Replace/Upgrade trackpad
#1
I was just playing around with my new Pinebook this morning, mistakenly trying to use the trackpad like my MBP's. After a while, a previous post of Luke's promoting the option to crack these puppers open and modify, repair, etc as we please. Naturally, that led me to start thinking about using a different trackpad, potentially with multi touch/gestures capability.

Admittedly, I know only so much concerning laptop hardware, so I figured it might be worth asking some of the questions here in addition to searching for them.

Primarily, I'm wondering if trackpads use standardized ribbon cables/connectors, and if not, what type does the Pinebook use? Does the PB trackpad mount differently to others? There are certainly more questions, such as sourcing a similarly sized trackpad to the Pinebook (I initially thought of the MBA trackpad, but the shape looks wider and I'm unsure of mounting for MBA or PB) but I think finding the right replacement would be heavily reliant on the connectors and mounting so that can wait.

If there's anything I haven't observed but you have, let me know! I haven't cracked my PB open yet, as I'm still in the midst of software setup, but this idea seemed interesting and I thought others may have shared a similar thought or take interest in it, too.
#2
(05-31-2019, 11:09 AM)tophneal Wrote: I was just playing around with my new Pinebook this morning, mistakenly trying to use the trackpad like my MBP's. After a while, a previous post of Luke's promoting the option to crack these puppers open and modify, repair, etc as we please. Naturally, that led me to start thinking about using a different trackpad, potentially with multi touch/gestures capability.

Admittedly, I know only so much concerning laptop hardware, so I figured it might be worth asking some of the questions here in addition to searching for them.

Primarily, I'm wondering if trackpads use standardized ribbon cables/connectors, and if not, what type does the Pinebook use? Does the PB trackpad mount differently to others? There are certainly more questions, such as sourcing a similarly sized trackpad to the Pinebook (I initially thought of the MBA trackpad, but the shape looks wider and I'm unsure of mounting for MBA or PB) but I think finding the right replacement would be heavily reliant on the connectors and mounting so that can wait.

If there's anything I haven't observed but you have, let me know! I haven't cracked my PB open yet, as I'm still in the midst of software setup, but this idea seemed interesting and I thought others may have shared a similar thought or take interest in it, too.

Trackpad is a semi custom part and no easy to find a replacement.
#3
(06-07-2019, 01:24 AM)tllim Wrote:
(05-31-2019, 11:09 AM)tophneal Wrote: I was just playing around with my new Pinebook this morning, mistakenly trying to use the trackpad like my MBP's. After a while, a previous post of Luke's promoting the option to crack these puppers open and modify, repair, etc as we please. Naturally, that led me to start thinking about using a different trackpad, potentially with multi touch/gestures capability.

Admittedly, I know only so much concerning laptop hardware, so I figured it might be worth asking some of the questions here in addition to searching for them.

Primarily, I'm wondering if trackpads use standardized ribbon cables/connectors, and if not, what type does the Pinebook use? Does the PB trackpad mount differently to others? There are certainly more questions, such as sourcing a similarly sized trackpad to the Pinebook (I initially thought of the MBA trackpad, but the shape looks wider and I'm unsure of mounting for MBA or PB) but I think finding the right replacement would be heavily reliant on the connectors and mounting so that can wait.

If there's anything I haven't observed but you have, let me know! I haven't cracked my PB open yet, as I'm still in the midst of software setup, but this idea seemed interesting and I thought others may have shared a similar thought or take interest in it, too.

Trackpad is a semi custom part and no easy to find a replacement.

Thanks, tllim! You've saved me any potentially wasted time researching this. Just read the Pro version will have multitouch, can't wait to try it out!
#4
(06-17-2019, 11:13 AM)tophneal Wrote:
(06-07-2019, 01:24 AM)tllim Wrote:
(05-31-2019, 11:09 AM)tophneal Wrote: I was just playing around with my new Pinebook this morning, mistakenly trying to use the trackpad like my MBP's. After a while, a previous post of Luke's promoting the option to crack these puppers open and modify, repair, etc as we please. Naturally, that led me to start thinking about using a different trackpad, potentially with multi touch/gestures capability.

Admittedly, I know only so much concerning laptop hardware, so I figured it might be worth asking some of the questions here in addition to searching for them.

Primarily, I'm wondering if trackpads use standardized ribbon cables/connectors, and if not, what type does the Pinebook use? Does the PB trackpad mount differently to others? There are certainly more questions, such as sourcing a similarly sized trackpad to the Pinebook (I initially thought of the MBA trackpad, but the shape looks wider and I'm unsure of mounting for MBA or PB) but I think finding the right replacement would be heavily reliant on the connectors and mounting so that can wait.

