Every laptop I ever used had this, I’m still bewildered that people don’t know. I actually like touchpads because they give you a bunch of gestures a mouse just can’t
There are some gestures you can perform on a touchpad, but not on a mouse, but KDE on Linux supports mouse gestures as well. I don’t think Windows, or even Mac, does though.
Mac had gestures for both trackpad and their “magic” mouse. I’ve never bought an Apple product for myself, but I have repaired and worked on many in the past and I’ll say their trackpad has been great for years. That said the top of it used to be a glass, so when you’d do repairs they actual install instructions would have you tear a sticky note/paper and put them between all the edges to set it in the center then pull them out to ensure it was centered and wouldn’t crack by hitting the edge.
I wish either my mouse or my numpad had a Tab key. I use a trackball, so I tend not to move my whole arm around the desk, I’ve gotten to where I’ll strike my numpad enter key without lifting my hand off the mouse.
For a lot of things, I wish there was a Tab key on that side of the keyboard.
Ctrl+scroll wheel to zoom. Mine had additional buttons for back and forward, some have scroll wheels that can be clicked left and right. Virtual desktop I don’t use so dunno, but I think there’s a quick keyboard shortcut.
I’m not sure why you’re being down voted. My left hand basically never leaves the home keys in a keyboard / mouse setup and I use various left hand + mouse combos to achieve all these things.
I fucking hate touchpads and if I do use a laptop undocked I’ll generally disable the touchpad when the mouse is plugged in.
They’re useful tricks if there’s no mouse available of course. To each their own I suppose.
Yeah swipping between screens or forward backward in the browser up and down the browser page, used to be 4 fingers up to mission control and I can’t remember all of them. It really did make movement pretty fluid. Now they do a thing that I believe is only integrated to Apple apps where if you are signed into your Apple account you can continue between devices fairly simply. Like if you have an email/texg open on the iPhone and walk up to your Mac an icon appears on the dock far right with a phone symbol, you tap it and it opens the mail/messages/safari app to where you were and wrap what you were doing. I believe it does the opposite as well by opening the phone, going to app switcher and the active app on the Mac will be an option to continue on the iPhone
Show/hide desktop, open window manager, open app drawer, scroll in all 4 directions, zoom in and out, you can press and then press harder for more functions sometimes
Most of those I do with a keyboard trivially. Personally, I don’t see the benefit. Keyboard shortcuts are superior 99% of the time, and KDE supports mouse gestures as well (though I don’t use them), so you don’t even need a track pad for most of them.
Pinch, three (or four, although I don’t really like them) finger swipes, less awkward edge-gestures (the alternative to which is the “move mouse against display edge”), to name a few
First, two fingers to right click has been on literally every Windows or Linux touchpad enabled device I’ve ever encountered.
Second, three finger for middle click is also a regular thing that has existed on every Windows and Linux device I’ve ever encountered, but to this day takes a third party app to work on macos.
Please don’t act like the company actively hostile to power users is the one doing you favors.
two fingers to right click has been on literally every Windows or Linux touchpad enabled device I’ve ever encountered.
Sounds like you haven’t been playing with computers very long cause it took almost a decade for Linux and Windows to add that. It wasn’t added till Windows 10, and Linux added synaptics drivers maybe a year before M$.
Like yeah synaptics had drivers or in 2007 ish but it wasn’t on every machine
Automation built into the GUI, with a dedicated language or accessible via the API.
Thousands of third-party utils to tweak the UI, including tons of open-source ones because programmers love Mac for the Unix. Including stuff like Hammerspoon and Alfred, the likes of which Linux users have never seen.
Not sure what you’re getting at - it looks like you’re quoting something?
