Closeup of a touchpad on an Acer CB5-311 laptop.
A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchpads are a common feature of laptop computers, and are also used as a substitute for a mouse where desk space is scarce. Because they vary in size, they can also be found on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and some portable media players. Wireless touchpads are also available as detached accessories.
Operation and function[edit]
Touchpads operate in one of several ways, including capacitive sensing and resistive touchscreen. The most common technology used in the 2010s senses the change of capacitance where a finger touches the pad. Capacitance-based touchpads will not sense the tip of a pencil or other similar ungrounded or non-conducting implement. Fingers insulated by a glove may also be problematic.
While touchpads, like touchscreens, are able to sense absolute position, resolution is limited by their size. For common use as a pointer device, the dragging motion of a finger is translated into a finer, relative motion of the cursor on the output to the display on the operating system, analogous to the handling of a mouse that is lifted and put back on a surface. Hardware buttons equivalent to a standard mouse's left and right buttons are positioned adjacent to the touchpad.
Some touchpads and associated device driver software may interpret tapping the pad as a mouse click, and a tap followed by a continuous pointing motion (a 'click-and-a-half') can indicate dragging.[1] Tactile touchpads allow for clicking and dragging by incorporating button functionality into the surface of the touchpad itself.[2][3] To select, one presses down on the touchpad instead of a physical button. To drag, instead of performing the 'click-and-a-half' technique, the user presses down while on the object, drags without releasing pressure, and lets go when done. Touchpad drivers can also allow the use of multiple fingers to emulate the other mouse buttons (commonly two-finger tapping for the center button).
Touchpads are called clickpads if it does not have physical buttons, but instead relies on 'software buttons'. Physically the whole clickpad formed a button, logically the driver interpret a click as left or right button click depending of the placement of fingers.[4]
Some touchpads have 'hotspots', locations on the touchpad used for functionality beyond a mouse. For example, on certain touchpads, moving the finger along an edge of the touch pad will act as a scroll wheel, controlling the scrollbar and scrolling the window that has the focus, vertically or horizontally. Many touchpads use two-finger dragging for scrolling. Also, some touchpad drivers support tap zones, regions where a tap will execute a function, for example, pausing a media player or launching an application. All of these functions are implemented in the touchpad device driver software, and can be disabled.
History[edit]
By 1982, Apollo desktop computers were equipped with a touchpad on the right side of the keyboard.[5] Introduced a year later, the Gavilan SC included a touchpad above its keyboard.
A touchpad was first developed for Psion's MC 200/400/600/WORD Series in 1989.[6]Olivetti and Triumph-Adler introduced the first laptops with touchpad in 1992.[7]Cirque introduced the first widely available touchpad, branded as GlidePoint, in 1994.[8]Apple Inc introduced touchpads to the modern laptop in the PowerBook series in 1994, using Cirque's GlidePoint technology;[9] later PowerBooks and MacBooks would use Apple-developed trackpads. Another early adopter of the GlidePoint pointing device was Sharp.[8] Later, Synaptics introduced their touchpad into the marketplace, branded the TouchPad. Epson was an early adopter of this product.[8]
A touchpad on an early-2000s-era Sony Vaio laptop, an early example of a modern laptop touchpad.
As touchpads began to be introduced in laptops in the 1990s, there was often confusion as to what the product should be called. No consistent term was used, and references varied, such as: glidepoint, touch sensitive input device, touchpad, trackpad, and pointing device.[10][11][12]
Users were often presented the option to purchase a pointing stick, touchpad, or trackball. Combinations of the devices were common, though touchpads and trackballs were rarely included together.[13] Since the early 2000s, touchpads have become the dominant laptop pointing device as most laptops produced during this period beyond include only touchpads, displacing the pointing stick.
Sep 26, 2018 ϟAFRO ? AFROϟ Instrumental Type MHD NAZA KEBLACK 4KEUS 2018 (PART.3) Kenzo Beat Moris Beat - Duration: 2:35. Kenzo Beats 100,048 views 2:35. Kenzo beats afro afro part 5 mp3 a telecharger windows 7.
Use in devices[edit]
Trackpad of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 in the red circle.
A Microsoft Surface tablet. The touchpad is the rectangle near the bottom of the gray keyboard.
Touchpads are primarily used in self-contained portable laptop computers and do not require a flat surface near the machine. The touchpad is close to the keyboard, and only very short finger movements are required to move the cursor across the display screen; while advantageous, this also makes it possible for a user's palm or wrist to move the mouse cursor accidentally while typing. Touchpads also exist for desktop computers as an external peripheral, albeit rarely seen. Touchpads are sometimes integrated in some desktop computer keyboards, particularly keyboards oriented for HTPC use.
