How Is Magic Trackpad supported by Ubuntu in VMWare Fusion ?

[pamplemoussemk2]

Hello

I looked for posts about the support of the Magic Trackpad but found mostly posts from 2009 or 2010. I use VMWare Fusion on macOS Catalina. My virtual machine is Ubuntu 18. Presently, I use a classic mouse without any problem: the two buttons and the scroll wheel work as expected, I can select a text in the virtual machine with the mouse and paste the text in macOS, I can also copy a text in macOS and paste it in the virtual machine by clicking on the mouse wheel. 

I plan to buy the Magic Trackpad 2. I would like to be sure that I will be able to use it with VMware Fusion : scroll with two fingers, copy/paste by clicking somehow (I don't know yet how the magic Trackpad can emulate a click on the mouse wheel). I don't need the advanced gestures like pinch and zooming. Does VMWare Fusion support these basic functionalities automatically ? Does it convert the scroll with two fingers to a scroll with a virtual mouse wheel in the virtual machine ? Is the Magic Trackpad seen as a mouse in the virtual machine, or as a Magic Trackpad ? 

Regards. 

[Technogeezer]

I've just tried a Magic Trackpad (1, original version) with a CentOS 7 VM. I find that with the default mouse emulation provided by Fusion:

• The scrolling up/down feature works (two finger on trackpad, up/down).
• The right mouse button feature works (two fingers tap).
• Able to select text (click on trackpad and drag)
• Copy/paste via "right mouse" seems to work ok.

So it looks like the basics work. Not sure about click on scroll wheel. I have a USB mouse with a scroll wheel attached to my Mac Mini, and clicking the scroll wheel on that mouse activates the macOS Mission Control feature (even when the VM is in full screen mode).

Pinch and zoom do not work, but other gestures seem to invoke macOS features. Example: three-finger swipe left and right switch desktops (and VM full screen), and 3-finger up activates Mission Control to switch applications and desktops.

[pamplemoussemk2]

Hello, 

thank you for your answer. I think that this is enough for me. That comfort me before buying the device.

Regards.

[pamplemoussemk2 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

To conclude this thread:

• I just receive my Magic Trackpad 2 today. Everything works fine. I can scroll up or down in my Linux Virtual Machine with two fingers. I use the i3 window manager and find no problem with it. The trackpad s seen as the VMWare virtual mouse natively. 
• Despite the fact that I already disabled the shortcut keys for Mission Control in the virtual machine, advanced gestures like the 3-finger or 4-finger gestures are detected by MacOS host without problem.
• Of course, the gestures are supported in the Linux virtual machine. I don't need them with i3.
• Horizontal scrolling is not supported. I think that it possible if I modify my Xconfig files. 

I am satisfied 😁.