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Frustrating trackpad - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Frustrating trackpad (/showthread.php?tid=8819)

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Frustrating trackpad - twirlydog - 01-17-2020

I just received my Pinebook Pro.  The trackpad seems very frustrating to use:  It seems to keep moving for a few pixels after my finger stops moving (I just spent about a minute trying to resizze this browser window because I could not get the pointer precisely on the window border!)  I've tried fiddling with the sensitivty/acceleration settings, I can see that the settings are applying but they do not help me be any more precise with the touchpad. I also updated the trackpad firmware to no avail.  Any other suggestions to make the trackpad more usable?

Also, when scrolling using two fingers, the direction seems unintuitive to me.   I'm used to the trackpad on a MacBook Pro (but I think I may have also reversed the scrolling direction there).  Any way to reverse this on th PineBook?

RE: Frustrating trackpad - tophneal - 01-17-2020

Have you tried making any adjustments to the pointer speed or accelerating in your Mouse and Trackpad settings? Adjustments there should help make the cursor feel less erratic. Be prepared for a little trial and error to get the settings right for you.

Do you see in your Mouse and Trackpad settings an option for "Content sticks to fingers"? If so, that will reverse your scroll direction.

RE: Frustrating trackpad - neilman - 01-17-2020

(01-17-2020, 11:07 AM)twirlydog Wrote: I just received my Pinebook Pro.  The trackpad seems very frustrating to use:  It seems to keep moving for a few pixels after my finger stops moving (I just spent about a minute trying to resizze this browser window because I could not get the pointer precisely on the window border!)  I've tried fiddling with the sensitivty/acceleration settings, I can see that the settings are applying but they do not help me be any more precise with the touchpad. I also updated the trackpad firmware to no avail.  Any other suggestions to make the trackpad more usable?

Also, when scrolling using two fingers, the direction seems unintuitive to me.   I'm used to the trackpad on a MacBook Pro (but I think I may have also reversed the scrolling direction there).  Any way to reverse this on th PineBook?
I think you are looking for this...

menu - control center - hardware - mouse - touchpad tab - [] enable natural scrolling

RE: Frustrating trackpad - ab1jx - 01-17-2020

And where's "menu - control center - hardware - mouse - touchpad tab - [] enable natural scrolling"?  I ditched Mate, I'm running Bullseye Debian with LXDE.

I'm about ready to put a piece of tape across the bottom of it to indicate where the buttons are, but haven't decided where yet.  I have 2 other laptops with touchpads but I don't have to look at them to use them, I can feel the buttons.  But where to push seems to move.  Maybe it's like learning to play a fretless bass but it's an inconvenience so far.  Wish I could just bolt a Dell touchpad in there.

RE: Frustrating trackpad - tophneal - 01-18-2020

Try this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/908484/natural-scrolling-in-lubuntu-17-04

RE: Frustrating trackpad - wtdonnelly - 01-18-2020

(01-17-2020, 11:31 AM)tophneal Wrote: Have you tried making any adjustments to the pointer speed or accelerating in your Mouse and Trackpad settings? Adjustments there should help make the cursor feel less erratic. Be prepared for a little trial and error to get the settings right for you.

Do you see in your Mouse and Trackpad settings an option for "Content sticks to fingers"? If so, that will reverse your scroll direction.

Hi tophneal.

I'm running the default DebIan 9.9, with all updates applied, and I updated the trackpad/keyboard firmwares as well.  However, when I adjust the settings under "Pointer speed" for acceleration or sensitivity, or adjust the drag and drop threshold, there is no change in pointer responsiveness.  Does this suggest that my firmware upgrades didn't take?

I asked Luke in a separate thread if there is any way to verify that the correct firmwares are installed (by getting a version number report or something) but didn't see any reply.  Do you have any idea how to check firmware versions?

Thanks!

Bill

Frustrating trackpad - tophneal - 01-18-2020

Bill,

I'm afraid I'm unaware of a way to check the FW version, though if your updates success status was not clearly reported after running the script, I'd suggest running it again from a tty. I found it worked best for me running through there instead of the desktop terminal.

RE: Frustrating trackpad - RotatingNut - 01-18-2020

(01-18-2020, 09:45 AM)wtdonnelly Wrote:
(01-17-2020, 11:31 AM)tophneal Wrote: Have you tried making any adjustments to the pointer speed or accelerating in your Mouse and Trackpad settings? Adjustments there should help make the cursor feel less erratic. Be prepared for a little trial and error to get the settings right for you.

Do you see in your Mouse and Trackpad settings an option for "Content sticks to fingers"? If so, that will reverse your scroll direction.

Hi tophneal.

I'm running the default DebIan 9.9, with all updates applied, and I updated the trackpad/keyboard firmwares as well.  However, when I adjust the settings under "Pointer speed" for acceleration or sensitivity, or adjust the drag and drop threshold, there is no change in pointer responsiveness.  Does this suggest that my firmware upgrades didn't take?

I asked Luke in a separate thread if there is any way to verify that the correct firmwares are installed (by getting a version number report or something) but didn't see any reply.  Do you have any idea how to check firmware versions?

Thanks!

Bill

Hi y'all,

I have noticed in my case, that only an adjustment of the "acceleration" changes my pointer speed, while the sensitivity setting does "nothing". So, maybe tweak the acceleration slider and check whether that works. If it doesn't work, I'll try to figure out another solution.

RE: Frustrating trackpad - cloudnaut - 04-07-2020

I got the same problem on mine and I would even be happy change the hardware if there was an alternative

RE: Frustrating trackpad - akirakyle - 04-07-2020

I too feel the frustration with the touchpad and have been diving into the whole linux input stack to figure out why it sucks. I've documented that process here.

TL;DR: It's a firmware issue and even the latest firmware updates don't appreciably fix the core issues. I think the only way we'll truly have a pleasant trackpad experience is by reverse engineering the firmware which I've been slowly attempting to do.