Anyone use the new scrolling feature in the new PowerBooks?

[stcanard]

Circular scrolling is iPod Wheel style, but then I guess you can only go up/down as opposed to full 2-D movement.

Any Cocoa apps still obey the shift key => horizontal scrolling.

 

[brap]

the *.kext file is the compiled extension, you can just download that and install it.

After installing 10.3.8, I'm getting a 'malformed .kext' type error with the compiled binary. Guess I'll be installing XCode.

 

[stcanard]

After installing 10.3.8, I'm getting a 'malformed .kext' type error with the compiled binary. Guess I'll be installing XCode.

Might be a good idea. Make sure you do the sudo chown -R root:wheel on the kext before trying to install it -- it will refuse to install if the ownership is any different.

Also on *no account* touch your trackpad if there is no trackpad kext loaded. Bad things happen. Trust me.

And don't do a software update to 10.3.8 and then try to switch the extensions without having rebooted first. Bad things happen. Trust me.

<sigh>

 

[brap]

Also on *no account* touch your trackpad if there is no trackpad kext loaded. Bad things happen. Trust me.

Yeah, the big bold uppercase warning given, along with a little common sense made me keep well away. I can imagine it getting slightly confused.

And don't do a software update to 10.3.8 and then try to switch the extensions without having rebooted first. Bad things happen. Trust me.

No need to sigh, I'm not quite that stupid. Well, on occasion, but this isn't one of them.

edit: worked fine, after I chown'd from the terminal... and not the lazy cmd+i method...

 

[KD7IWP]

I downloaded some app, actually a friend gave it to me. It's just a modification to the Apple open source code for their trackpads. I believe it was mentioned earlier. It works great!!! I love this ipod style scrolling, so efficient.

 

[Kirbdog]

I just got my PB today and I think that the scrolling trackpad works great. it is much better than the laptop trackpads I have used in the past.

This is my first Apple, so I am still exploring. So far its been all smiles.

 

[mkrishnan]

Edit: never mind...I found the instructions on how to see if you have a compatible computer, and I don't. Sidetrack it stays for me. Which is probably best anyway.

 

[stcanard]

No need to sigh, I'm not quite that stupid. Well, on occasion, but this isn't one of them.

edit: worked fine, after I chown'd from the terminal... and not the lazy cmd+i method...

The sigh was from my own experience

Silly me forgot that I had done the upate to 10.2.8 and wasn't going to reboot until I shut the powerbook down to bring it home.

Then, even though I noticed the message saying the extension didn't load, /mach was not found, the requsite alarm bells did not go off in my head, and I touched the trackpad...

A firmware generated black box showed up in the middle of my screen informing me my computer had just crashed (so nice of them to tell me!) and that I would have to hold the power button down for three seconds to shut it off.

 

[stcanard]

mentions something about a "new" W type trackpad or something like that, which was apparently incorporated into iBooks and PBs before this new feature was implemented? Which computers have this? Has anyone used this successfully on an iBook G4/800 from late 2003 by any chance?

Sidetrack takes advantage of "W" enhance mode so if you're using it you have one Any G4 iBook, AL powerbook, and some earlier models (I don't know how far back) have them.

Note, this is not the same as the new powerbook features, this is a hack to emulate a similar behaviour. The new powerbooks really do use different hardware. Just want to make sure that is perfectly clear.

 

[mkrishnan]

Sidetrack takes advantage of "W" enhance mode so if you're using it you have one Any G4 iBook, AL powerbook, and some earlier models (I don't know how far back) have them.

Wait, really? I did the ioreg command described on the website and I did not get the W Enhanced entry they described.

Note, this is not the same as the new powerbook features, this is a hack to emulate a similar behaviour. The new powerbooks really do use different hardware. Just want to make sure that is perfectly clear.

The hack does use the two-finger scrolling style of the new PBs though, right? And does it enable the same preference options that Apple uses, or different ones?

I guess it doesn't matter too much, since I'm happy with Sidetrack. I'm just curious....The iPod style scrolling sounds kind of interesting, although with Sidetrack you can set it so that if you swipe your finger down the side to scroll, and hold it at the bottom or top corner, it keeps scrolling in that direction. This is pretty effective in most apps, although it seems a little flaky in Safari. This specific feature works much better in Firefox than Safari, which is strange, because otherwise I find scrolling much more responsive in Safari.

 

[brap]

The hack does use the two-finger scrolling style of the new PBs though, right?

Correct.

And does it enable the same preference options that Apple uses, or different ones?

Oh no, it uses very different ones. Like, none at all. You have to recompile and reinstall it after editing a couple of definitions to change the mode.

Wait, you did. He's now updated the site with some precompiled binaries.

Then, even though I noticed the message saying the extension didn't load, /mach was not found, the requsite alarm bells did not go off in my head, and I touched the trackpad...

A firmware generated black box showed up in the middle of my screen informing me my computer had just crashed (so nice of them to tell me!) and that I would have to hold the power button down for three seconds to shut it off.

Ouch..!
The end of a long day, perhaps? At least this is one of those which doesn't have lasting repercussions... I once tried moving my ~/Library onto another drive using a couple of symbolic links. That wasn't pretty.

[ot]And why haven't you got an avatar, hm?[/ot]

 

[Ugg]

I love it. I was planning on getting a small mouse but this works just fine IMO. I haven't used the diagonal feature yet, mostly because it's a 12" but I 'spose I have a few Graphic Converter photos I could try it out on.

 

[Littleodie914]

Hey guys, figured I'd help clear a few things up here. The hack that was listed on MacBytes.com a few days ago works correctly on newer iBooks and Powerbooks. I can say from personal experience that it in fact DOES work on my iBook G4 (sig). Some of you were saying that the "W Enhanced Trackpad" command returns nothing. You must first uninstall sidetrack, as it uses its own driver and overwrites Apple's. Any questions, post 'em here!

 

[BWhaler]

Are you a hardware engineer at Apple? Thought not! Apple have stated that this is a hardware change. It is not just software. I don't see them porting this back to older hardware. Just because it looks the same does not mean that it has not changed, after all the new PowerBooks look just like the old ones but there are a lot of hardware changes there.

It's always hysterical when someone acts so condescending and self-righteous, and is dead wrong.

Next time, get some class or at a minimum be sure you know what you are talking about.

 

[DavidLeblond]

The sigh was from my own experience

Silly me forgot that I had done the upate to 10.2.8 and wasn't going to reboot until I shut the powerbook down to bring it home.

Then, even though I noticed the message saying the extension didn't load, /mach was not found, the requsite alarm bells did not go off in my head, and I touched the trackpad...

A firmware generated black box showed up in the middle of my screen informing me my computer had just crashed (so nice of them to tell me!) and that I would have to hold the power button down for three seconds to shut it off.

Thats funny the same thing happened to me, the kernel panic screen. But after I booted it back up the new scrolling feature worked fine and I'm loving it. YMMV I guess.