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    E14 : Trackpad Discussion Only

    Discussion in 'HP' started by bmzero, Jul 23, 2010.

  1. derickso

    derickso Notebook Geek

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    Has anyone done a clean install with an i7 and been able to get the touchpad to work? I've tried a plethora of drivers and can't get it to work (Win update, swsetup, updates from hp.com).. sigh.
     
  2. msweeney

    msweeney Notebook Consultant

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    What do you mean it doesn't work?
     
  3. markik

    markik Notebook Enthusiast

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    Welp, my current trackpad doesn't even work. Even when it did, it was pretty terrible; I'm a mouse guy. I plan on grabbing a decent bluetooth mouse ASAP.

    The Envy 14's trackpad has to be better than nonexistent.
     
  4. derickso

    derickso Notebook Geek

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    Didn't detect.. I think it was bios related, I had installed the f.05 bios from the stock OS image first, then I think it didn't detect from that point on. After the clean OS install I did a bios reload and it magically started working.. no idea why.
     
  5. Jhnboy

    Jhnboy Notebook Consultant

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    So how do we set the tap zones?

    ( i want to refresh a page or such with my upper-right corner)
     
  6. zeth006

    zeth006 Traveler

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  7. khris118

    khris118 Newbie

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    This usually means you have to right click on the EXE file and choose "Unblock"
     
  8. Justos

    Justos Notebook Evangelist

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    any info on deadzones :/ i really cant use this trackpad properly without it
     
  9. zeth006

    zeth006 Traveler

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    Allow me to PM you in a min.
     
  10. zeth006

    zeth006 Traveler

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    Okey dokes. I replied to your post last night, but it looks like it got buried in the frenzy of the usual postathon. I'll give you the loadup on how to enable dead zones.


    http://forum.notebookreview.com/6503991-post9970.html

    I followed the post here as my original driver installation didn't have deadzones enabled. I selected the first one out of the 3-4 that were shown and was able to configure my bottom left portion as "move back a webpage", the bottom right portion as "move forward a webpage" and the top right as right-click.


    As always, credit goes to JJB for his discovery.
     
  11. Wall of Voodoo

    Wall of Voodoo Notebook Consultant

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    I'm the minority then. I try to use mice/touch pads as little as possible. Use space bar to scroll as well as page up/down/home/end/arrows and other buttons.
     
  12. Friendly0Fire

    Friendly0Fire Notebook Consultant

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    I've checked out the code for the scrolling application that was posted earlier on by kamarge. I'm currently rebuilding it all using C++ and .NET and have two finger inertial scrolling working (at least I think, never tried it on a Mac). I still need to add more functionality like two and three finger tapping, area functions and such, plus actually making a GUI :D

    I'll keep everyone updated on the matter.
     
  13. Mike415

    Mike415 Notebook Evangelist

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    Realy glad to heat that! Thanks!

    What would be great to see which is what I think needs improvement is the ability to rest a finger on the bottom button area and then overall just reduce the glitches in the trackpad scrolling. Lastly being able to "walk" the scrolling/use the lower finger to scroll since right now in the google code it doesnt work. At least for me.
     
  14. flipkun

    flipkun Notebook Guru

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    Awesome! If you don't mind, consider implementing horizontal scrolling :D . I really appreciate it, and it's really quite ridiculous that a synaptics couldn't make these improvements themselves.
     
  15. swg1251

    swg1251 Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah, it seems a bit weird that Synaptics couldn't make good enough drivers/applications for the touchpad, yet one guy seems to be getting the features to work...
     
  16. reil

    reil Notebook Guru

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    i don't think anyone can implement a deadzone properly with the current version of the sdk.

    the packets the software receives has a few attributes, w, x, y, z. these attributes are not per finger but some munging of the data across them.
    w, as far as i can tell is the largest area of pressure on the pad. when you have two fingers touching each other on the pad, the pad will give a packet saying there's 1 finger with a larger w. if you spread the two fingers apart, the packet will say two fingers with a small w (equivalent to a w of a single finger).

    x, y are documented to be some filtered coordinates of the fingers.

    z is what is used for palm check i believe.

    however, you can do:
    -horizontal scrolling is trivial to add (just duplicate the vscroll function and send dx with _HWHEEL instead of _WHEEL).
    -inertial scrolling is a bit trickier as as you need a worker thread and a good inertia algorithm (basically spawn a thread with the last delta x and y that degrades dx/dx by inertia algorithm and scrolls).
    -three finger scroll actions seem to be fairly easy since its just like two finger scroll except you execute something.

    overall though, with two-finger-scroll, i'm quite happy with the trackpad. it was very difficult to use when i first got the laptop and now its pretty good. right clicking is still kinda hard, but its hard on a mac too.
     
  17. Friendly0Fire

    Friendly0Fire Notebook Consultant

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    W determines the overall width of the touched area while Z is a pressure indicator.

    I have hacked together two-finger right-clicking. Only way to make it work reliably is to override the drivers' tap feature (disabling it in the driver config). With this I can stop one-finger packets from making the menu disappear (happens often when you remove your hand during the tapping process).

