Thanks for that information, some of which I have come across before. Many of the solutions appear to have been incorporated into contemporary kernels, post 4.1. On my Kubuntu install trackpad and toucpad work, but not after sleep, which is a different problem. I just want to figure out what is activated in Ubuntu that is not in Arch, I think it may be the xf86-input-synapics or multitouch package. Kubuntu seems to rely on libinput. The xf86-input is required by Plasma which is what I tried on the Manjaro Live CD.
Other references and bread crumbs:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/MacBookPro8,1/8,2/8,3_(2011)