Old MBP. Do we get the 4 finger swipe as well???

[Scott6666]

Originally Posted by n00binator

1st the hardware is capable cause in linux u can use up to 10 fingers...

What about fingers and toes? Can it support 20 touch gestures?

We must complain until it does.



21 touch gestures...

[n00binator]

It has dick, nose , and mouth support :P LOL but seriously it can read as many touches as the trackpad can fill... and there is a program called multiclutch which i haven't tried yet but it may be support the 4 finger THING

[michaelb]

I can confirm the four finger gesture is possible on pre-October 2008 laptops, and I currently have four finger Exposé and Application Switching working on my January 2008 MacBook Air.

Here's what I did:

My girlfriend recently bought a new unibody MacBook. Just for kicks, and being insanely jealous of her four finger Exposé ability I installed the system it came with on my 1st gen MacBook Air.

(This required hacking Apple's installer to ignore machine checks to avoid the "Mac OS X cannot be installed" obstacle. The method to do that is here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=371302 )

This got the latest, slightly updated 10.5.5 system (with the energy efficient bulb in the System Preferences) on my first generation Air.

However, I was disappointed it didn't show "Four Finger gestures" in the Trackpad system preference, just the old standard gesture. I had a hunch it was possible though, so...

I then examined the kernel extension "AppleUSBMultitouch.kext" (the one installed with the new 10.5.5 unibody OS X).

This Info.plist of this kext contains several entries for what looks like different makes of trackpads. I noticed that some of them had two keys that the others did not:

<key>TrackpadFourFingerGestures</key>
<true/>
<key>TrackpadSecondaryClickCorners</key>
<true/>

I didn't know which model trackpad my Air has and it didn't really matter, as I copied those keys to all entries.

Once the AppleUSBMultitouch.kext was modified (and permissions restored), I rebooted and, hey presto!, there is the Four Fingers entry in the System Preferences.

Four finger Exposé on my January 2008 MacBook Air now works just as it does on the unibody MacBook.

(Secondary click, where you click the bottom right corner of the trackpad to get a right-click, is also there, but only seem to work in combination with the Air's physical button - haven't worked that one out yet, and don't really care as I am used to soft two finger clicking for right-click.)

I suspect this would work on all later model multitouch trackpads.

[Aniki]

Sadly

[lauph]

Originally Posted by michaelb

I can confirm the four finger gesture is possible on pre-October 2008 laptops, and I currently have four finger Exposé and Application Switching working on my January 2008 MacBook Air.

Here's what I did:

My girlfriend recently bought a new unibody MacBook. Just for kicks, and being insanely jealous of her four finger Exposé ability I installed the system it came with on my 1st gen MacBook Air.

(This required hacking Apple's installer to ignore machine checks to avoid the "Mac OS X cannot be installed" obstacle. The method to do that is here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=371302 )

This got the latest, slightly updated 10.5.5 system (with the energy efficient bulb in the System Preferences) on my first generation Air.

However, I was disappointed it didn't show "Four Finger gestures" in the Trackpad system preference, just the old standard gesture. I had a hunch it was possible though, so...

I then examined the kernel extension "AppleUSBMultitouch.kext" (the one installed with the new 10.5.5 unibody OS X).

This Info.plist of this kext contains several entries for what looks like different makes of trackpads. I noticed that some of them had two keys that the others did not:

<key>TrackpadFourFingerGestures</key>
<true/>
<key>TrackpadSecondaryClickCorners</key>
<true/>

I didn't know which model trackpad my Air has and it didn't really matter, as I copied those keys to all entries.

Once the AppleUSBMultitouch.kext was modified (and permissions restored), I rebooted and, hey presto!, there is the Four Fingers entry in the System Preferences.

Four finger Exposé on my January 2008 MacBook Air now works just as it does on the unibody MacBook.

(Secondary click, where you click the bottom right corner of the trackpad to get a right-click, is also there, but only seem to work in combination with the Air's physical button - haven't worked that one out yet, and don't really care as I am used to soft two finger clicking for right-click.)

I suspect this would work on all later model multitouch trackpads.

can you upload that kext? or must there be many other components for it to work other than just the kext?

[TBi]

Originally Posted by michaelb

<SNIP>
(Secondary click, where you click the bottom right corner of the trackpad to get a right-click, is also there, but only seem to work in combination with the Air's physical button - haven't worked that one out yet, and don't really care as I am used to soft two finger clicking for right-click.)

I suspect this would work on all later model multitouch trackpads.

Good work getting this to work with the older model!

About the right click, remember the whole trackpad on the newer model is a button. So more than likely the right click only happens when the pad is 'clicking', which is why you need to use the button on your laptop.