I use mac every day for work, and I do like that it is based on Unix, but the desktop/GUI is a nightmare, and the fact you have to use “thousands of third-party utils to tweak the UI” or use hammerspoon or Alfred instead of having options to do regular shit is a downside, and in corporate settings sometimes people aren’t even able to install 3rd party utils, which case they’re just SoL
the fact you have to use “thousands of third-party utils to tweak the UI”
What, like when you have to have a program or a widget in Linux or Windows to do some UI stuff? Which program might not be there out of the box? Idk why it’s such a difficult concept for Mac haters that when you have an app doing some UI tweaks, it’s the same thing in every OS. Mac UI is just conservative by itself, the same way as some Linux GUIs are barebones — which is somehow paraded as great success by Linuxoids but is looked down upon when Mac is doing it.
or use hammerspoon or Alfred instead of having options
You don’t “have” to use Hammerspoon or Alfred, but you can use them to do advanced stuff. Which you can’t do in Windows or Linux, because there’s nothing quite like these apps there. Alfred has some feeble analogues, while there’s bupkis like Hammerspoon aside from Autohotkey for Windows with its shitty 80s-style language and limited abilities. The fact that there isn’t a Hammerspoon-like app for Linux is a travesty, considering Linux users go on all day long about how it’s customizable and caters to power users. And by the way, if you look at Hammerspoon and Alfred and don’t know why you might want to use them, you’re not a power user.
Man, you are really focused on me being a “mac hater”, despite me indicating I use one every day and am complaining about real issues that I grapple with.
And constructing a strawman about windows/Linux needing 3rd party apps as well is just silly. I did require some way back in windows 7 for some multi desktop stuff, and I’m sure some people with very specific workflows might still want them, but built-in settings get you really far and are good enough for me these days. On windows I have to get WSL or historically mingw or something, but that’s really outside the UI realm and I don’t even use Windows these days anyway.
a strawman about windows/Linux needing 3rd party apps as well is just silly
You’re right here. Windows now needs third-party apps to remove “features”, not to add them. That’s the biggest difference between Windows and Mac these years. As for Linux, it always was and remains a toss-up as to whether the widget you want is installed, so I don’t see the fucking distinction. It’s not like Linux has every widget under the sun installed by default, is it? That would be pure madness.
Again, I invite you to look into Hammerspoon and Alfred for what UI interaction could be like, if you have even the slightest scripting chops. For example, my Android phone could hand off the Bluetooth headphones via the Automate app to the Macbook or vice versa, via drop-down widgets on the phone or a custom command on the laptop. With Linux, I have to kludge up my own endpoints with an Nginx webserver, no less, with barely any desktop APIs available through the command-line.
With KDE connect and probably the GNOME equivalent I can do whatever I want to my computer from my phone.
Again, though, this discussion started talking about things I want settings for that have settings in other OS. I’m sure you can do really cool things with it, but I don’t want to learn a scripting API to be able to do these things on my work computer.
The question is not whether KDE Connect is available for any given OS (it reportedly works on Windows and MacOS; and also word is that iPhone’s integration with Mac beats the pants off any kind of third-party package). Switching the headphones from the phone to the desktop is just one of infinite things that Hammerspoon can do, and if you don’t understand that, you’re not and never were a power user — especially since you “don’t want to learn a scripting API”, which is what power users do day in and day out. The fact is that no desktop automation like Hammerspoon is available for Linux, which is a complete failure on part of Linux advocates.
I think the two finger right button tap has been there on all PC laptops I’ve used since the early 00s, even the lower mid range ones. Most of them have supported two finger scrolling anywhere on the trackpad but a few only did one finger along the edges like the 90s, along with customizable corners and zones and whatnot. Gestures and three finger tap for middle button or other functionality though was random until mid 2010s when it too was widely supported. That is, if we are speaking brand laptops and not junk OEMs or low end garbage.
It’s been on Apple products for a solid 20 years. On the PC side it totally depends on the hardware and drivers to support multi-touch
Every laptop I ever used had this, I’m still bewildered that people don’t know. I actually like touchpads because they give you a bunch of gestures a mouse just can’t
There are some gestures you can perform on a touchpad, but not on a mouse, but KDE on Linux supports mouse gestures as well. I don’t think Windows, or even Mac, does though.
Mac had gestures for both trackpad and their “magic” mouse. I’ve never bought an Apple product for myself, but I have repaired and worked on many in the past and I’ll say their trackpad has been great for years. That said the top of it used to be a glass, so when you’d do repairs they actual install instructions would have you tear a sticky note/paper and put them between all the edges to set it in the center then pull them out to ensure it was centered and wouldn’t crack by hitting the edge.
