A touch pad is a device for pointing (controlling input positioning) on a computer display screen. It is an alternative to
the mouse. Originally incorporated in laptop computers, touch pads are also being made for use with desktop computers. A
touch pad works by sensing the user's finger movement and downward pressure.
The first touch pad was invented by George E. Gerpheide in 1988. Apple Computer was the first to license and use the touch
pad in its Powerbook laptops in 1994. The touch pad has since become the leading cursor controlling device in laptops. Many
laptops use a trackball. IBM ThinkPad laptops use a "pointing stick" (called a TrackPoint) that is set into the keyboard.
The touch pad contains several layers of material. The top layer is the pad that you touch. Beneath it are layers (separated
by very thin insulation) containing horizontal and vertical rows of electrodes that form a grid. Beneath these layers is a
circuit board to which the electrode layers are connected. The layers with electrodes are charged with a constant alternating
current (AC). As the finger approaches the electrode grid, the current is interrupted and the interruption is detected by the
circuit board. The initial location where the finger touches the pad is registered so that subsequent finger movement will be
related to that initial point. Some touch pads contain two special places where applied pressure corresponds to clicking a
left or right mouse button. Other touch pads sense single or double taps of the finger at any point on the touch pad.
lot of features available for this touchpad are:
# Media Controller (Front Row, VLC, Boxee, etc.).
# Modifier keys (Ctrl, Option/Alt, Cmd, Shift).
# Tab, Esc keys included.
# 1, 2, 3 and 4 finger multitouch gestures supported.
# Pinch to zoom your computer screen
# Vertical, horizontal scrolling.
# Swipe left or right with 3 fingers (Back and Forward).
# Landscape, portrait orientation supported.
# Trackpad still works while keyboard is visible.
# Works with Wake-On-Demand (Snow Leopard).
To avoid running into such situations, it may not be a bad to disable the touchpad at least during the time when you are
using a mouse or are typing a long document.
Some laptops don’t have dedicated buttons but you can use Function keys (like Fn + F5 on Dell computers) to toggle the state
of your touch pad. In the case of HP laptops, you can hold the top-left corner of the touchpad for few seconds and it will
disable the touch pad - repeat this to re-activate it.
New laptop computers either have a physical on/off button to easily disable the touch pad or there’s an icon in the system
tray that lets you manage the various settings of the touchpad. If you don’t have that icon, you can go to Control Panel –>
Mouse Properties –> Touch Pad to enable or disable the touchpad.
The touch pad can also be disabled through the device manager. Type devmgmt.msc in the Windows Run box to start the device
manager, expand “Mice and other Pointing devices”, right-click and disable the driver entry that says Touch pad or likewise.
If none of the above solutions work for your brand of laptop, try TouchPad Pal – it’s a free Windows utility that will
temporarily disable the touchpad of your laptop as you go into typing mode. The utility runs in the system tray and requires
no configuration.
Finally, if you would like to get rid of the touchpad completely, you can consider disabling it through the BIOS itself. The
exact path that you need to follow to reach the Pointing Devices section in your BIOS may however vary for different laptops.
the mouse. Originally incorporated in laptop computers, touch pads are also being made for use with desktop computers. A
touch pad works by sensing the user's finger movement and downward pressure.
The first touch pad was invented by George E. Gerpheide in 1988. Apple Computer was the first to license and use the touch
pad in its Powerbook laptops in 1994. The touch pad has since become the leading cursor controlling device in laptops. Many
laptops use a trackball. IBM ThinkPad laptops use a "pointing stick" (called a TrackPoint) that is set into the keyboard.
The touch pad contains several layers of material. The top layer is the pad that you touch. Beneath it are layers (separated
by very thin insulation) containing horizontal and vertical rows of electrodes that form a grid. Beneath these layers is a
circuit board to which the electrode layers are connected. The layers with electrodes are charged with a constant alternating
current (AC). As the finger approaches the electrode grid, the current is interrupted and the interruption is detected by the
circuit board. The initial location where the finger touches the pad is registered so that subsequent finger movement will be
related to that initial point. Some touch pads contain two special places where applied pressure corresponds to clicking a
left or right mouse button. Other touch pads sense single or double taps of the finger at any point on the touch pad.
lot of features available for this touchpad are:
# Media Controller (Front Row, VLC, Boxee, etc.).
# Modifier keys (Ctrl, Option/Alt, Cmd, Shift).
# Tab, Esc keys included.
# 1, 2, 3 and 4 finger multitouch gestures supported.
# Pinch to zoom your computer screen
# Vertical, horizontal scrolling.
# Swipe left or right with 3 fingers (Back and Forward).
# Landscape, portrait orientation supported.
# Trackpad still works while keyboard is visible.
# Works with Wake-On-Demand (Snow Leopard).
To avoid running into such situations, it may not be a bad to disable the touchpad at least during the time when you are
using a mouse or are typing a long document.
Some laptops don’t have dedicated buttons but you can use Function keys (like Fn + F5 on Dell computers) to toggle the state
of your touch pad. In the case of HP laptops, you can hold the top-left corner of the touchpad for few seconds and it will
disable the touch pad - repeat this to re-activate it.
New laptop computers either have a physical on/off button to easily disable the touch pad or there’s an icon in the system
tray that lets you manage the various settings of the touchpad. If you don’t have that icon, you can go to Control Panel –>
Mouse Properties –> Touch Pad to enable or disable the touchpad.
The touch pad can also be disabled through the device manager. Type devmgmt.msc in the Windows Run box to start the device
manager, expand “Mice and other Pointing devices”, right-click and disable the driver entry that says Touch pad or likewise.
If none of the above solutions work for your brand of laptop, try TouchPad Pal – it’s a free Windows utility that will
temporarily disable the touchpad of your laptop as you go into typing mode. The utility runs in the system tray and requires
no configuration.
Finally, if you would like to get rid of the touchpad completely, you can consider disabling it through the BIOS itself. The
exact path that you need to follow to reach the Pointing Devices section in your BIOS may however vary for different laptops.
No comments:
Post a Comment