[orpheus1120]

Originally Posted by shoppy

Nope there is not, I will be speaking to apple sales about this. False advertising.

Appreciate some update from you buddy.

[dggraphics]

You need these kexts:


AppleUSBmutitouch.kext

AppleUSBTopCase.kext (without changing this the trackpad will not work-tried it)

The new keyboard pref pane

The new trackpad pref pane.

---Then change the plist in appleusbmultitouch.kext.

It will be easier to wait for a software update as the new kexts will be included.

[orpheus1120]

What I'm really interested to know is if the old revised 17" really has the 4-finger multi-touch gestures capability as advertised.

[dggraphics]

my previous version MBP 15 can do it.

[mrklaw]

Originally Posted by smokestack

If the hardware is capable of registering multi-touch (or even 10 fingers), does anyone know of any third party work to enable 4-finger swipe? what about manipulating even older trackpads (last gen-macbooks)?

ADD: here's your demonstration of 11 fingers registered on a macbook pro using linux. this is using the newer, 3 finger multitouch hardware, i believe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeLUxsvIVuU

nice video. I'd like to see some of that 'pressure' (or actually area covered) being used too. I can imagine you being able to use one finger in photoshop for example to move the mouse, and the other to adjust the strength/size of the brush stroke or effect

[risenphoenixkai]

michaelb's post above just proves that there's absolutely no reason for Apple not to enable four-finger gesture support for Early 2008 MacBook Pros and Airs in a future software update. The hardware clearly supports it.

Well, no reason other than marketing.

If 10.5.6 comes out and there's still no new gesture support for the older trackpads, then I guess we'll all just have to do what he did, only by fiddling with the kexts in the combo updater instead.

[TerryBo]

WOWO I know that this thing isnt really a big deal, but it is to me! I fell in love of the gestures! How can I make the four fingers work on my early 2008 mbp??? can anyone give me detailed instruccions? thxs!

[fleshman03]

Originally Posted by risenphoenixkai

michaelb's post above just proves that there's absolutely no reason for Apple not to enable four-finger gesture support for Early 2008 MacBook Pros and Airs in a future software update. The hardware clearly supports it.

Well, no reason other than marketing.

If 10.5.6 comes out and there's still no new gesture support for the older trackpads, then I guess we'll all just have to do what he did, only by fiddling with the kexts in the combo updater instead.

I'm hoping someone would post how to mess with the kexts and stuff. I'm good with computers, but I'm much better doing stuff when I have an SDK or GUI to work with.

[sfroom]

While Apple likes to differentiate old models from new, I'm actually surprised at how they're handling this.

Apple prides itself on its user interface and user-friendliness. This should extend to their input methods too.

It could be very bewildering and for someone moving from one computer to another, and having certain gestures not recognized.

The move from scrolling to multitouch is obvious progression, and is fine to be used as differentiation between models, but something as subtle as a single multitouch gesture should NOT differentiate one machine from another. I would expect it of Windows, but not OSX.

[TBi]

Originally Posted by sfroom

While Apple likes to differentiate old models from new, I'm actually surprised at how they're handling this.

Apple prides itself on its user interface and user-friendliness. This should extend to their input methods too.

It could be very bewildering and for someone moving from one computer to another, and having certain gestures not recognized.

The move from scrolling to multitouch is obvious progression, and is fine to be used as differentiation between models, but something as subtle as a single multitouch gesture should NOT differentiate one machine from another. I would expect it of Windows, but not OSX.

Say that to all the iBook owners who couldn't officially have two finger scrolling even though the trackpad supported it. Thankfully someone released iScroll2 which enabled this support on the iBook.

Although Apple did update the original Macbook Pro 15" with extra gestures when the Macbook (or was it the Pro 17"?) came out with them.

[TerryBo]

this is being discussed in the apple forums too.... hope for an update or an app to have four fingers!

[dukeblue17]

MichaelB
Can you explain in more detail how to use four-finger expose in the 1stgen macbook air? I bought mine in June 2008 and I really think the four-finger gestures are useful.

Where do you find the kernel texts you were talking about in your post? Could you give me a quick step-by-step procedure on enabling the four-finger gestures for MBA 1st gen?


Thanks

dukeblue17

[anzo]

Originally Posted by dukeblue17

MichaelB
Can you explain in more detail how to use four-finger expose in the 1stgen macbook air? I bought mine in June 2008 and I really think the four-finger gestures are useful.

Where do you find the kernel texts you were talking about in your post? Could you give me a quick step-by-step procedure on enabling the four-finger gestures for MBA 1st gen?


Thanks

dukeblue17

second that please!!

