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Two-Finger Scrolling For Older Mac Laptops 86
Michael Stroeck writes "Want that nifty scrolling on your portable but have an older one? No problem, Daniel Becker has written a free alternative driver for older PowerBooks and iBooks that works like a charm. It is based on Apple's AppleADBMouse-209.0.10 driver from Mac OS 10.3.7 that is available as part of the publicly released Darwin source code. As such, the driver is covered by the APSL (Apple Public Source License)."
Two-finger scrolling? (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Two-finger scrolling? (Score:2)
Is there a reason that you would prefer this over one finger clicking? You can turn one finger clicking on in the Preferences panel under mouse and keyboard. There is even an option to ignore "accidental" clicks, in case that is why you want two-finger clicking.
Though, it would be nice to have two-finger clicks indicate a CTL-Click, so now that I think about it, that could be a nice feature. Good idea!
Re:Two-finger scrolling? (Score:1)
Insensitive clod (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Insensitive clod (Score:1)
*shows musselm*
Umm (Score:1)
I will have to give it a run.
Re:Umm (Score:5, Informative)
It works (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It works (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, this was not advertised functionality when you bought your iBook. Why do you think you're entitled to free functionality upgrades from Apple for the life of your product?
Do you think Apple should provide you with a free upgrade to OS X 10.4, too? Because, you know, it's within your iBook's capability to run it.
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:2)
Apple have provided new hardware that supports a new feature. Just because it's possible to hack the driver to simulate the functionality of their last model doesn't mean Apple have any responsibility to provide anything at all to you.
Apple are a company, they work on a system of making sure that there is going to be a return on money they invest. There's no incentive to Apple to pay developers to hack this into the driver for old powerbooks, nor is there any ince
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:2)
Never said they were forcing me to do anything. Least of all purchase another computer from them. Why do they offer upgrades to begin with? Answer: customer care and quality assurance.
Apple have provided new hardware that supports a new feature.
If you look at my original statement, it was based on the presumption that the hardware hadn't changed. If this is indeed a new trackpad, then what can I say? I don't have a problem with the fact that Apple makes new sup
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:3, Insightful)
Here's something so easy it's been whipped up at home.
Of course Apple should offer it. Of course Apple doesn't have to offer it.
But along you come, a one-man corporate rights brigade, wagging your finger and telling people the corporation owes them nothing beyond the dotted line. And what's more, peeps better not go droolin' after Tiger! Advertised features! Life of the product! Ain't no free lunch! Everybody clear on that?
Such tiresome scolding, such quick subservien
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:2)
Re:Apple had better make this feature official... (Score:5, Insightful)
You're right.
It's just too bad most of the mods around here think that Apple's need for profit=(hand_over_fist) is somehow rightfully tied into purposely crippling capable hardware. But this isn't the first time this debate has come up.
Many Apple iBooks have the ability to run an additional display in spanning-mode just like the more expensive PowerBooks. However, iBooks are purposely "locked" to mirror-only by Apple. It's pretty easy to enable the functionality through a software patch... just like this trackpad functionality can be added via some loving software hackery.
Apple is clearly using this trackpad feature as a nudge for people to upgrade to the new PowerBooks and I can't fault them for that. Still, that doesn't mean Apple should simply ignore users with the hardware ("W Trackpad") that indeed supports this neat software hack just in the name of product differentiation. Hell, they can add it to Tiger and justify it as a feature upgrade included with the price of the update. Imagine that! Apple still makes money and users with old hardware get increased functionality! Cats and dogs, living together!
I remember back when users were adding extras to their original iPods and Apple quickly followed... officially updating them to do new things. Then, when newer iPods came out, users (this one included) asked Apple to support the older iPods and create an update so they could to do the things the newer ones could do... namely playlists-to-go. But the overwhelming majority of people I heard from on
We wouldn't want everyone's favorite little computer company, just barely making ends meet every quarter, throwing a bone out for the users of older hardware.
Give me a break.
I already scroll with two fingers. (Score:2, Informative)
The other finger: Down-arrow
Who needs extra software?
Re:I already scroll with ONE finger. (Score:2)
Scrolls one line.
Who needs extra fingers?Agreed, that's why I use the spacebar, it scrolls whole pages.
SideTrack (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder, has anyone used this function in conjunction with the new drivers?
Warning! (Score:4, Interesting)
I have an aluminum powerbook which according to the web site is supported. I am running Macos X 10.3.8.
I followed the instructions for installing the XY based driver temporarily. Immediately upon loading the new driver the system dims the screen and instructs the user to do a hard power down and restart the machine.
I will investigate further. For now, be very careful, and those for whom it does work should post explicit information on their software+hardware configuration so as not to mislead others.
