E14 : Trackpad Discussion Only

So I take it that everyone is now using reil's software? How is it? Never could get it to work for me perfectly...

 

still using 2 finger scroll envy.002

'cause...kinda lazy and haven't tried out any of the other software


now if only 2 finger scroll wouldn't accidentally trigger the three button right click while i was typing and cause me to go back, favorite, and delete everything I was typing sometimes.

I should try the other software out eventually.

 

which software? link pls?

 

Well, I'm still using my own program...

 

This was straight out of the box before I did a clean install. Can anyone who got their envy fresh from the box try three-finger tapping to see if it middle clicks? Because I remember thinking to myself "Wow, this is kinda cool" when I discovered it myself.

And I'm pretty sure I wasn't imagining it....

Edit: Before clean install was also before I downloaded the two finger scroll. Which btw has been an amazing godsend for this trackpad.

 

everyone works fine with reil's software. very smooth and double finger tap for right click works excellent. one problem I have is that my mouse jumps around occasionally. I'm not sure why but if theres a setting on reil's software can someone tell me what it is and what to adjust it to? I'm not sure what "maximum finger travel distance" "maximum w threshold" or z threshold" pertains too so I'm wondering if those will help with the mouse jumping. I adjusted it abit and don't notice what it does.

 

I can't go without middle click :|
I'm staying with the edited google code project. (scrolling is through synaptics, 2 finger and 1+1 finger tap is middle click, 3 finger and 2+1 finger tap is right click)

 

guys, where's the link for this bit of software?

 

read through the whole thread. there are multiple versions

 

do i need to apply any settings after installing this?

 

First tell us what "this" is
From what I heard reil's doesn't require much messing with, and two finger scroll variations have a few settings that are worth at least looking at.

 

sorry bout that

the software that reli designed, was wondering if we had to tweak anything to get it at optimum performance

 

Ok, so this is some major BS right here, and i'm on the verge of freaking rmaing this envy 14 because of the trackpad

First of all, the light that indicates the trackpad is turned off is actually on when the trackpad is on. Is there anyway to fix this?

Also, when I tried to install my Razer Deathadder's drivers on this laptop, the movements of my cursor are EXTREMELY jaggedy. The same is with my trackpad

Anyone else having these problems?

 

reil posted a few (not sure how many) pages back on how to adjust a couple settings.

 

quick write up, available in a txt file in the mediafire share:

* button: the button to the left of the Save button. This opens the packet observer window which shows the packets of data the synaptics SDK exposes to the software. Click observe to see values.

General
-Start with Windows: adds an entry to the Run registry key to (obviously) start this software with windows

Scrolling
-Speed: same thing as two-finger-scroll. used (roughly) the same implementation.

-Acceleration: same thing as two-finger-scroll. used (roughly) the same implementation.

-Maximum z threshold: the packets of data have a Z values. if any packet of data goes above this Z value, it won't trigger a scroll for any subsequent motions on the pad until all fingers are lifted off the pad

-Inertial easing algorithm: google Robert Penner's easing algorithms. there are nice flash demos that show the curves

-Duration: how long the inertial scroll should continue. it will be interrupted by any subsequent fingers on the pad.

note: three finger scroll left trigger a xbutton1 click and right triggers a xbutton2 command. normally these are mapped to back/forward.

Tapping
-1/2/3 finger: what button to trigger

-Single tap interval threshold: the longest interval of time between the finger being present on the pad to it being lifted to count as a "tap"

-maximum finger travel distance: the maximum drift of the finger while tapping to still count as a tap. like if i initiate the tap at the top of the pad but let go at the bottom of the pad.

-maximum w threshold: the packets of data have w values. the maximum w value to still consider this tap as a "tap". use the packet observer to see the values that you generate to figure out a good value for this. or if you don't care, just up it to the maximum.

-maximum z threshold: the packets of data have z values. the maximum z value to still consider this tap as a "tap". use the packet observer to see the values that you generate to figure out a good value for this. or if you don't care, just up it to the maximum.

to re-iterate, for any w and z configuration, use the packet observer. i can't explain w and z in a consistent way that i feel is completely accurate so just look at the w and z values you generate. to walk through it:
1) open the packet observer, click observe
2) start tapping the pad as you would normally. it will display your current and max w and z values
3) set the configuration to those values + some buffer.

or if you don't care, just up them all the way to the right. i added these values in an attempt to reduce the palm from triggering a tap or scroll but its not great. the SDK doesn't expose enough information to do smarter guarding.