[TerryBo]

ok... it appears that we will have to wait to have the four fingers gestures on the old mbps.... bad luck

[risenphoenixkai]

Originally Posted by TerryBo

ok... it appears that we will have to wait to have the four fingers gestures on the old mbps.... bad luck

I tried enabling the gestures on my Early 2008 MacBook Pro using kext files and pref panes that a friend of mine gave me from his new MacBook, and following michaelb's instructions in the post above.

Not only did the new multitouch gestures not work, I managed to disable all multitouch functionality on my trackpad and also disabled the special functions on the f-keys on my keyboard (brightness, volume, etc.). I was only able to restore the previous functionality by re-applying the 10.5.5 combo updater.

I think I may make more progress later, if in addition to the files listed above I can get my MacBook-wielding friend to send me another file, MachineSettings.framework. The new trackpad prefpane was refusing to load because it was looking for an updated version of this file with support for corner clicking on the trackpad, which is what caused my trackpad's multitouch to be completely disabled. I'm still not sure what the deal was with my f-keys conking out on me.

If the procedure works, I will list detailed step-by-step directions detailing what I did. If it doesn't work, I'll say so, and also try to figure out why.

[fleshman03]

Originally Posted by risenphoenixkai

I tried enabling the gestures on my Early 2008 MacBook Pro using kext files and pref panes that a friend of mine gave me from his new MacBook, and following michaelb's instructions in the post above.

Not only did the new multitouch gestures not work, I managed to disable all multitouch functionality on my trackpad and also disabled the special functions on the f-keys on my keyboard (brightness, volume, etc.). I was only able to restore the previous functionality by re-applying the 10.5.5 combo updater.

I think I may make more progress later, if in addition to the files listed above I can get my MacBook-wielding friend to send me another file, MachineSettings.framework. The new trackpad prefpane was refusing to load because it was looking for an updated version of this file with support for corner clicking on the trackpad, which is what caused my trackpad's multitouch to be completely disabled. I'm still not sure what the deal was with my f-keys conking out on me.

If the procedure works, I will list detailed step-by-step directions detailing what I did. If it doesn't work, I'll say so, and also try to figure out why.

Keep us posted on what you figure out.

[TerryBo]

looking forward to it! thanxs a lot

[risenphoenixkai]

I've tried everything I can think of to get four-finger gestures working on my Early 2008 MacBook Pro, but so far nothing has worked.

I followed michaelb's procedure above and grabbed the following files from a friend's brand-new MacBook:

AppleUSBMultitouch.kext
AppleUSBTopCase.kext

The new keyboard prefpane
The new trackpad prefpane

I rewrote the info.plist file located within AppleUSBMultitouch.kext to enable four-finger gestures for all trackpads, then rebooted.

After a reboot, I found that the trackpad prefpane was refusing to load, and I had no multitouch functionality at all, not even scrolling. Also, the special function keys on my keyboard (brightness, volume, etc.) weren't working.

I checked the console logs and found that the trackpad prefpane wasn't loading because it was calling on a file located in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MachineSettings.framework which didn't match what the trackpad prefpane was asking for.

So I got the applicable file, /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MachineSettings.framework/Versions/A/MachineSettings from my friend's MacBook. Actually, I just grabbed the entire MachineSettings.framework folder.

After overwriting the old MachineSettings.framework, I restarted again. Multitouch still wasn't working, and I got a message from crashreporter saying that activateSettings had crashed.

I was able to diagnose this by finding the file that crashed, /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/activateSettings, and I replaced it with the same file from my friend's MacBook.

I restarted again. Still no multitouch, and now no crash messages, either.


Here's the progress I have made thus far:

Multitouch does not work at all now, including the gestures that originally did work on this machine, e.g. two-finger click, scrolling, pinching, rotating, three-finger swipe.

The new trackpad prefpane does come up, and it shows all the animations for the new four-finger gestures in the little viewer in the corner. However, none of the multitouch gestures work no matter what I do to the settings.

The new trackpad prefpane shows up in "Other" in system preferences, rather than "Hardware".

Special function keys on my keyboard do work. I'm not sure why they failed before.

Typing "kextstat" in terminal shows that the extension AppleUSBTopCase.kext is not loaded. That may be the source of the multitouch failure right there, but I'm not at all certain how to get this extension to load.

If anyone else has any ideas where to go from here, please let me know, because I'm stumped.

[foobarbaz]

Originally Posted by risenphoenixkai

I followed michaelb's procedure above and grabbed the following files from a friend's brand-new MacBook:

The way I understood michaelb, he installed the entire OS bundled with the new Macs, instead of just copying the files.

My girl-friend's new MB isn't here yet, so I can't try. But I think I'll try comparing the entire system file tree.