Precompiled driver appears to not work with 10.3.8 (Score:5, Informative)
1. I configured the source to build for only XY support.
2. I ensured that my newly built driver and the preconfigured driver each had appropriate permissions. (root:wheel).
3. I wrote a script which unloaded the system version of the driver and loaded either the prebuilt or the newly compiled driver based on an argument.
results:
Each time, the prebuilt dirver would panic the host and require a hard reboot. Note that this was immediate, and did not require me to touch the trackpad to trigger the failure.
Conclusion, since 10.3.8 was so recently released the developer probably did not know to rebuild the pre-compiled distributions.
If you have already installed it, and are running 10.3.7, you may be at risk when upgrade to 10.3.8. Either upgrade from source now, or revert to the stock driver and wait for new binary packages.
The freshly built driver appears to work as advertised.
Test system:
1 GHz Aluminum 17" powerbook with 1GB memory.
OS, stock 10.3.8 with no third party drivers installed.
In case it's relevant, I use Xcode 1.5 (Score:2)
I have already submitted test results and other followup information to the author of the driver.
Public thanks are deserved by the author. He did a nice job. I enjoy the functionality and appreciate his effort.
Re:Precompiled driver appears to not work with 10. (Score:1, Informative)
Also it works but but my fingers must be funny. Since I have to spread my fingers a bit to get it to work. Very unnatural feel.
Re:Warning! (Score:2)
It's like you didn't even bother to read it. You need to give the kernel extension the appropriate permissions, otherwise it won't load and touching the touchpad will give you an instant kernel panic.
That is not the case.
Permission and ownership were correct. In both the initial try and subsequent testing failure occurred immediately after the driver load, and was not triggered by any trackpad input.
Re:Warning! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Warning! (Score:2)
In it I stated that I had followed instructions and that the web site claimed my system was supported. So, yes, this means that I ran ioreg to verify before proceeding.
Ouch. (Score:2)
The odd thing is, I have one of the very first 15" AlBooks and the driver works fine for me. Is your machine the same generation than mine or newer?
Mirror (Score:3, Informative)
Download [rapidshare.de]
And here's TFA:
Two-Finger-Scrolling with pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks
What's this all about?
This is a hack to activate two-finger scrolling on supported pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks (i.e. those with a "W-Enhanced" trackpad, including most AlBooks and recent iBooks) on OS X 10.3 (tested on 10.3.7 and 10.3.8).
It is based on Apple's AppleADBMouse-209.0.10 driver from 10.3.7 that is available as part of the publicly released Darwin source code. As such, the driver is covered by the APSL.
Modified by Daniel Becker, Feb. 2005.
How do I scroll, then?
To enable scrolling mode, just place two fingers on your trackpad instead of one. Both fingers need to be placed next to each other horizontally (not vertically). Some people get better results with their finger spaced a little bit apart, while others prefer having the fingers right next to each other.
The hack enables three scrolling modes: Vertical, horizontal and circular.
For vertical and horizontal scrolling, move the two fingers up/down or left/right in a straight line, respectively, top scroll in that direction.
Circular scrolling works similar to the iPod's scroll wheel: Move the two fingers in a circle to scroll up or down, depending on whether you move in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
Scrolling seems to be a little jumpy sometimes, what's up with that?
This usually happens when the driver mixes up X/Y and rotational scrolling. Enabling just one of the two at a time should help.
Also, several people suggested they get better results if they disable "Use smooth scrolling" under "Appearance" in System Preferences.
Can my trackpad do this?
To check if your trackpad can support two-finger scrolling, use the following command:
ioreg -l | grep "W Enhanced Trackpad"
If this prints out a line containing "W Enhanced Trackpad" = 1 on the right, your trackpad is "W-Enhanced" (and can thus be used for two-finger scrolling); if it doesn't print out anything at all, it's not.
Please note that this check will not work if you have SideTrack installed. SideTrack loads its own mouse driver, which doesn't publish the "W Enhanced" property.
So where's the download?
AppleADBMouse.zip (source, ~73k)
AppleADBMouse.kext.SCROLL_ALL.zip (binary, all scroll modes enabled, ~68k)
AppleADBMouse.kext.SCROLL_XY.zip (binary, only X/Y scrolling, ~67k)
AppleADBMouse.kext.SCROLL_ROT.zip (binary, only circular scrolling, ~68k)
OK, so how do I install this driver thing?
To install from source, open the project file in Xcode and build it, then open the terminal, go to the "build" directory inside the project folder and do this:
sudo chown -R root:wheel
sudo kextunload
And that should be it. The driver stays loaded either until you manually unload it (just reverse the paths to the
If you have SideTrack installed, you'll need to specify its
WARNING: In case the driver should for any reason fail to load, do not touch the trackpad before you have reloaded the original driver or your machine will crash! It's OK to use the keyboard, though.
