Apple trackpad 2 help

TechLarry

RIP [H] Brother - June 1, 2022
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Messages
30,481
First, I have to use Siri for typing long messages now so forgive any of her bullshit. God dammit Apple you really need to get her working right because she is really become critical for me especially since dragon has thrown in the towel. Fuck you dragon just when I need you.........

Because of severe cases of neuropathy and God help me Gout in my hands I use an external Apple trackpad 2 pretty much exclusively for mouse control.

But I need some help with them.

First I need some help getting the friction under control. Right now they are just too slick and my control is horrible. I need some sort of stick on liner that will increase the friction considerably. I simply cannot feel the pad good enough good enough to have proper control. I mean I need a lot more friction.

I also need something to make the control more accurate and consistent.

My second problem is right click. The ultimate form of right click is the two finger drop. The problem is with these two conditions you have is it problems with what I call the little finger drop syndrome. This causes constant intermittent right quick because you're right two fingers are constantly pooping down and hitting the pad causing unwanted Right clicks. It's a constant pain in the ass. For right now I have change to using the lower left click as my right click function. I just don't know what else to do. If anybody made it I would buy some sort of a leftover clicker to use for it. No I am not shitting you it would probably be the best thing in the world for me if I could just clip something on my damn toe to use it right click.

For anyone that does not know what doubt is, that funny little four letter word describes a level of pain that it's not do it justice. Short of my post operative spine surgeries back in the 90s, I have never felt pain like this in my life. I spent all of last week in the hospital on Dilaudid because of this shit. It is really really really bad folks. Do you want nothing to do with this little four letter word.

I appreciate any help on the trackpad because I don't know of any other solutions right now. Using a mouse is completely out of the question.

Thanks :)

Llarry
 
Also, while I do not use it much, the same applies to the large trackpad on my 2021 MacBook Pro 16 Max 32/24/1TB.
 
This is of course super specific and I'm uncertain how much I can really help you, but it does seem like there are ways to hack this together should you have someone else who is a bit more dexterous than you are to help you out.

There are of course matte protective covers you can buy for various Apple Trackpads on laptops, but I didn't see anything specifically for the Trackpad 2. Those are the most obvious options, even if fitment isn't perfect, it should get you at least part of the way there.

The more unorthodox, and I think better, option would be to buy something like a matte iPad screen protector, and then have someone cut it to the appropriate size for the track pad. There are of course other screen protectors with various levels of matte finishes. Including aftermarket ones for monitors. The trick here is playing between how much friction it adds while still allowing the trackpad to function as it's supposed to.

As for right clicks, I think that is currently your best option if you want to continue using the track pad.

---

As far as gout, my pastor also struggles with this and it's not a lot of fun. Sorry it's been a terrible experience for you. I realize this could possibly construed as 'unsolicited advice' but what has been working for him has been diet changes.
He finds that going keto has more or less kept gout flare-ups under control. I'm not necessarily saying that keto is the end-all be-all fix, but that at least some of it can be controlled with diet. For my pastor his flare-ups have more or less 'trained' his eating habits as lack of pain > eating chips (as an example). If this is just annoying and you've heard it all before, feel free to tell me off. But I promise I'm trying to be genuinely helpful and not a 'know-it-all', because I don't know it all.
 
First, I have to use Siri for typing long messages now so forgive any of her bullshit. God dammit Apple you really need to get her working right because she is really become critical for me especially since dragon has thrown in the towel. Fuck you dragon just when I need you.........

Because of severe cases of neuropathy and God help me Gout in my hands I use an external Apple trackpad 2 pretty much exclusively for mouse control.

But I need some help with them.

First I need some help getting the friction under control. Right now they are just too slick and my control is horrible. I need some sort of stick on liner that will increase the friction considerably. I simply cannot feel the pad good enough good enough to have proper control. I mean I need a lot more friction.

I also need something to make the control more accurate and consistent.

My second problem is right click. The ultimate form of right click is the two finger drop. The problem is with these two conditions you have is it problems with what I call the little finger drop syndrome. This causes constant intermittent right quick because you're right two fingers are constantly pooping down and hitting the pad causing unwanted Right clicks. It's a constant pain in the ass. For right now I have change to using the lower left click as my right click function. I just don't know what else to do. If anybody made it I would buy some sort of a leftover clicker to use for it. No I am not shitting you it would probably be the best thing in the world for me if I could just clip something on my damn toe to use it right click.

For anyone that does not know what doubt is, that funny little four letter word describes a level of pain that it's not do it justice. Short of my post operative spine surgeries back in the 90s, I have never felt pain like this in my life. I spent all of last week in the hospital on Dilaudid because of this shit. It is really really really bad folks. Do you want nothing to do with this little four letter word.

I appreciate any help on the trackpad because I don't know of any other solutions right now. Using a mouse is completely out of the question.

Thanks :)

Llarry

Larry
The right click problem can be solved in the trackpad settings. You can either disable right click completely, or change it to the bottom right corner only (or left corner only).
Screen Shot 2021-12-30 at 11.59.36 AM.png


As far as more friction I can confirm that souljers' idea of the protective cover from an ipad does indeed work on the touchpad of my mbp, but I do not have a matte finish one to try for you. They are pretty cheap though so it might be worth just getting one to try.
 
Larry
The right click problem can be solved in the trackpad settings. You can either disable right click completely, or change it to the bottom right corner only (or left corner only).
View attachment 426955

As far as more friction I can confirm that souljers' idea of the protective cover from an ipad does indeed work on the touchpad of my mbp, but I do not have a matte finish one to try for you. They are pretty cheap though so it might be worth just getting one to try.
Thanks !

I am using the lower left right nmow. I hate it.
 
This is of course super specific and I'm uncertain how much I can really help you, but it does seem like there are ways to hack this together should you have someone else who is a bit more dexterous than you are to help you out.

There are of course matte protective covers you can buy for various Apple Trackpads on laptops, but I didn't see anything specifically for the Trackpad 2. Those are the most obvious options, even if fitment isn't perfect, it should get you at least part of the way there.

The more unorthodox, and I think better, option would be to buy something like a matte iPad screen protector, and then have someone cut it to the appropriate size for the track pad. There are of course other screen protectors with various levels of matte finishes. Including aftermarket ones for monitors. The trick here is playing between how much friction it adds while still allowing the trackpad to function as it's supposed to.

As for right clicks, I think that is currently your best option if you want to continue using the track pad.

---

As far as gout, my pastor also struggles with this and it's not a lot of fun. Sorry it's been a terrible experience for you. I realize this could possibly construed as 'unsolicited advice' but what has been working for him has been diet changes.
He finds that going keto has more or less kept gout flare-ups under control. I'm not necessarily saying that keto is the end-all be-all fix, but that at least some of it can be controlled with diet. For my pastor his flare-ups have more or less 'trained' his eating habits as lack of pain > eating chips (as an example). If this is just annoying and you've heard it all before, feel free to tell me off. But I promise I'm trying to be genuinely helpful and not a 'know-it-all', because I don't know it all.
Thanks !

And you're not wrong btw... :)
 
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