    I'll add horizontal scrolling, that's trivial. Inertial scrolling is fortunately simple too with an event-based approach as you can just use the triggering event's thread to loop through the slowing down, which is fairly basic right now. It works fine already.
     
  18. tornbacchus

    tornbacchus GO leafs.. Wait, Nevermid

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    Alright well I've been playing around with the touchpad stuff. I installed the add on someone made.

    I have it now so that I have to have 1 finger touching the touchpad, and the other finger can scroll. Is this the way its supposed to be? Is there a way to get edge scrolling?

    Also, what are the tap settings in that addon? I haven't used them.
     
  19. Friendly0Fire

    Friendly0Fire Notebook Consultant

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    Edge scrolling is part of the core Synaptics drivers.
     
  20. Vihzel

    Vihzel Notebook Geek

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    I tried to install the TwoFingerScroll, but nothing happens when I click on the Application file in the folder. What am I doing wrong?
     
  21. zeth006

    zeth006 Traveler

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    It should appear as a hand sign on the bottom right portion of your task bar. Follow the instructions posted here.
     
  22. Vihzel

    Vihzel Notebook Geek

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    Thanks for that. Has anyone found a solution yet for the deadzone on the buttom while trying to drag something around?
     
  23. Jhnboy

    Jhnboy Notebook Consultant

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  24. werd

    werd Notebook Guru

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    so randomly now (using the 2fingerscroll app) when I two finger scroll, sometimes it jumps through the page, instead of being smooth from top to bottom. Hard to explain but I guess while scrolling it'll skip over parts of the website. I disabled the scrolling in synaptics, put it on smooth etc. It worked early dunno what happend. Any help is great, thanks!
     
  25. Mike415

    Mike415 Notebook Evangelist

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    Its done it on mine too. I dont know why. It seems like sometimes its super smooth and sometimes it decides it just wants to keep jumping. Im hoping the rewritten version helps.
     
  26. werd

    werd Notebook Guru

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    Thanks for the reply, at least its not only me! Using my gf's MBP this weekend sure does make me jealous of that trackpad, but everything else on this laptop is perfect for me, so hopefully a small fix will make it useful again.
     
  27. tornbacchus

    tornbacchus GO leafs.. Wait, Nevermid

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    I have just been using the normal synaptics driver.

    To use two finger scrolling, separate your two fingers about 1 cm apart, and stroke up or down on the touch pad.

    It works perfectly fine, as well as side scrolling and horizontal scrolling. If your have your fingers too close together (touching) then it does not work. Have a space between your fingers on the touchpad, and it works perfectly fine. I have not had it jump on my once while using the original drivers.

    I've always been used to using 2 hands for a touchpad, one moving and another resting on the buttons. With this touchpad, you only need one hand, but I still would like some dead zones at the bottom of the touchpad.
     
  28. zeth006

    zeth006 Traveler

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    NICE! I'll be looking forward to it!
     
  29. Jasper101

    Jasper101 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Alright, so we are all comparing this trackpad to the one on Macbooks. Does anyone think it would be possible to somehow modify the new windows drivers for the "Magic Trackpad" to our synaptics trackpad. I know this is doubtful but I figured I would mention it just in case we have some awesome coders around here. ;)

    Use the Apple Magic Trackpad with Windows
     
  30. Mike415

    Mike415 Notebook Evangelist

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    Been thinking that, but sounds highly unlikely.
     
  31. Skittlesdfw

    Skittlesdfw Notebook Enthusiast

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    After using the trackpad for a few hours, I feel like this thing is just a tad too big for my use. The default placement of the keys, compared against the Trackpad, always has me laying my right palm against the trackpad, which invariably leads to me moving the mouse, scrolling, or increasing/decreasing the font size in Chrome.

    Can anyone recommend a decent solution from this, aside from re-training my hands to not try and sit below the home row keys?
     
  32. MagusDraco

    MagusDraco Biiiiiiirrrrdmaaaaaaan

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    bump the sensitivity up big time (but then you gotta use some exaggerated motions to move the cursor so you really need to find a happy medium)

    palm check to max. sensitivity to 80ish% (like a tick and a half away from heavy touch)
     
  33. Jhnboy

    Jhnboy Notebook Consultant

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    One thing that is somewhat bothering me is the fact that the trackpad doesn't seem to be level.
    I mean my left click side of the pad is sightly higher than the metal chasis but the right click side seems to be just a bit higher than what the left click side is.

    Its subtle but it does bother me as the trackpad doesn't feel the same from both sides.
     
  34. dexta

    dexta Notebook Guru

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    Some other people have also mentioned this and sounds like its a build issue. It's suPPOSED to be all flush and even.
     
  35. Mike415

    Mike415 Notebook Evangelist

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    I think the jumpiness in 2 finger scrolling is from acceleration.
     
  36. tornbacchus

    tornbacchus GO leafs.. Wait, Nevermid

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    Just seperate your fingers while using the touch pad by 1 cm. it works PERFECTLY. I love the touchpad. I do not have any jumps at all with using the stock synaptics drivers.
     