One-dimensional touchpads are the primary control interface for menu navigation on second-generation and later iPod Classic portable music players, where they are referred to as 'click wheels', since they only sense motion along one axis, which is wrapped around like a wheel. Creative Labs also uses a touchpad for their Zen line of MP3 players, beginning with the Zen Touch. The second-generation MicrosoftZune product line (the Zune 80/120 and Zune 4/8) uses touch for the Zune Pad.
Apple's PowerBook 500 series was its first laptop to carry such a device,[14] which Apple refers to as a 'trackpad'. When introduced in May 1994, it replaced the trackball of previous PowerBook models. In late 2008 Apple's revisions of the MacBook and MacBook Pro incorporated a 'Tactile Touchpad' design with button functionality incorporated into the tracking surface.[2][3][15] Beginning in the second generation of MacBook Pro, the entire touchpad surface acts as a clickable button.[16]
Laptops today feature multitouch touchpads that can sense in some cases up to five fingers simultaneously, providing more options for input, such as the ability to bring up the context menu by tapping two fingers, dragging two fingers for scrolling, or gestures for zoom in/out or rotate.
Psion's MC 200/400/600/WORD Series,[6] introduced in 1989, came with a new mouse-replacing input device similar to a touchpad,[17] although more closely resembling a graphics tablet, as the cursor was positioned by clicking on a specific point on the pad, instead of moving it in the direction of a stroke.
Theory of operation[edit]
There are two principal means by which touchpads work.[citation needed] In the matrix approach, a series of conductors are arranged in an array of parallel lines in two layers, separated by an insulator and crossing each other at right angles to form a grid. A high frequency signal is applied sequentially between pairs in this two-dimensional grid array. The current that passes between the nodes is proportional to the capacitance. When a virtual ground, such as a finger, is placed over one of the intersections between the conductive layer some of the electrical field is shunted to this ground point, resulting in a change in the apparent capacitance at that location. This method received U.S. Patent 5,305,017 awarded to George Gerpheide in April 1994.
The capacitive shunt method, described in an application note by Analog Devices (not to be confused with analog devices),[18] senses the change in capacitance between a transmitter and receiver that are on opposite sides of the sensor. The transmitter creates an electric field which oscillates at 200–300 kHz. If a ground point, such as the finger, is placed between the transmitter and receiver, some of the field lines are shunted away, decreasing the apparent capacitance. Trackpads such as those found in some Blackberry smartphones work optically, like an optical computer mouse.
Manufacturing[edit]
Major manufacturers include:
See also[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Touchpads. |
References[edit]
- ^'Tap and drag'. Apple.com.
- ^ ab'The Tactile Touchpad'. sigchi.com.
- ^ ab'A Comparison of Three Selection Techniques for Touchpads'(PDF). yorku.ca.
- ^'Libinput documentation, Clickpad software button behavior'. wayland.freedesktop.org.
- ^Getting Started With Your DOMAIN System. Apollo Computer. 1983.
- ^ ab'GUIdebook Psion MC Series brochure'. guidebookgallery.org.
- ^Olivetti S20, D33 and identically Triumph-Adler Walkstation 386, Walkstation 386SX
- ^ abcDiehl, Stanford; Lennon, Anthony J.; McDonough, John (Oct 1995). 'Touchpads to Navigate By'. Byte. No. October 1995. Green Publishing. p. 150. ISSN0360-5280.
- ^Thryft, Ann R. 'More Than a Mouse,' Computer Product Development, EBN Extra, November 14, 1994, pp. E16 – E20
- ^'A WinBook for the Fussy'. Windows Magazine. No. Dec 95. 1995. p. 105.
- ^'Sharp Unveils Line of Notebooks'. Westchester County Business Journal. Westchester County Business Journal (November 20, 1995). 1995.
- ^Malloy, Rich; Crabb, Don (October 1995). 'Power Packed Power Books'. Mobile Office. New York, NY (October 1995): 44–52.
- ^Jerome, Marty (1995). 'Lightweight, Low-Cost Challenger'. PC Computing. PC Computing (December 1995): 96.
- ^'Blackbird: The PowerBook 500 Series'. Low End Mac. 1994-05-16. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
- ^'MacBook design'. Apple.com.
- ^Ackerman, Dan (June 10, 2009). 'Apple MacBook Pro Summer 2009 (Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Nvidia GeForce 9400M, 13-inch)'. CNET. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
- ^'GUIdebook Psion MC Series brochure, page 4'. guidebookgallery.org.
- ^'Analog Devices' Capacitive Shunt Method'(PDF). analog.com.
External links[edit]
Look up touchpad or trackpad in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Notes on the History of Pen-based Computing on YouTube
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Touchpad&oldid=903196712'
I just started using a Toshiba laptop with W-10. I hate it. Anyway, the touchpad is way too sensitive. How do I adjust that? I have been all over the personalization etc and can't find anything. It's barely useable because it keeps doing things I don't want it to.
