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Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing?

williambharding.com

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Re: Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing?

#11

Post by 101km »

I have been using 12" MacBooks since they came out because I live out of a backpack and travel a lot.

I cannot find anything comparable in terms of size/weight/battery and build quality. Especially the trackpad, nothing is remotely close. Otherwise I'd get that and put Arch on it.

People complain Apple is expensive, not so sure. The TCO may actually be less because of the high resale value. It is also more convenient.

More than once when faced with crossing an annoying border (TSA, sigh) I'd sell the Macbook at my origin and simply pickup a new one at the destination. Thirty minutes in-and-out of the Apple store, they all seem to have exceptionally fast wifi, and setup handled via a curl-to-bash of mine gets me exactly back to where I started, down to the sessions..

Since my points of origin usually have higher Apple prices due to currency/taxes, I end up accidentally eking out a profit after months of use per machine.

If you can't be arsed with the above consider this: Their retail global presence is getting to be quite complete, even coming to Samsung land (Seoul, behold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt4ldH5vQCQ) and Tel Aviv finally along with some others. Most big airport hub cities will have an Apple store close by.

Stuff gets broken or stolen and yet with this setup I'm generally never 24 hours away from my exact laptop setup...

There is no alternative. I feel trapped.

Re: Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing?

#12

Post by chx »

lokedhs wrote: post #7
isostatic wrote: post #3

Am I the only one who prefers the nipples on thinkpads?

No, but you are probably in the minority. I have one on the Dell laptop I'm using (which also has a touchpad). Once in a while I try to use it, but I find it almost impossible control with any kind of precision. Changing the sensitivity doesn't help much. I first tried that device on the first Thinkpads that had it, back in the 90's or whenever it was. I have always had the same reaction to it. How do you use it? Is…

The Dell ones are vastly inferior to the ThinkPad ones. While I do not know the ones in the 20, the last ten or so years I worked solely with TrackPoint first under Linux now under Windows 10. Under Windows 10, there's a Mouse tab in Control Panel, there's a sensitivity slider and I found it's best to have it just one notch below fastest. The default makes me feel I am wrestling with my laptop.

Re: Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing?

#14

Post by isostatic »

lokedhs wrote: post #7
isostatic wrote: post #3

Am I the only one who prefers the nipples on thinkpads?

No, but you are probably in the minority. I have one on the Dell laptop I'm using (which also has a touchpad). Once in a while I try to use it, but I find it almost impossible control with any kind of precision. Changing the sensitivity doesn't help much. I first tried that device on the first Thinkpads that had it, back in the 90's or whenever it was. I have always had the same reaction to it. How do you use it? Is…

I have no idea how not to use it. Right index finger (I'm right handed) moves it round, right thumb presses the keys.

I'm not a classic touch typist, but my fingers tend to be near the home row most of the time, having the pointing device one or two keys away, and the mouse buttons next to space, is a big benefit. Having to shift my left hand to the left, and right hand down 3", just to move the pointer, feels like a lot of effort.

I use point-to-focus (but not raise) a fair bit too, as moving the mouse is almost as easy as alt-tab, I use it a lot to switch between terminal windows.

Re: Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing?

#17

Post by isostatic »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #8

The touchpad on my macbook pro is just such an amazing feature, so intuitive. So 'just right' ... and consider that it's a primary form of interface. Everybody should be doing this yesterday, it's one of the most obviously good things going.

> The touchpad on my macbook pro is just such an amazing feature, so intuitive. So 'just right'

Do you find the original scrolling mechanism, or the reversed scrolling mechanism, to be "just right"?

Re: Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing?

#20

Post by isostatic »

tty7 wrote: post #19
isostatic wrote: post #3

Am I the only one who prefers the nipples on thinkpads?

nope, i am thinking about putting an x1 carbon keyboard into a case so i can use it with my desktop :)

Something like https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/migr-73183
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