Talk:Touchpad

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[edit] Early untitled section

It is a common misapprehension that touchpads measure transcapacitance: the capacitance between x and y lines on an circuit board. This is not true, please see [1]. I reverted the edit. -- hike395 20:12, 22 May 2004 (UTC)

Someone seems to dislike Cirque...

There is most definitely programmability on the Alps touchpad - i'm usng it right now. Revised!--Chao 21:27, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Manufacturers paragraphs are MS Windows centric.

Personally I don't think that the fact if a driver is Windows certified belongs in an encyclopedia. What about X11/Linux, MacOs or Zeta drivers?

Hermit: By all means, tell me that the driver is or is not Windows Certified, that's information, and has it's place in an encyclopedia. What bothers me is that the implication is that there are problems simply because the driver isn't "Windows Certified". ("Windows Certified" should be WHQL-certified, where WHQL is "Windows Hardware Quality Labs".) It may be true that the driver didn't achieve WHQL certification because it was of poor quality, but it wasn't of poor quality because it wasn't WHQL certified. I've seen WHQL-certified drivers that crash reliably under easilly replicated circumstances (For the longest time, the certified Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG driver reliably caused a B.S.O.D. when using Telnet on high-latency connections) .... and have used non-WHQL-certified drivers that have never crashed. Implying that WHQL is the ONLY standard that should be applied to drivers is a MAJOR NPOV faux-pas. -Hermit

Windows-certification stuff removed. -- Orborde 02:24, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Touchpad"

I often see the word "touchpad" used to describe the plastic-membrane-covered buttons commonly found on home appliances, especially microwave ovens. They're not truly touch-sensitive (they usually require pressure to deform a plastic "bubble" and close an electrical contact) but the usage is very common, if not universal, within that industry. Exia 09:47, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Motion seconded to expand 'Touchpad' category to multiple non-computer related applications. --vex5 06:16, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Relative/absolute motion

Touchpads are relative motion devices

Really? Doesn't the moodpad thing that comes with the synaptic drivers show that touchpads use absolute positioning? Playstationman 00:09, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "The first laptop ever to carry such a device" was the Psion MC 400

"The first laptop ever to carry such a device" was the Psion MC 400 (Psion MC 200/400/600/WORD series) and not from Apple. It was introduced in 1989.

The Psion pad, unlike the touchpads used in modern notebooks, was an absolute-position system. As the link says, "The pad corresponds to the screen..." The Psion tap-to-point design did not catch on, however, the Apple stroke-to-point design has. Both are probably significant. (unknown user)

The article should have info on what was the first device to use the current "standard" touchpads and also the first laptop to do so. The psion didn't function the same as current laptop touchpads. (I mean first device as well as first laptop.) Ergzay 05:22, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Two-finger-stuff

As far as I know, the two-finger-support in late Apple models is not hardware, but software. I have an older model, and I can use 2-finger-scroll with a 3rd-party-kernel extension.

  • IIRC it's actually a Firmware thing, the 3-rd-party kernel extension you mention will probably update the device's firmware accordingly. Also the devices are perfectly capable of detecting more than two fingers, in fact I've put Linux on my iBook and I can now use two-finger as well as three-finger clicks (for middle- and right-click respectively). 84.161.68.217 09:04, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] some extra useless information

I was just trying to operate a touchpad with something else but my fingers, and as is correctly stated in the article, hardly anything but fingers work... then i read about that virtual ground thing, and tried moving a battery on the touchpad. And it works, but only the - pole. Funny, isn't it...?84.57.94.95 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 20:09, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Try your nose--BorisFromStockdale|Discussion|Contributions 04:50, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
How about a french fry? I recall in a episode of Wired Science that an remote-controlled plane hobbyist discovered he could activate the features of his iPhone with that side dish.--Kevin586 (talk) 16:47, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Edge Motion Merger

An article on Edge motion has been created. The creator suggests that it be merged with Touchpad and I also think that there is not enough material for a separate article. --Gimme danger (talk) 16:02, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Support - As per rationale above.--Kevin586 (talk) 16:30, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Orthogonally?

Does it really need to say "The conductors in these layers are oriented orthogonally to one another"? Why not say perpendicular or in a grid fashion? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.202.89.125 (talk) 20:19, 22 February 2008 (UTC)