Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing? • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by MrLeftHand » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:20 PM UTC

chupasaurus wrote: post #125

mkirklions wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are all talking about desktop? Ubuntu desktop is annoying IMO. Server is the only linux worth running. Windows has a superior desktop experience. Ive made serious attempts to use linux desktops since ubuntu 7 and the annoyance factor of getting things to 'work' and the hostile community is really offputting.

There are more than 2 desktop environments for Linux you've tried if my guess is right (since you've tried Ubuntu). Imo KDE is light years ahead than Windows but requires to set it up for your taste.

Can KDE do something about touchpad support whist the underlying X and kernel support for the hardware is absolute rubbish? It was a while ago I used KDE, but from what I can remember there was no option to fine tune touchpad behaviour.

I like that under Linux you have a freedom of choice when it comes to window managers. KDE, Gnome2-3, XFCE, Cinnamon, you name it. It's awesome to have so many tools for one problem.

Hell, I even liked Unity. I think it was a very clean and easy to use wmanager.

But no matter how fancy-ass the wrapping is, if the problem is underneath it.

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

#132

Post by oaiey » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:26 PM UTC

ToFab123 wrote: post #113

Microsoft did it and wrote a driver that makes a PC touchpad just as amazing as the one you find on a MacBook. There is a world as different between using that driver and the standard synaptics driver most laptops ships with. For sure you want the same on a Linux box.

This is a missing detail here. Microsoft created around the Win8 timeline a specification for what they call "Precision Touchpad". The surface and e.g. the Dell precision use it. The vendors jumped it as well, but industry like always is super slow adopting.

The key is to support that spec.

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

#133

Post by culturestate » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:30 PM UTC

Tepix wrote: post #66

reacharavindh wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see how selling a used MacBook(purchased in the USA from a state without state taxes) could just be sold off as a used item in say Europe, before returning back to the US. The difference in cost could actually be a net positive. Now, if all your files live in the cloud, and you have your setup automated completely, why not?

The keyboard layout is an issue.

US English keyboards are available in most places alongside the local variants (though I guess you can’t guarantee they’ll always be in stock)

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

#134

Post by mimimihaha » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:31 PM UTC

martin_ wrote: post #114

101km wrote: post #11

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…

I've been using a 13" MBP for years, and am almost astounded by how much I take it, and its trackpad for granted from reading this thread. Also-- Would love it if you could share an example of the bash you execute to restore everything right up to the sessions (redacted where necessary)!

Mid 2014 MBPr here. Got it the day after it came out for about $1000 after winning the Best Buy coupon lottery. I haven’t had a single thought of replacing it since. Its battery still lasts me all day, the laptop hasn’t slowed down on me, and is still completely silent. I’ve dropped it plenty of times and I’m getting a bit suspicious of how much longer it’ll last me. I’ve fallen in love with it though and I really hope I won’t have to replace it anytime soon.

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

#135

Post by sammoth » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:32 PM UTC

I tried a MacBook touchpad in the Apple store and I didn't get what the fuss was about. It has that annoying feature where when you click the cursor freezes for some period of time, which stops you clicking on multiple things in quick succession. It didn't feel any more precise to me in terms of pointing. I realise it has gesture support that works in close harmony with OS features, but just in terms of pointing and clicking it was nothing special.

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

#136

Post by OJFord » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:33 PM UTC

jcelerier wrote: post #106

101km wrote: post #11

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…

> 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. Arch on a macbook is a great experience

I tried for a while, and running it natively really hammered the battery, got nowhere close to the same uptime as when running macOS. Running it in a VM was OK on battery, but of course there's CPU/RAM overhead, and the trackpad _feels_ nice, but it still doesn't quite move in the right way.

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

#137

Post by sbov » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:34 PM UTC

mkirklions wrote: post #112

opdahl wrote: post #2

If someone could actually make this, I would gladly pay an annual subscription to access it. Almost the only reason I'm still buying MacBooks is because of the touchpad, and if I could get that on Linux I probably would just switch to a normal PC.

Who is on this website? I thought these were mostly programmers, but I cannot picture a programmer using a touchpad instead of a mouse.

I prefer touchpads because the travel time to them is much lower. They also are always in the same place. I can even use them with my thumb while leaving my fingers on the home row.

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

#138

Post by Froyoh » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:35 PM UTC

sammoth wrote: post #135

I tried a MacBook touchpad in the Apple store and I didn't get what the fuss was about. It has that annoying feature where when you click the cursor freezes for some period of time, which stops you clicking on multiple things in quick succession. It didn't feel any more precise to me in terms of pointing. I realise it has gesture support that works in close harmony with OS features, but just in terms of pointing and…

It's so responsive and smooth, especially double-finger scrolling

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

#139

Post by gruez » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:35 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #74

inapis wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really depends on their comfort/paranoia level. If the device is taken out of their sight for more than a few minutes, they'd be highly suspicious. More so if you are crossing borders of countries known to be hostile.

> Really depends on their comfort/paranoia level. If the device is taken out of their sight for more than a few minutes, they'd be highly suspicious. If your expected adversary is a nation-state intelligence agency, what do you expect to do? Take your laptop with you everywhere you go, all the time? Leave in your apartment for a theoretical attacker to execute an evil maid attack on it? FDE is highly useful against o…

>Leave in your apartment for a theoretical attacker to execute an evil maid attack on it?

TPM + FDE?

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

#140

Post by peterburkimsher » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 12:39 PM UTC

I'll volunteer 2 months full-time development for free, with a few conditions.

- I'm looking for a job in New Zealand, Australia, or Canada. Not Seattle (sorry Bill). I'd stop job hunting to work on this, so someone else will have to find me a job.

- I'd develop for the MacBook Pro 2014, because that's my hardware. Only one Linux distro (probably Ubuntu).

- Weekly check-in emails (maybe twice a week). A plan set out at the beginning with the deliverables for each week.

Am I qualified? No idea. Currently I work at OSE, a microSD card manufacturer in Taiwan, where I've bit-banged control systems protocols and done big data analysis. The closest side project I did to this is KeyMouSerial, which logs keyboard & mouse movements on my laptop, sends them to an Arduino, which behaves like a keyboard for a Raspberry Pi.

I'm disillusioned with Apple now, and wanting to hop to Linux. I also want to port iTunes and AppleScript, though I think there's less demand for those two.