If the ergonomics weren’t complete dog shit I’d still be using the magic mouse to get the best of both worlds.
Such as?
Pinch zoom is still handy and less so, but occasionally twisting gestures as well.
I still use the fan out gesture to see the desktop after taking screen grabs out of habit too.
Please tell me more about twisting gestures.
Scroll wheel and alt tab?
Your mouse has alt and tab keys?
I wish either my mouse or my numpad had a Tab key. I use a trackball, so I tend not to move my whole arm around the desk, I’ve gotten to where I’ll strike my numpad enter key without lifting my hand off the mouse.
For a lot of things, I wish there was a Tab key on that side of the keyboard.
Yeah, two finger scrolling seems quite universal. Three fingers switch between virtual desktops on my system (Gnome).
It can also trigger overview if done upwards
On kde you need 4 fingers for that instead of 3 for some reason
I’ve that on super/window key, probably faster if you have the key and a flexible thumb.
At least for me its slower and less convenient
Currently, i am using niri, which doesnt allow setting an action to the super key as far as i know, which doesnt help
Pinch to zoom on images and browsers, swiping left and right to go forward or back in a browser, switching virtual desktops
Ctrl+scroll wheel to zoom. Mine had additional buttons for back and forward, some have scroll wheels that can be clicked left and right. Virtual desktop I don’t use so dunno, but I think there’s a quick keyboard shortcut.
Yep, the mouse needs the keyboard for most of those.
You have your hand there pretty much by default. If you’re doing anything you’re using it for shortcuts anyway.
I’m not sure why you’re being down voted. My left hand basically never leaves the home keys in a keyboard / mouse setup and I use various left hand + mouse combos to achieve all these things.
I fucking hate touchpads and if I do use a laptop undocked I’ll generally disable the touchpad when the mouse is plugged in.
They’re useful tricks if there’s no mouse available of course. To each their own I suppose.
Probably they want to limit it to only mouse, but really we’re taking about overall function.
On macOS you can do all kinds of crazy shit with gestures. Using a mouse feels very obsolete and slows everything way down.
Such as?
Yeah swipping between screens or forward backward in the browser up and down the browser page, used to be 4 fingers up to mission control and I can’t remember all of them. It really did make movement pretty fluid. Now they do a thing that I believe is only integrated to Apple apps where if you are signed into your Apple account you can continue between devices fairly simply. Like if you have an email/texg open on the iPhone and walk up to your Mac an icon appears on the dock far right with a phone symbol, you tap it and it opens the mail/messages/safari app to where you were and wrap what you were doing. I believe it does the opposite as well by opening the phone, going to app switcher and the active app on the Mac will be an option to continue on the iPhone
Basically anything…they work similar to keyboard shortcuts.
I remember having a four finger click(not tap, that’s a different gesture) to lock my machine when I was using a MacBook at work.
Show/hide desktop, open window manager, open app drawer, scroll in all 4 directions, zoom in and out, you can press and then press harder for more functions sometimes
Most of those I do with a keyboard trivially. Personally, I don’t see the benefit. Keyboard shortcuts are superior 99% of the time, and KDE supports mouse gestures as well (though I don’t use them), so you don’t even need a track pad for most of them.
Pinch, three (or four, although I don’t really like them) finger swipes, less awkward edge-gestures (the alternative to which is the “move mouse against display edge”), to name a few
Switch desktops? I can’t think of many that a mouse can’t do that I actually use.
Touchpad allows scrolling to the side and zooming without pressing ctrl a single hand
First, two fingers to right click has been on literally every Windows or Linux touchpad enabled device I’ve ever encountered.
Second, three finger for middle click is also a regular thing that has existed on every Windows and Linux device I’ve ever encountered, but to this day takes a third party app to work on macos.
Please don’t act like the company actively hostile to power users is the one doing you favors.
He’s out of line, but he’s got a point
T.T
Love the reference.
Ah but those Mac trackpads feel so nice. Still wouldn’t choose one over my ThinkPad but I’ve never used one I liked better than that on a Mac.
