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

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

#221

Post by syspec » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:52 PM UTC

collyw wrote: post #180

IshKebab wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you used an Apple trackpad though? Because they genuinely are light years ahead of the competition. Why wouldn't they patent everything around that?

What do they do that is different? I had a Mac from 2013 with Ubuntu installed. I didn't notice anything different other than a lack of way to emulate a third button.

this whole thread is about getting the MacOS feel in linux when on mac hardeare becsuse it is not as good when hsed on linux.

so what you tried is what this thread is trying to fix

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

#222

Post by actsasbuffoon » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:53 PM UTC

tzahola wrote: post #187

peterburkimsher wrote: post #140

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…

Sorry for being off-topic, but I can't resist asking why on Earth would you want to port iTunes and AppleScript? Everyone I know (except the HN user actsasbuffoon) loathes iTunes, while AppleScript is just... silly, compared to other scripting languages.

Howdy. You've now met someone who thinks iTunes is decent for his uses.

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

#223

Post by optimuspaul » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:54 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #52

trosi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't it be easier to just wipe the drive before TSA?

I think people are really confusing TSA with border control. TSA cares about people bringing knives and bombs on planes. US CBP/ICE or similar is a very different thing from TSA. I've never heard of TSA asking for any more detailed inspection of a laptop than swabbing it for chemical residue, and asking that it be powered on to confirm it's a real working laptop. CBP/ICE on the other hand are a totally different stor…

people definitely conflate the two, especially since the TSA has in the past taken great interest in peoples laptops. I don't think they currently have the authority to do any sort of accessing of the data on peoples computing devices.

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

#224

Post by jandrese » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

trash_panda wrote: post #181

MrLeftHand wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel your pain. Ubuntu Desktop was my preferred go to distro not too long ago. Using 16.10 was nice and I managed to get the touchpad working in a reasonable way with xinput. Then 18 came along and everything went to hell. All the properties changed and some even disappeared. And of course the ones missing were the ones I actually needed to make my touchpad work in a way that it was comfortable to use. After that I…

Reading this thread makes me wonder if I live in the same universe as HN. I'm amazed at the level of exquisiteness of the requirements of the HN crowd. I mean, I've been using computers all my life and used almost every Linux, Windows and OS X systems. I do get that Macbook touchpads are god-tier and unrivaled so far by other hardware manufacturers. That being said, I rather have my old Lenovo x220 with an external m…

For the most part I've been reasonably happy with Linux touchpads (maybe I'm too accepting of less than a perfect experience?) except for one area: Palm rejection.

When you have a giant touchpad it's absolutely necessary to have good working palm rejection, and I've seen far too many laptops completely fail to have palm rejection in Ubuntu. Sometimes you can get it working again by twiddling the mouse driver (enable/disable xinput for example), but sometimes it just plain never works. I've been all over StackExchange and similar places but on some laptops none of the proposed solutions work. I've opened bug reports, but it's hard for developers to fix it when they can't replicate the problem. Sometimes you only get half functionality, like the cursor won't move but it will still click, moving your text cursor to random places when the palm lightly brushes the touchpad and it registers as a click.

On some laptops I just have to pack in a mouse and disable the touchpad entirely. That's not an acceptable solution. I'm really hoping that Ubuntu 18 avoids some of this nonsense.

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

#225

Post by tzahola » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

corv wrote: post #208

tzahola wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>AppleScript because it has so many APIs. You mean the commands you can use on apps like iTunes, Finder, Photos, etc.? Those are not AppleScript-specific per se (AFAIK there used to be an option to write Automator scripts in JS). You'd need the Linux/Gnome/KDE equivalent of the Open Scripting Architecture ( https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Ap... ) with active participation from app developers…

Yes, you can still write Automator scripts with JavaScript! Unfortunately the documentation is AppleScript only.

So, in 2018, at peak JS, it's practically an easter egg that you can write Automator scripts in JavaScript.

I guess this is indicative of Apple's commitment to macOS automation...

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

#226

Post by em500 » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

738472527784 wrote: post #207

em500 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like this? https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/accessories-and-monitors/keyboa...

From what I've read, those don't have the same feel as the keyboards used in the laptops and are definitely unrelated hardware. Since the keyboards are one of the "switched/repaired in < 5min parts" of (older) thinkpads, I don't get why there isn't just a case with an USB converter available. I would pay way to much for an authentic external Thinkpad keyboard. Nothing I have encountered so far feels comparable.