If you prefer to just install one of the precompiled binaries, just unzip the downloaded archive, open a Terminal, go to the directory you just unzipped to and use the same commands given above.
In case you'd like to install the modified driver permanently, the e
Mini Review (Score:5, Interesting)
I came from a Windows laptop that you could scroll using the touchpad. You'd either have your finger on the right edge of the pad (for verticle) or on the bottom edge (for horizontal). That was a VERY nifty feature that I loved and used all the time.
So then I got the Mac. Before Apple announced that feature I was planning to use SideTrack so I could get the scrolling, but when Apple announced it I decided to give their way a try. Here is my review: IT ROCKS!
It is SO easy to do and works flawlessly. You don't need to know where your finger is on the pad. It doesn't matter how far apart the two fingers are, it works great. I've found myself using my index and ring fingers for it (just seems comfortable). It scrolls so easily and naturally it took absolutly no time to get used it. It's a fantastic feature.
My only complaint: on my Windows laptop I could drag to scroll and then lift my finger and it would keep scrolling. I would like that functionality too, but it's no big deal.
So in short, if you've got an Apple laptop I suggest you try this if it does work (I haven't tested it, but I have no doubts as this is a hardware feature not a software feature, I think), I bet you'll love it.
Re:Mini Review (Score:2)
Re:Mini Review (Score:2)
another trick (Score:5, Informative)
For getting the cursor all the way to the other side of the screen (say, from right to left, for a right-handed person): put your middle finger on the right side of the trackpad; then put your index finger on the left side; then remove the middle finger.
Because the track pad only recognizes one point of contact, it interprets this as your finger moving "really fast," and moves the cursor all the way to the other side.
Re:another trick (Score:2)
Doesn't work on iBooks G4? (Score:2)
Too bad :-)
Re:another trick (Score:1)
Re:another trick (Score:2)
put your middle finger on the right side of the trackpad; then put your index finger on the left side; then remove the middle finger
This trick is considered accidental trackpad input by OS X. As such, it will be ignored by default (this behaviour can be changed by unchecking "Ignore accidental trackpad input" in the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane.
Re:another trick (Score:2)
I still find dragging my finger more convenient.. but I also crank up the mouse velocity settings...
Al PB 17" (Score:2)
It works (Score:1)
It is very nice, thanks Daniel!
This is great (Score:1)
Re:This is great (Score:2)
Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:2, Informative)
Usually referred to as 'dual USB'. For a complete reference on Apple's crazy naming conventions, you can't go wrong with Apple History [apple-history.com]
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1)
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1)
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1)
The 'icebook' or white iBook naming conventions are generic enough to not exclude any models but also get the form factor across.
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:2)
It's been a long day.
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1)
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1)
I may be a gibbering Mac fanatic, but even *I* don't think that Apple sells more laptops than IBM or Dell.
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:2)
The difference being that Dell sell about 17 different models of laptop, whereas Apple sell two iBook models and three models of PowerBook. I would also imagine that there's a dominant iBook model (14"?) and a dominant PowerBook model (15"?)
So, although Dell or IBM might sell more laptops overall, I bet there's
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:2)
That's it. There's no friggin' WAY anyone but an expert could successfully replace the trackpad button on virtually any other Mac laptop.
I wouldn't be too surprised if a company like MCE has already investigated the possibility of doing this and decided it just wasn't economically viable. There are a
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1)
Re:Replacement Trackpad? (Score:1)
works flawlessly (Score:1)
Re:works flawlessly (Score:2, Funny)
Re:works flawlessly (Score:2)
firefox (Score:4, Informative)
in firefox go to about:config (type it in address field)
change mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action to 0
change mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.numlines to 1
Re:firefox (Score:1)
Re:firefox (Score:1)
uControl (Score:1)
Oh, it will also allow you to remap your keyboard, among other features [gnufoo.org].
works (Score:1)
excellent (Score:1)
Excellent.
Two *or more* finger scrolling... (Score:2)
The only downside I've noticed is that it doesn't seem to be as sensitive as SideTrack to small movements... You have to make a fairly big move to get it to respond.
Pat
Question for Mac vets.... (Score:1)
Re:Question for Mac vets.... (Score:2)
I'm not sure if shell scripts can be placed in your startup items. If not, get XCode 1.5 and make an AppleScript application to call the shell script that does the work. Put the AppleScript Application in your startup items.
From what I've read, also be careful of touching the pad while this activity is happening, or you could panic the kernel.