Also, for no reason my webpage will expand from 90% (which I set as default) to up to 300%. Obviously I did something. I think it's related to the touchpad but I don't know what to do. It's driving me nuts.
This laptop has been sitting around for 3 years and I haven't used it because I hate W-10 so much. But my trusty 2007 laptop with W-7 is about to die so I have no choice.
Thanks.
Related Articles
- 1 Change Touchpad Settings
- 2 Disable a Mouse Pad on an Asus Notebook
- 3 Dell Trackpad Issues
- 4 Enable & Disable an HP Touchpad
If your laptop's touchpad is set to be too sensitive, or not sensitive enough, it can make your Windows 7 computer difficult to use. Your touchpad's manufacturer gives you a wide range of sensitivity control, so you can get your touchpad responding exactly as you like it. While the actual touchpad drivers aren't a part of Windows 7 and the specific settings will vary by manufacturer, they are all in the same general area of the Windows control panel.
1.Click the 'Start' button in the lower-left corner of your Window 7 desktop. Place your cursor into the 'Search programs and files' box near the bottom of the pop-up window.
2.Type 'mouse' into the box and a number of results will appear above the search box. Click the 'Mouse' option listed under the 'Control Panel' heading. The Mouse Properties window will open up.
3.Click the 'Device Settings' or 'Touch Pad' tab, depending on your touchpad's manufacturer. If you have a 'Device Settings' tab, you will then need to click on your touchpad from the list of devices and click 'Settings.'
4.Click the 'Touch Sensitivity' button, or select 'Sensitivity' from the list that appears on your screen, depending on your touchpad's manufacturer. Drag the slider in the middle of the window to the left to make your touchpad more sensitive, and drag it to the right to make your touchpad less sensitive. The effect will be immediate, so you can drag and release the slider, and then test the touchpad and drag the slider again until you have found a sensitivity setting that works for you.
5.Click 'OK' at the bottom of the window to close it and save your changes.
Tip
- If no settings are available for your touchpad in the Mouse Properties window, it probably means that your drivers are no longer there or are no longer recognized. Visit the web page for your laptop's manufacturer to download and install new touchpad drivers, and the settings should appear.
References (2)
About the Author
Shawn McClain has spent over 15 years as a journalist covering technology, business, culture and the arts. He has published numerous articles in both national and local publications, and online at various websites. He is currently pursuing his master's degree in journalism at Clarion University.
Photo Credits
- Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
Choose Citation Style
McClain, Shawn. 'How to Change the Sensitivity of Your TouchPad in Windows 7.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/change-sensitivity-touchpad-windows-7-28440.html. Accessed 30 June 2019.
McClain, Shawn. (n.d.). How to Change the Sensitivity of Your TouchPad in Windows 7. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/change-sensitivity-touchpad-windows-7-28440.html
McClain, Shawn. 'How to Change the Sensitivity of Your TouchPad in Windows 7' accessed June 30, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/change-sensitivity-touchpad-windows-7-28440.html
Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.
The touchpad is an age-old feature, having long since replaced the “pointing stick” (or what I liked to call the “nipple”) as the standardized alternative to mouse control on a laptop. But if your touchpad stops working while you’re on the move, or in any other situation when you don’t have a spare mouse handy, you can end up stranded.
But don’t start training yourself to use Windows with only a keyboard just yet. Here’s our collection of tips on how to fix a malfunctioning touchpad (starting with the simplest).
Note: you’ll need an external mouse or touchscreen to go through with some of these tips. Also, the following fixes are for laptops running Windows OS.
1. Is the Trackpad Disabled in the BIOS?
There’s a chance that, for reasons unknown, your laptop touchpad is disabled in the motherboard BIOS of your laptop (this could happen after a firmware update, for example).
To check if this is the case, enter the BIOS by repeatedly pressing the Delete or F2 key as your PC is booting. (The button you need to press may vary).
Likewise, the BIOS for different motherboards has a different layout, but your goal is to find an option called “Internal Pointing Device” or similar, then make sure it’s set enabled. This may be under the “Advanced” heading if you have one. Once you’ve done this, select the option to “Save Changes and Exit.”
2. Re-Enable Your Touchpad Using the “Fn” Key
This happened to me several years ago. Perhaps while trying to use a “Fn” key to change the volume on my laptop, I disabled my touchpad by pressing the wrong button. For weeks I didn’t know what the issue was, which wasn’t helped by the touchpad function icon on my keyboard looking just like a monitor icon, and it took me a while to realise that maybe it was in fact a touchpad icon.
While holding the “Fn” key, press every function button (the “F” keys) with a symbol on it that looks like it could be your touchpad to see if it switches back on. (Bear in mind, you might turn off your screen this way, so just press that button again if that happens.)