The older versions (like in the earlier link) differ from the laptop counterparts. The recent ones are supposed to be much closer: https://www.thinkscopes.com/2015/08/10/thinkpad-compact-usb-...

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

#227

Post by snuxoll » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

peterburkimsher wrote: post #199

tzahola wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>AppleScript because it has so many APIs. You mean the commands you can use on apps like iTunes, Finder, Photos, etc.? Those are not AppleScript-specific per se (AFAIK there used to be an option to write Automator scripts in JS). You'd need the Linux/Gnome/KDE equivalent of the Open Scripting Architecture ( https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Ap... ) with active participation from app developers…

Yes, it would be a huge undertaking. I've already rewritten my own apps for offline maps, calendar, notes, and I plan to write contacts and iTunes too. When there's a standard API comparable to Apple Events/OSA within those core apps, I'd hope to have enough leverage to persuade other app developers to accept pull requests.

We already have D-Bus to cover sending events to applications, what's really missing is a standard way to enable scripting. I've had a similar idea myself but never got around to implementing it, but I think a standard D-Bus interface applications could implement to expose a scripting dictionary along with a Python/Ruby/Whatever library to implement a more OSA-like interaction would go a long way.

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

#228

Post by ahnick » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 2:58 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #100

isostatic wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I have no idea how not to use it. Right index finger (I'm right handed) moves it round, right thumb presses the keys. That's completely immaterial to the precision of it, which is why I'm unable to use it: I never managed to aim at something, I take ages to actually reach a button to click on it (either under- or over-shooting it unless I move the cursor extremely slowly) let alone select some characters in the mid…

I agree and I have the same issue as you. I'm on a ThinkPad T480 running Ubuntu and I only use the trackpad. Whenever I use trackpoint (the nipple/stick/whatever) I'm constantly overshooting, so it doesn't matter whether I can get to it quickly or not from the home row, because I waste more time trying to position the cursor over the tab or button I'm trying to click than I do on the trackpad. Also, on the trackpad I don't have to physically click a button with my thumb, I just have to lightly tap.

Now maybe I could get better at the precision piece for trackpoint overtime, but if you use trackpoint you also lose the ability to do multi-touch (two finger) scrolling, which I think is a huge time saver, b/c you can scroll without having to find the scroll bar and/or moving your hand over to the arrow/page keys.

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

#229

Post by PascLeRasc » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 3:05 PM UTC

fhood wrote: post #202

bollockitis wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no alternative. I feel trapped. This is ironic, considering that you live out of a backpack! Honestly though, there are alternatives, but that's the problem with luxuries: once we have been spoiled, human pyschology makes it difficult to accept "less." We tend to describe things we want as things we "need." It seems that many Apple power users, myself included, tend to be perfectionists when it comes to co…

I used to use macbooks exclusively, but for the last 2 years or so I have switched mostly to windows 10 because of work, and I hate it more two years later than I did when I started using it. I am truly trapped. I will buy another macbook, I can't help myself. Even now I can feel myself justifying their flaws in order to propel myself towards the next model. There is no escape.

There is an escape, but you lose some ports and cores with it.

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

#230

Post by na85 » Tue, Jul 17, 2018, 3:05 PM UTC

trash_panda wrote: post #181

MrLeftHand wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel your pain. Ubuntu Desktop was my preferred go to distro not too long ago. Using 16.10 was nice and I managed to get the touchpad working in a reasonable way with xinput. Then 18 came along and everything went to hell. All the properties changed and some even disappeared. And of course the ones missing were the ones I actually needed to make my touchpad work in a way that it was comfortable to use. After that I…

Reading this thread makes me wonder if I live in the same universe as HN. I'm amazed at the level of exquisiteness of the requirements of the HN crowd. I mean, I've been using computers all my life and used almost every Linux, Windows and OS X systems. I do get that Macbook touchpads are god-tier and unrivaled so far by other hardware manufacturers. That being said, I rather have my old Lenovo x220 with an external m…

Where do you work that you have room to use a mouse?

Coffee shops, planes, trains, passenger seat in a car, literally on my lap in waiting rooms or transit terminals, etc. This is where I use my laptop, and I don't have room for a mouse in these places.