If there's anything I haven't observed but you have, let me know! I haven't cracked my PB open yet, as I'm still in the midst of software setup, but this idea seemed interesting and I thought others may have shared a similar thought or take interest in it, too.

Trackpad is a semi custom part and no easy to find a replacement.

Thanks, tllim! You've saved me any potentially wasted time researching this. Just read the Pro version will have multitouch, can't wait to try it out!

I am on day 3 of using the pro (with Manjaro) and I admit the HW is really great. Sure some corners where cut (speakers and trackpad), and both can be easily mitigated with bluetooth (when it works on Manjaro) and external mouse.

Would Pine64 consider to sell at some point a trackpad part on the shop of a "better quality". It is quite loud to use and requires hard press for what I am used to, just a suggestion (take my money when you do it). Thanks a lot for the efforts of making this laptop a reality.
#5
(11-13-2019, 01:57 PM)bolinches Wrote:
(06-17-2019, 11:13 AM)tophneal Wrote:
(06-07-2019, 01:24 AM)tllim Wrote:
(05-31-2019, 11:09 AM)tophneal Wrote: I was just playing around with my new Pinebook this morning, mistakenly trying to use the trackpad like my MBP's. After a while, a previous post of Luke's promoting the option to crack these puppers open and modify, repair, etc as we please. Naturally, that led me to start thinking about using a different trackpad, potentially with multi touch/gestures capability.

Admittedly, I know only so much concerning laptop hardware, so I figured it might be worth asking some of the questions here in addition to searching for them.

Primarily, I'm wondering if trackpads use standardized ribbon cables/connectors, and if not, what type does the Pinebook use? Does the PB trackpad mount differently to others? There are certainly more questions, such as sourcing a similarly sized trackpad to the Pinebook (I initially thought of the MBA trackpad, but the shape looks wider and I'm unsure of mounting for MBA or PB) but I think finding the right replacement would be heavily reliant on the connectors and mounting so that can wait.

If there's anything I haven't observed but you have, let me know! I haven't cracked my PB open yet, as I'm still in the midst of software setup, but this idea seemed interesting and I thought others may have shared a similar thought or take interest in it, too.

Trackpad is a semi custom part and no easy to find a replacement.

Thanks, tllim! You've saved me any potentially wasted time researching this. Just read the Pro version will have multitouch, can't wait to try it out!

I am on day 3 of using the pro (with Manjaro) and I admit the HW is really great. Sure some corners where cut (speakers and trackpad), and both can be easily mitigated with bluetooth (when it works on Manjaro) and external mouse.

Would Pine64 consider to sell at some point a trackpad part on the shop of a "better quality". It is quite loud to use and requires hard press for what I am used to, just a suggestion (take my money when you do it). Thanks a lot for the efforts of making this laptop a reality.

How are you liking the pro running Manjaro? I am new to linux and I tried running other OS but Manjaro is the one i keep coming back to. Running Manjaro on a Lenovo s340 with Openbox and loving it. Just seeing if Manjaro is an option for the Pinebook Pro.
#6
(12-07-2019, 11:54 PM)adoven1103 Wrote: How are you liking the pro running Manjaro? I am new to linux and I tried running other OS but Manjaro is the one i keep coming back to. Running Manjaro on a Lenovo s340 with Openbox and loving it. Just seeing if Manjaro is an option for the Pinebook Pro.

Hello, this forum thread is for old pinebooks, please move on somewhere to pinebook pro forum threads (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=111).

Thank you.
#7
Hi, I'm the owner of the original 14" Pinebook and the touchpad/trackpad is almost unusable for me :-( The surface is kind of rough, but either I have an faulty part or the overall quality is just horrible.

Sometimes as I slide my finger across the cursor stops or makes jumps, on the other hand the movement is so sensitive that I have big issues stopping at most of the UI elements, even big buttons. In other words - the cursor will not track the movement of my fingers properly but once set in motion it has some kind of weird inertia ... I didn't find any way yet to fix it on the software side. This behaviour happens on recent Armbian Buster with mainline Kernel

Anyhow, I have an old Synaptic touchpad form some notebook I bought on eBay for few bucks and the seller already soldered PS2 cable to it, so I can use it as a normal PS2 touchpad. I wonder if I could connect it to the Pinebook internally. PS2-USB adapter would be an option as well as long there is some internal USB connection in the Pinebook.


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