 

New 15 0.24 drivers are available. I didnt notice them to help at all with some of the issues I have with the trackpad such as jumpy scrolling at times. BTW thanks again reil!

 

Has anyone been able to keep their finger on the trackpad over the buttons and still move the cursor? If so, what exactly were the settings you used?? I can't figure it out!

 

how do you actually install reil's touchpad software? I'm sorry i'm a complete noob when it comes to things like this, i keep getting a MSVCR100.dll is missing message.

edit: never mind realised i didn't have the C++ package, currently on a minimal image recovery.

ok another problem... everytime i try to install that C++ package i get a file corrupt message during extraction??

 

msvcr100.dll free download - DLL-files.com

put it in the same folder as reils software. open it up once and click start with windows. youre good to go

 

open which file?

 

The .exe

 

is there anyway to use these third party programs but still keep the functionality of the touchpad disable zone on the top left corner (since we have to disable tapping on the synaptics drivers)?

 

I believe the version I've uploaded has that feature.

 

hey guys, i just wanted to recommend another program to help out with accidental clicks while typing. it's called touchpad locker and has worked great for me so far. here's a link to the website: Paradisoft Touchpad Locker - Lock the touchpad while typing

you can disable mouse movement, mouse clicking, and/or mouse scrolling. i haven't yet tested with games but for now i just disabled mouse clicking and i can actually type with my hand laying on the mousepad.

EDIT: just testing disabling mouse movement with games and it really disables it, so you might want to enable when you play games. i'm so happy with the program and it works great with the other apps

 

Thanks. Seems like a nice program and Im using it now for disabling clicking and scrolling. Its just annoying having to use multiple programs on top of the driver software to get something to work the way you want.

 

Agreed. The program works well, but why can't they just get the driver to work properly to begin with?

 

Okay, so if anyone else is experiencing jumpy two finger scrolling and such where all of a sudden the page jumps a large amount I suggest the F.12 BIOS which seems to have helped mine out. Ive only been testing it about an hour, but it still hasnt occurred.

 

what I did when my mouse jumped was turned down the sensitivity on the synaptic drivers. and turned the palm check to about maximum. stopped the jumping for me. I'm using reil's for double tap for right click and scrolling. using synaptic for one finger pointing and 3 finger swipe. works well just like a macbook

 

Turned down as in moving the sensitivity slider which way? Mine is all the way left to light, but its working fine at this point.

 

all the way left is more sensitive (light touch) all the way right is less sensitive (a heavy touch, pushing down hard to trigger it, etc)

 

mine is near the middle. If its too sensitive even the slightest touch could make your mouse jump. It worked for me. And for palm check its right at maximum before the red area. i also use the 3 finger swipe which works well with synaptic.

 

hey a little question, do u have the same problem that your touchpad isnt installed correctly?

Mine sticks out on the left corner?

 

Mine is very slightly raised all around, but they say thats how its supposed to be. my issue is the left side is very slightly wobbly and can be depressed slightly making a plasticy click sound (Not the real click). Im sending in my computer to get that fixed and the keyboard replaced for a creaking sound.

 

I'm having the exact same problem, even with the most up-to-date drivers. If I have my right thumb over the "left click" button and use my right index finger to scroll, the cursor is okay most of the time but will frequently jump or freeze. To unfreeze it, I have to release both fingers from the pad.

I'd love to keep the laptop, but as long as the touchpad is unreliable, I can't see myself keeping it.

As I said in another forum, I can't believe they'd ship something like this -- it's like having the keyboard start sending random characters if your fingers are anywhere near the "home" keys.

 

Can anyone drag an item (file or folder) using the trackpad? As soon as I put a thumb on the left trackpad button and start to drag an item, the cursor freezes. I've installed about everything available to fix this and tinkered with the settings, but still no dragging.

I've been reduced to double-click dragging, which is pretty annoying.

 

hey guys. I just got my envy today. I'm in love with it. But yeah this Trackpad is kinda ridiculous. The finger scroll works sometimes even when I space my fingers apart. What is this google app I"m seeing? I clicked on the link and went to downloads and there is a few to choose from. I'm assuming I should download the newest one? Also once I download it what do I do from there. Just open the file and install? And then how do I get to the Trackpad settings? I found the mouse pointer settings but I'm not really seeing any settings for the trackpad to disable the scrolling. Can anyone give me a quick walk through on how to install this new app/disable any of the default settings? Or anyone got a link I should follow..?

