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TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

github.com

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Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#121

Post by alden5 »

mikpanko wrote: post #75

Very cool. Curious: what is the minimum and maximum weight MacBook's trackpad can reliably measure this way?

It goes in gram increments and my laptop was able to read 7300g pressing as hard as i could, which I was surprised it would be designed to read that high, might go up to 10kg but I don't want to crack my trackpad lol. The actual measurements though are extremely unreliable. I've found it can't reliably measure anything, measuring a roll of tape gave me measurements from 70g to 700g, it always settled on a number but was different every time. Maybe the underlying data is more accurate but this API is definitely just designed for outputting the force of a finger. M1 MBP for reference

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#122

Post by alden5 »

pmxi wrote: post #10

This is clever! and potentially useful too. Have you done any testing to determine how precise and accurate this is? I suspect their must be a lot of variance between laptops, since this isn’t an intended use case.

The app isn't accurate at all, magic 8-ball of scales, anything you put on the trackpad it'll settle on a weight and give you a number but it'll be random. The app will accurately tell you how much force you're applying with a finger but when putting something else on it'll settle on a random number

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#123

Post by cAtte_ »

alden5 wrote: post #121
mikpanko wrote: post #75

Very cool. Curious: what is the minimum and maximum weight MacBook's trackpad can reliably measure this way?

It goes in gram increments and my laptop was able to read 7300g pressing as hard as i could, which I was surprised it would be designed to read that high, might go up to 10kg but I don't want to crack my trackpad lol. The actual measurements though are extremely unreliable. I've found it can't reliably measure anything, measuring a roll of tape gave me measurements from 70g to 700g, it always settled on a number but…

> pressing as hard as i could

you are a brave one

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#125

Post by Wowfunhappy »

macNchz wrote: post #114
05 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardware cost+extra weight (need to make the glass thicker to be able to handle extra force and not push on the display). Turns out nobody was really using it because discoverability sucked..

3D Touch was amazing for typing alone, I miss it basically every day when I type more than a couple of words on my phone. It was so great to be able to firm-press and slide to move the insertion point, or firm er press to select a word or create a selection. It was like a stripped down mobile version of the kind of write-and-edit flow of jumping around between words that I can get on a proper keyboard with Emacs keyb…

I don't understand why Apple doesn't just let us slide to move the cursor, who needs force touch?

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#126

Post by saaspirant »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #8

I think this is neat, but only in a Rube Goldberg machine sort of way. The instructions are: 1. Open the scale 2. Rest your finger on the trackpad 3. While mainting finger contact, put your object on the trackpad 4. Try and put as little pressure on the trackpad while still maintaining contact. This is the weight of your object That is, the pressure sensors only work if it detects capacitance, so you need to be touch…

I use a similar approach to weigh objects using gym weighing machine. It doesn't trigger unless there's skin touch.

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#127

Post by fruitplants »

xsmasher wrote: post #99
cryptoz wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use any phone with a barometer to make a scale. All iPhones since the 6, and all the Pixels, and Samsung flagships have one. You get a zip loc bag, blow some air into it, put your phone in running an app that shows the pressure in a big font (so you can see it through the ziploc). Then you put an object of known weight on it like a quarter (balanced carefully on top of the air-filled ziploc) and note the pres…

Wait, I know this one. You give the barometer to the superintendent if he tells you the height of the building.

It's pronounced thermometer. :-)

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#128

Post by tonymillion »

incanus77 wrote: post #18

This reminds me of how, twenty years ago, I used the PowerBook’s hard drive vibration sensor to rig up a seismograph to measure construction noise: https://allthegooddomainsweretaken.justinmiller.io/2007/04/0...

The best use of the SMS in the MacBook… or should I say SMACKbook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uvQTTPr9Rw

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#129

Post by mrheosuper »

OT, but this is what i love about apple laptop. They care about small detail, the detail that won't be on spec sheet for advertising.

Like their laptop speaker is superior to any other machine, even premium laptop like xps or surface won't even come close. Or their huge trackpad but still accurate.

I wish other manufacturers copy this from Apple.

Re: TrackWeight: Turn your MacBook's trackpad into a digital weighing scale

#130

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

sejje wrote: post #106
echoangle wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Glass doesn't need to be thicker than it currently is (I can press on my 13 Pro's screen about twice as hard as was needed for 3D Touch's max depth, and no issues with the screen) I dont think this is a great argument. The glass maybe needs to be thicker so the sensors on the border can properly measure the pressure, not because the screen is close to shattering.

Maybe you had a hard time parsing his comment. He is capable of pressing twice as hard as the feature required at maximum. The screen handles 2x the maximum without issues. Therefore, the glass is thick enough to handle half that pressure,as required by the feature. It's a good argument.

stiffness != strength
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