I'm not sure where this goes, but was wondering if there is an extention that allows older Powerbooks and iBooks to have the new two finger trackpad scroll?
I'm not sure where this goes, but was wondering if there is an extention that allows older Powerbooks and iBooks to have the new two finger trackpad scroll?
It certainly should be just code and not hardware. It'd be trivial to add that logic into the trackpad software. Perhaps a Tiger incentive goodie?
Perhaps the SideTrack people will rip it off. (Checkout Sidetrack if you really need scrolling via trackpad. In some ways it's better although it's a bit of a hack).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this requires the technology built into the new PB trackpads -- I don't believe current trackpads are able to recognize two discrete points of input.
It'll be interesting to see if this gets folded into the iPod...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this requires the technology built into the new PB trackpads -- I don't believe current trackpads are able to recognize two discrete points of input.
Of course they can, but I think the software wasn't written to utilize it as a scroll. As it stands, multiple points merely argue with eachother for the cursor control, but it can be made to be smarter.
If more than one input, scroll based on the average direction.
I'm no expert, but I can't see why its not merely software.
But perhaps you're right and maybe the old ones just juggle attention so quickly it seems like multiple points are paid attention to. But then, even that could be hacked I would imagine.
Trackpads on relatively recent models (most AlBooks and probably also recent iBooks) can indeed sense two fingers touching the pad. I played around with AppleADBMouse from the Darwin sources a little bit, and was able to get 2-finger scrolling to work passably on my 2004 PBook (still needs some fine-tuning, though). If anyone wants to check it out, you can get the modified driver and instructions here.
johnq, thanks for pointing me in the directon of SideTrack. It is just what I was looking for. Once I've tested this for a while (to be sure it doesn't mess anything up), it is definitely a piece of shareware I will be registering.
Comments
Originally posted by PBG3
I'm not sure where this goes, but was wondering if there is an extention that allows older Powerbooks and iBooks to have the new two finger trackpad scroll?
It certainly should be just code and not hardware. It'd be trivial to add that logic into the trackpad software.
Perhaps the SideTrack people will rip it off. (Checkout Sidetrack if you really need scrolling via trackpad. In some ways it's better although it's a bit of a hack).
It'll be interesting to see if this gets folded into the iPod...
Originally posted by Hobbes
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this requires the technology built into the new PB trackpads -- I don't believe current trackpads are able to recognize two discrete points of input.
Of course they can, but I think the software wasn't written to utilize it as a scroll. As it stands, multiple points merely argue with eachother for the cursor control, but it can be made to be smarter.
If more than one input, scroll based on the average direction.
I'm no expert, but I can't see why its not merely software.
But perhaps you're right and maybe the old ones just juggle attention so quickly it seems like multiple points are paid attention to. But then, even that could be hacked I would imagine.
Originally posted by Hobbes
The answer, as ever, is interestingly complex.
:smacks head: Of course, it's a little of both.
Originally posted by johnq
How does one determine whether one's Mac's trackpad is W-Enhanced?
Open terminal, then type
ioreg -l|grep "W Enhanced Trackpad"
If this shows a value of 1, your trackpad is W-Enhanced; if it doesn't show anything, it's not.
http://www-users.kawo2.rwth-aachen.de/~razzfazz/
Ops, repost, my bad
//Copse