Thanks

 

probably the best option is reil's app.

googlecode has a bug where if you do horizontal and vertical at the same time you somehow make your webbrowser hit the back button or somehow open up the right click context menu and stuff (and while typing...that's not good)

reil's: http://go.notebookreview.com/?id=52...dx/502589-e14-trackpad-discussion-only-9.html

 

I'd love a solution for this. Bites me when highlighting text to copy and moving windows as well. Very annoying that the touchpad doesn't work properly when another finger is holding down the left mouse button. . .

 

yeah we're stuck with double click dragging.

well that or you know pushing down on the edge of the bottom touchpad (which is hard to do right and sometimes it messes up and that deadzone doesn't happen anyway)

 

so i've read the two-finger-scroll quite a bit and i don't know how the code could cause you to hit the back button through scrolling, and i never experience it when using it.

do you have any of the tap actions mapped to xbutton 1?

are you using the keyboard at all? shift + two finger scroll down would cause you to go back. and by scroll down, it would be any downward motion, even sideways. the code doesn't care, it just looks for delta x and delta y.

you can trigger scroll + tap with the same motion if your scroll motion also fits the tap motion, which is that the time between finger on the pad and off is within a certain time interval and it doesn't move too far. two finger tap (or 1+1) is probably mapped to right click which is what is causing it. to help minimize this behavior, you can probably reduce the settings that i don't remember what they're called but something like tap interval and tap distance since it will make it harder to generate an event that matches a tap.

depending on the reason why its happening, i would guess that my software would have the same behavior because one way to view it is my software is a heavily refactored two-finger-scroll with different detection schemes because i found the original ones suboptimal.

 

on a separate topic, i wonder why people are so against adapting to a different interface? instead of trying to make the hardware conform to a set of specific behaviors, why not try getting used to what the hardware does well?

double tap and drag is pretty nice and has pros and cons over the mouse button. its easier to do mouse gestures with right click (like in firefox) with double tap and drag than it is holding a pad button and making the motion. if you take some time to get used to it, you may actually like it better. before my envy, i never used tapping for clicking because i thought it was the worst thing ever. i still don't do it on my work laptop but its actually pretty good on the envy.

out of the box, the envy trackpad is probably one of the worst things i've ever used. now with two finger scroll, my software, or whatever, i think i might prefer it over my 2008 work macbook (not the glass trackpad but the older one with only 2 finger scroll).

given that the synaptics SDK hasn't changed in years, what you see now with the software on this forum and the drivers is probably what you're going to get, so if you can't live with it, you probably don't have much choice but return the laptop.

 

it's not an action.

it's an actual glitch in the drivers/two finger scroll googlecode itself friendly fire noticed while making the envy version (and he didn't really see a way to fix it).


so...so far I just turned off horizontal 1 finger scrolling and we'll see if it happens again.

 

also yeah I'm using the keyboard and somehow uh..two finger scroll gets triggered by my fingers sitting on the edges of the touchpad. so...I guess shift plus scrolling might cause things to happen.

edit yeah. it's shift plus the two finger scroll.


crap that's annoying when it happens by accident.

 

anyway to disable that shift + scroll = back/forwards stuff. I never use that with my mouse wheel either so...hmmm...it's an internet browser things ins't it.

 

firefox has these settings:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries#Mousewheel.

 

Well, maybe it wasn't back, but I *know* that certain key combos sent through the same SendInput call did some really weird stuff. Maybe it was minimizing all windows or shutting down the screen or something just as odd (I don't really remember), but I know it only happened in those specific circumstances.

 

besides back I would sometimes get a right click to trigger, among other things but eh. that was again the two/three finger tap thinking the edge of my two hands being a triple tap.

 

there is no way to prevent this from happening completely. the only mitigations that can be done are:
1) lower the tap interval
2) lower the tap distance
3) if enough of the palm is hitting the pad, with my software, you can set a max z to allow as a tap

unless synaptics adds more data to the sdk (distance between fingers, where each finger is), this probably can't be fixed.

 

alright. in the end I just disabled it since really..we have a right click. I don't need a mutli-tap click.

 

ok. there are 3 files to download. Do I download all 3? and what do I do once I download them. Just open them and install? then I should be good to go?