Sounds like you haven’t been playing with computers very long cause it took almost a decade for Linux and Windows to add that. It wasn’t added till Windows 10, and Linux added synaptics drivers maybe a year before M$.
Like yeah synaptics had drivers or in 2007 ish but it wasn’t on every machine
My Lenovo did all this in 2003.
It’s mostly driven by the brand of touchpad and their drivers, not windows.
Lol you’re just wrong. Typical Apple fanboy
Apple haters are like a broken record.
Not sure what you’re getting at - it looks like you’re quoting something?
I use mac every day for work, and I do like that it is based on Unix, but the desktop/GUI is a nightmare, and the fact you have to use “thousands of third-party utils to tweak the UI” or use hammerspoon or Alfred instead of having options to do regular shit is a downside, and in corporate settings sometimes people aren’t even able to install 3rd party utils, which case they’re just SoL
What, like when you have to have a program or a widget in Linux or Windows to do some UI stuff? Which program might not be there out of the box? Idk why it’s such a difficult concept for Mac haters that when you have an app doing some UI tweaks, it’s the same thing in every OS. Mac UI is just conservative by itself, the same way as some Linux GUIs are barebones — which is somehow paraded as great success by Linuxoids but is looked down upon when Mac is doing it.
You don’t “have” to use Hammerspoon or Alfred, but you can use them to do advanced stuff. Which you can’t do in Windows or Linux, because there’s nothing quite like these apps there. Alfred has some feeble analogues, while there’s bupkis like Hammerspoon aside from Autohotkey for Windows with its shitty 80s-style language and limited abilities. The fact that there isn’t a Hammerspoon-like app for Linux is a travesty, considering Linux users go on all day long about how it’s customizable and caters to power users. And by the way, if you look at Hammerspoon and Alfred and don’t know why you might want to use them, you’re not a power user.
Man, you are really focused on me being a “mac hater”, despite me indicating I use one every day and am complaining about real issues that I grapple with.
And constructing a strawman about windows/Linux needing 3rd party apps as well is just silly. I did require some way back in windows 7 for some multi desktop stuff, and I’m sure some people with very specific workflows might still want them, but built-in settings get you really far and are good enough for me these days. On windows I have to get WSL or historically mingw or something, but that’s really outside the UI realm and I don’t even use Windows these days anyway.
You’re right here. Windows now needs third-party apps to remove “features”, not to add them. That’s the biggest difference between Windows and Mac these years. As for Linux, it always was and remains a toss-up as to whether the widget you want is installed, so I don’t see the fucking distinction. It’s not like Linux has every widget under the sun installed by default, is it? That would be pure madness.
Again, I invite you to look into Hammerspoon and Alfred for what UI interaction could be like, if you have even the slightest scripting chops. For example, my Android phone could hand off the Bluetooth headphones via the Automate app to the Macbook or vice versa, via drop-down widgets on the phone or a custom command on the laptop. With Linux, I have to kludge up my own endpoints with an Nginx webserver, no less, with barely any desktop APIs available through the command-line.
With KDE connect and probably the GNOME equivalent I can do whatever I want to my computer from my phone.
Again, though, this discussion started talking about things I want settings for that have settings in other OS. I’m sure you can do really cool things with it, but I don’t want to learn a scripting API to be able to do these things on my work computer.
The question is not whether KDE Connect is available for any given OS (it reportedly works on Windows and MacOS; and also word is that iPhone’s integration with Mac beats the pants off any kind of third-party package). Switching the headphones from the phone to the desktop is just one of infinite things that Hammerspoon can do, and if you don’t understand that, you’re not and never were a power user — especially since you “don’t want to learn a scripting API”, which is what power users do day in and day out. The fact is that no desktop automation like Hammerspoon is available for Linux, which is a complete failure on part of Linux advocates.
I think the two finger right button tap has been there on all PC laptops I’ve used since the early 00s, even the lower mid range ones. Most of them have supported two finger scrolling anywhere on the trackpad but a few only did one finger along the edges like the 90s, along with customizable corners and zones and whatnot. Gestures and three finger tap for middle button or other functionality though was random until mid 2010s when it too was widely supported. That is, if we are speaking brand laptops and not junk OEMs or low end garbage.