Magic TrackPad, Slippery desks, Duct tape and Lion scrolling...

LordSplodge

LordSplodge

LordSplodge

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My brothers Magic Mouse stopped being so magic the other week and so he offered me some money for mine. Well it would be rude to say no, so i popped to the shops with him and purchased a Magic TrackPad.

I've had it about four days now and I'm still not so sure about how magic it is. However seeing as it takes up less desk space that is a bonus and the multi-touch bits work very well. Hopefully these should be even better in Lion.

Problem?

Yeah the damn thing slides across my Ikea desk when I try to use it, especially if I am pressing down to drag. I fixed this and made a cheap mount for both the wireless keyboard and trackpad using duct tape. Where would the world be without duct tape? Here's what it looks like...

5880740820_e76cd71c3f_z.jpg


I used Magic Prefs to enable Lion style scrolling (reverse like on iOS) and that is taking some real getting used to but gets me ready for Lion and at least matches iOS.

Two problems that I've yet to fix are the fact that it is difficult even with high speed to get the mouse pointer from one side of the display to the other in one go. I think the 27" iMac display is a little too high resolution.

The other problem is video editing. A mouse seems to give more control here, I may get one of those Shuttle Pro devices.

Anyway it is well built, well designed and supports lots of nice multi-touch gestures but after years of mouse use it is getting some getting used to.

Anybody else got one and is still unsure?
 
I use one on my Mac Mini that lives under the telly and I love it for that, I'm not quite so sure on using it on my main machine. I keep meaning to swap them over and give it a proper run on my main Mac.

Having said that in the shop when I need to look something up on the shop floor I've started to gravitate towards the demo machine that has one. I quite like it.

I'll get round to swapping them one day.

As for your sliding problem, have you seen the Magic Wand? It's made my TwelveSouth and is a cool bit of kit, £25 or so though.
 
PardonTheWait said:
As for your sliding problem, have you seen the Magic Wand? It's made my TwelveSouth and is a cool bit of kit, £25 or so though.
Click to expand...

I've seen the Magic Wand and quite frankly it isn't worth the price of entry. My not-so-expensive duct tape works perfectly. Well almost - I can't easily reposition the kb and trackpad...
 
LordSplodge said:
I used Magic Prefs to enable Lion style scrolling (reverse like on iOS) and that is taking some real getting used to but gets me ready for Lion and at least matches iOS.
Click to expand...

:D I've been doing the exact same last few weeks, I really love it now.

I have the same issues with my Ikea desk and the magic trackpad, for me it just doesn't feel as natural as the trackpad actually in my macbook. I don't know if its because it's at an angle or what but it just doesn't feel as right.
 
Wait, wat.

They've reversed scrolling in OS X because that's how it is on iOS devices...? I for one fear change, and do not welcome our reverse scrolling overlords.
 
I'd love to have the option either for the magic trackpad to attach to the keyboard or to have a combi unit.
 
randal24 said:
Wait, wat.

They've reversed scrolling in OS X because that's how it is on iOS devices...? I for one fear change, and do not welcome our reverse scrolling overlords.
Click to expand...

Yes Lion scrolls like iOS - I.e in reverse. I'm not sure if the option exists to turn it off.

Makes sense if you have an iOS device and a Mac for the scrolling to be the same though.
 
LordSplodge said:
Yes Lion scrolls like iOS - I.e in reverse. I'm not sure if the option exists to turn it off.

Makes sense if you have an iOS device and a Mac for the scrolling to be the same though.
Click to expand...

Not really, because in one your touching the screen and the other you're using as a detached input device. It makes sense when you can see the content shifting under your finger in the direction your moving, but we've always used track pads to scroll the way they do and feel natural. I honestly don't think anyone has a problem moving between iOS and OSX/trackpad scrolling as it exists do they? Probably get a few issues with people jumping on new macs and everything going the opposite way to expected though. If anything it makes sense to just leave it alone. Mouse wheels operate in the same way and everyone is used to those too.
 
i bought a magic trackpad on saturday. I hadn't really noticed the backwards scrolling until this post, so it must feel natural to me.
 
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thecaptain said:
i bought a magic trackpad on saturday. I hadn't never really noticed the backwards scrolling until this post, so it must feel natural to me.
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That's because it doesn't have backwards scrolling yet :p

Backwards scrolling ala iOS is a feature of OSX Lion, or the "inverse scrolling" option in MagicPrefs.

For those worried about getting used to it, you can almost guarantee there will apps such as MagicPrefs which will allow you to invert the scrolling to how it is currently.

I switched inverse scrolling on last night myself, and it does feel odd in OSX, yet perfectly normal in iOS. I'm sure I'll get used to it though.
 
Turbo-G said:
I switched inverse scrolling on last night myself, and it does feel odd in OSX, yet perfectly normal in iOS. I'm sure I'll get used to it though.
Click to expand...

I switched 'inverse scrolling' off in MagicPrefs and I don't like it. Looks like my muscle-memory has been trained already. Should be fine for Lion.

I can imagine it may annoy a few people but like you say apps like Magic Prefs will let you invert the inverse scrolling, as it were.
 
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