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UltraNEO*

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 16, 2007
4,057
16
近畿日本
Guys,

I just noticed something... Since upgrading to Snow Leopard I can't figure out how on earth do I switch on the 'ignore trackpad when mouse is present' feature, when a mouse is present, if there are no setting in the system preferences for this? Did i miss something??? :(

i'm such a nooooooob!!!!

Here's what I see...

System Preferences:
system_pref-20091214-041039.jpg


TrackPad Panel:
Screen_shot_2009-12-14_at_4.07.20_AM-20091214-040743.jpg


Mouse panel:
mouseCP-20091214-040846.jpg


USB Device Tree:
usb_info-20091214-042003.jpg
 
how confusing!

On MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air computers with Multi-Touch trackpads running Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, the option to enable or disable "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present" is in the Mouse & Trackpad tab in the Universal Access System Preferences pane.

does that work?
 
That's weird...

I'm running Leopard and even I don't see those options. I looked in Mac Help and it says there's supposed to be a Trackpad option in Keyboard & Mouse, but there isn't...
 
I think they figure out that most people wouldn't disable the trackpad because of gestures that you can't do with the mouse - I still use mine a lot despite having a mouse nearby, its just faster sometimes since your hands are closer to the trackpad than reaching for a mouse.
 
I think they figure out that most people wouldn't disable the trackpad because of gestures that you can't do with the mouse - I still use mine a lot despite having a mouse nearby, its just faster sometimes since your hands are closer to the trackpad than reaching for a mouse.

Can't the mighty mouse do all of those multitouch stuff??
 
Can't the mighty mouse do all of those multitouch stuff??

Some, not all - and you're thinking of the Magic mouse, not the mighty. And its still way easier to two finger scroll on the trackpad. I was considering the Magic but its too low profile and doesn't fit my hand well, so skip that.
 
Magic mouse can... but i hate those gestures, wish there's an option to switch them off completely. unfortunately it's all done in hardware.

Yes the magic mouse (my mistake). But its not built into the hardware, the magic mouse has a big sensor for all the multitouch suff and you can turn the sensor off so its like a normal mouse. (By the way I don't like the multitouch stuff either)
 
Yes the magic mouse (my mistake). But its not built into the hardware, the magic mouse has a big sensor for all the multitouch suff and you can turn the sensor off so its like a normal mouse. (By the way I don't like the multitouch stuff either)

I was referring to the trackpad. The multitouch getures are built into the hardware, if you search the forums you'll discover there are countless number of threads where users of older MacBoooks and MacBookPro's wanted to add multitouch to their existing trackpad.. and it's simply not possible.

Hmm.. You say it's not in the hardware... maybe you should take one apart first. You can't tell unless you compare the back of the trackpad from a MBP without and with the gestures, they're completely different. A multitouch enabled trackpad has a few more chips on there. I suspect the same hardware that's in the multitouch gesture enabled track-pads are also in the MagicMouse.

...Essentially the Magic Mouse is just a BlueTooth enabled trackpad with laser eye movement sensor, a smooth curve and a nice finish.
 
Hardware and firmware

Multitouch gestures are NOT built into the hardware. The sensor in the multitouch trackpads is different from sensors in single-touch trackpads; that's the only difference. It's not accurate to say that it's "built-in", because it's not tacked on like that, it's a function of the system (which was redesigned around that function). The gestures themselves, however, are entirely analyzed by the operating system, which is why you can toggle them on and off in the trackpad control pane.

As for not touching the pad while using the mouse, that's sometimes easier said than done. I find that occasionally (or with more frequency, depending on what I'm doing), the base of my thumb and wrist will use the pad as a rest when I'm using the center of the keyboard, which, if the pad is active, can seriously mess up what I'm doing.
 
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