At 12:52 PM -0800 3/4/00, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>My distaste for trackpads has brought me to this point: I am contemplating
>taking my Duo trackball and modifying my new G3 Pismo's case to fit it.
>However, before I get too far down this road, I have a question:
>
>Since the Pismo is all about IDE, Firewire and USB and the Duo
>trackball is ADB
>based, will it work, or would I have to put an ADB to USB converter in there
>somewhere and even then would it worK being an internal connection? My hope is
>that the trackpad connection is the last remnant of ADB or at least is its own
>protocol so as not to be affected by either ADB or USB interface problems.
The internal trackpad on these machines is still ADB (or so I'm told
by someone who knows), but you're going to face multiple problems:
First, there isn't room. Trackballs need a substantial amount of
vertical space and there just isn't any there. Wall Street style
PowerBooks (Pismo included) have a couple boards in the area below
the trackpad. You'll probably also encroach on the battery and media
bays, and it would kind of defeat the purpose if you couldn't use a
battery or a CD any more.
Second, if you can find the space, it will look ugly. I mean real
ugly. You might also have to cut on the computer's casing, and that
is not a good idea (you may compromise its strength).
Third, all the connections are done with custom flex cables. It is
very unlikely that it would be plug and play. And although the
trackpad appears to the computer as an ADB device, I wouldn't count
on it actually being ADB in and of itself -- it may just connect to
something on the motherboard which presents it as ADB to the computer.
Tim Seufert
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