[PATCH] ClickPad support v4

[Matt Rogers]

On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Chris Bagwell <chris at cnpbagwell.com>wrote:

> On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 7:17 AM, Yan Li <yan.i.li at intel.com> wrote:
> > On Sat, 2010-12-18 at 03:18 +0800, Chris Bagwell wrote:
> >> OK, I've re-reviewed patch and I've decided I understand what its
> >> trying to do now.  Most my original comments still apply but I've
> >> added new ones.
> >>
> >> First, I need to confirm intent of patch is this:
> >>
> >> * Create a rectangle defined by {Top|Bottom|Left|Right}Edge that
> >> excludes button area in attempt to cause cursor not to move when in
> >> that area.
> >
> > This was indeed the intent of Iwai's patch, on which my v4 was based.
> > However, based on my recent testing on several different models of
> > touchpad, I think that was not a best solution. Because the design goal
> > of ClickPad is to remove the physical buttons so that the space used by
> > them can be saved, and touchpad can be enlarged on small netbooks with
> > very limited surface space. Therefore it was wrong on the software side
> > to limit the area a user can touch, because this was against the
> > original idea of using a clickable touchpad. With this patch, the
> > touchable area was limited to a very small region, not so good a user
> > experience.
> >
> > I've tested the official driver from Synaptics in Windows, and it
> > doesn't restrict the touchable area, which means the whole pad is
> > touchable and clickable. The problem why we chose the current solution
> > was actually due to jumpy cursor -- when the user is touching the pad to
> > move the course and at the same time use another finger to click the
> > lower clickable area, the cursor would jump unexpectedly. The old
> > solution used in this patch was to limit the touchable area and ignore
> > abs sent from button areas. But since then I have shifted my focus from
> > this old solution to fix the jumpy cursor problem instead.
> >
> > I've carefully examined the jumpy cursor problem found in Lenovo S10-3t,
> > whose touchpad doesn't support two-finger nor finger-width. Finally I
> > found Alberto Milone's patch from bug #21614 is the best solution, and
> > I've ported it to latest HEAD:
> > https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=40902
> >
> > So I suggest we rework this ClickPad patch, keep only the clicking
> > interpretation part and remove the area limit, and try to fix the jumpy
> > cursor problem (and I'm using JumpyCursorThreshold patch v5 I linked
> > above in MeeGo, so far the feedback is very good).
> >
>
> Thank for detailed reply.  Do you mind helping me understand how
> touchpad is being used when jumps occur?  Is use case:
>
> * Move cursor to area you want to click with 1 finger.  Pick up 1
> finger.  Click in button area with 1 finger.
>
> or
>
> * Move cursor to area you want to cick with 1 finger.  Leave 1 finger
> on pad.  Click in button area with 2nd finger.
>
>
This is the use case that I prefer, and at least for me, the one causing the
most issues. The fact that I can't use it in this way right now drives me
nuts. :)
--
Matt
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