evdev with MatchProduct "ITE Device(8595) Touchpad"
systemd service removing hid_multitouch before display-manager starts
udev rule setting ID_INPUT_TOUCHSCREEN=0 and ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD=1

Root cause identified:
The kernel exports the device with absolute coordinates (like a graphics tablet). Neither libinput nor evdev can convert these to relative movement at the X11 level.
What I have already tried without success:

libinput driver with various options
evdev driver with Mouse interface instead of Touchpad interface
synaptics driver
mtrack driver
hwdb entry to override absolute axes
Newer kernel from Debian Backports

System information:

Device: Acer Aspire SW5-012
USB ID: 06cb:2968 (ITE Tech. Inc. ITE Device 8595)
Kernel: 6.1 and Backports kernel tested
dmesg: itetech: Fixing up Acer SW5-012 ITE keyboard report descriptor
Xorg.log: libinput bug: Event for missing capability CAP_POINTER

Note: Unfortunately, due to the 32-bit only UEFI of this device, I am unable to test other Q4OS editions such as Plasma, as they are only available as 64-bit.