3. Remove Other Mouse Drivers
Have you plugged a whole bunch of mice into your laptop in the past and never removed their drivers? If so, there’s a chance that their drivers are interfering with your touchpad. (Some mouse drivers even disable your touchpad automatically!) Go to Device Manager, click the arrow next to “Mice and other pointing devices,” then right-click and uninstall mice one by one until your touchpad starts working again.
4. Update or Roll Back Touchpad Driver
While you’re in Device Manager, right-click your touchpad in the list (It may be called Dell TouchPad, Lenovo TouchPad, Synaptics, or similar, depending on the brand of your PC.), and make sure that it’s definitely enabled. If it is, click “Update driver” to see if there are any updates for it that might help.
Finally, a lot of people reported that their touchpads stopped working properly after getting Windows 10, which means that the W10 driver for your touchpad may be misbehaving. In Device Manager right-click your touchpad, then click “Properties” and “Roll Back Driver” to see if a previous version of the driver fixes the problem.
5. Enable Your Touchpad in “Mouse Properties”
In a lot of cases Device Manager doesn’t handle the enabling and disabling of your touchpad. If your touchpad somehow got disabled, then to switch it back on you’ll need to go to your Windows mouse properties to re-enable it.
Type
mouse
into the Windows Search bar and go to Mouse Settings. Here, click “Additional mouse options,” then in the new window go to “Device Settings,” “Touchpad,” or whatever tab is at the far right of the window.Touchpad For Desktop Pc
Find your touchpad in the list, select it, then click “Enable.”
6. Disable Tablet PC Input Service
If your Windows 10 laptop is a hybrid and has a touchscreen, then there’s a possibility that the Tablet PC Input Service, which controls stylus functionality, is interfering with your touchpad. If you don’t really use the stylus anyway, then it won’t be a big loss to disable it. If you do use it, however, you have to decide whether you want to go through the inconvenience of toggling this service on and off each time you want to use your touchpad.
To disable Tablet Input Service, hit Win + R, then type
services.msc
in the box. In the list of services, scroll down until you find “TabletInputService” or “Tablet PC Input Service.” Right-click it, then disable it.Conclusion
Hopefully all your touchpad-fixing solutions are right here, but if you can think of any more, then let us know. Remember that different laptops may have different software for their touchpad, so these instructions may vary slightly, but for the most part they should point you in the right direction.
Touchpad For Computer
The Complete Windows 10 Customization Guide
In this ebook we’ll be exploring the multitude of options to fully customize Windows 10. By the end of this ebook you’ll know how to make Windows 10 your own and become an expert Windows 10 user.
RECOMMENDED: Click here to fix Windows errors and improve PC performance
Windows 10 offers over ten touchpad gestures. In addition to the standard tap to click, slide to scroll, and pinch to zoom gestures, there are other gestures like three finger swipe to show desktop, and three finger tap to see action center.
While these gestures are handy for all users to navigate quickly, we often hear users complaining that one or more touchpad gestures are not working.
If one or more touchpad gesture is not working on your Windows 10 laptop, you can use the following solutions to make touchpad gestures work again on your Windows 10 laptop.
NOTE: If the touchpad is not working, refer to our fix to touchpad not working in Windows 10 article.
Check if other gestures are working
Some of the gestures require a precision touchpad to work. So, if your laptop is not equipped with a precision touchpad, some gestures might not work. If only one or two gestures are not working, it’s likely because your laptop doesn’t have a precision touchpad.
You can navigate to Settings > Devices > Touchpad section to check if your laptop has a precision touchpad.
Check if touchpad driver is installed
Gestures don’t work unless the correct touchpad driver is installed on your PC. If you have not installed the touchpad driver yet, download it from the manufacturer’s website and install it right now.
Check if gestures are turned off
There are provisions in Windows 10 to turn on or off individual gestures. We suggest you check if you accidentally turned off one or more gestures.
Refer to our how to turn on or off gestures in Windows 10 guide for step-by-step directions.
Disable and then enable the touchpad
Disabling and then enabling the touchpad might make gesture work again. You can go through our three ways to enable or disable the touchpad in Windows 10 guide for instructions.
Reinstall the touchpad driver
Touchpad gestures might not be working on your PC because either the touchpad driver is corrupted or one of its files is missing. Reinstalling the touchpad driver is the best way to address the issue. To reinstall the touchpad driver:
Step 1: Open Device Manager. Expand Mice and other pointing devices to see your touchpad’s entry.
Step 2:Right-click on the touchpad entry and then click Uninstall device option.
Step 3: When you get the following prompt, select Delete the driver software for this device option and then click Uninstall button to uninstall the touchpad driver.
Reboot your PC once.
Step 4: Download the latest version of the touchpad driver from your PC manufacturer’s website and then install the same.