  37. Skittlesdfw

    Skittlesdfw Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the suggestions Magus... I've done both of these, and they haven't helped. I even tried kicking sensitivity up to 90%, but that didn't show any noticeable improvement.

    Any other suggestions? I really love this laptop's design, specs, and overall build, but the trackpad issue comes up so much for me that it's starting to make me get annoyed when I use the machine, and that's not good. :(
     
  38. Friendly0Fire

    Friendly0Fire Notebook Consultant

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    Small update. Now that I understand the touchpad better, I've rewritten my code (again) to perform better and be more structured. I still disable touch to click and take care of it myself for a number of reasons.

    The result so far is that I have tap to click, double-click, right-click with two fingers, two fingers vertical and horizontal scrolling. Planned next is re-establishing hotspots (like the top-left corner to disable the touchpad), then three fingers gestures.
     
  39. kamarge

    kamarge Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys,

    I'm happy to see other ppl in the forums taking the twofingerscroll code and building their own additions (I probably won't have much time to work on this going forward but will do my best). Let me know if you'd like to take over development of the app going forward.

    I had a couple of hours free tonight and added a few new features to my branch of the code (will commit the changes to the goog code svn repository tomorrow some time).

    -----------------------
    TwoFingerScroll for Envy v0.02
    Download link - TwoFingerScroll-envy14-v0.02.zip

    +added option to use 3 finger scrolling in addition (or instead) of 2 finger scrolling
    +added option for horizontal scrolling
    +added option to create deadzone over mouse buttons, *NOTE* unfortunately this only works when 1 finger is on the trackpad, it may not be possible to add a deadzone when >1 finger is on the trackpad (at least its not trivial)
    +added option to help minimize mouse skipping when clicking the physical mouse buttons, *NOTE* this will basically disable mouse movement when 2 fingers are on the trackpad after 1 finger was on the trackpad, so those people who rest their finger on the mouse buttons while moving the cursor should disable this
    -edge scroll seems to be broken now, not sure why
    +refactored the code a bit based on some contributions via email
    +icon updated (if anyone has a better one or wants to make a better one let me know)
    -----------------------

    As Friendly0Fire mentioned, adding other things like inertial scroll shouldn't be too hard. I also want to add configuration for 3 finger gestures (ala Macbook), like swipe down to show desktop or page-down etc. This also seems fairly simple to implement and would be really useful.

    Adam
     
  40. Mike415

    Mike415 Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks, its working well. I still have issues where if I right click and try to drag sometimes (even with finger in the box completely) it doesnt want to move the cursor. Also 3 finger scroll is very jumpy and harder to enable. Is this just my touchpad or are others getting this too.

    Appreciate your work though
     
  41. zwolf4444

    zwolf4444 Notebook Guru

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    I'm confused. Does this solve the "resting one finger on the left click button" issue. How does configuring the bottom left as move back a webpage help?
     
  42. kamarge

    kamarge Notebook Enthusiast

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    As soon as you physically click a mouse button it should completely free up movement of the trackpad. You could try unchecking the minimize mouse skipping option but that should only take effect when you have 2 fingers on the trackpad.

    3 finger scroll works the same as 2 finger scroll for me. The only time it doesn't work for me is if all 3 fingers are right next to each other, if there is any space between them at all then it works.

    Adam
     
  43. Mike415

    Mike415 Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks for the reply. After my second clean install its all actually working much better. Strange
     
  44. Sdawg36

    Sdawg36 Notebook Consultant

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    Anybody had a glitch where twofinger scroll starts to control the volume instead? Happened after I unlocked my computer while I was downloading something. Conveniently, I can't reboot to see if that fixes it since I've got 45 minutes left on the download, lol. Would be kinda cool if it was possible to map the volume control to the right side with two fingers to activate it though (yeah, I'm that lazy).

    Edit: Just saw that an update for the app on the previous page, thanks again for all the hard work :)
    Edit2: Apparently locking and unlocking again fixed it
     
  45. Friendly0Fire

    Friendly0Fire Notebook Consultant

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    I know during my coding experiments there was a point where if I sent certain mouse commands in short sequence, the screen would shut itself off.

    I'm pretty sure the Synaptics drivers and Windows are a bit flaky in that regard as that definitely shouldn't happen!
     
  46. kotmul

    kotmul Notebook Geek

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    omg this is pissing me off. i dont like tapping so i disabled in the setting, but it comes back like a minute later for some retarded reason.
     
  47. ttran88

    ttran88 Notebook Consultant

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    when i tried installing the user-made track pad software, i press run and i dont see anything happen next. is it already loaded?
     
  48. MagusDraco

    MagusDraco Biiiiiiirrrrdmaaaaaaan

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    it loads as an icon in the systray. check down there
     
  49. ttran88

    ttran88 Notebook Consultant

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    thanks. so do i have to open it everytime i turn my comp on?

    edit nevermind got it
     
  50. Mike415

    Mike415 Notebook Evangelist

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    You can add it to Start>Startup folder. Or Check Start with Windows in it
     
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