Problem with touchpad function on PowerBook G4

homestarmy

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2004
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artwilbur.com
My coworker at my internship here has a PowerBook G4 (one of the tiny ones, 12") and she wants to be able to scroll using the touch pad.

She says that it is normal to be able to hold down two fingers and drag downward to scroll (I was unaware of this being a Mac n00b - I usually hold one finger on the right hand side and scroll up and down).

She says she's looked into the settings in System Preferences. I haven't had a chance to take a look at it.

Does anyone know of a setting to turn this on/off or any reason why it wouldn't work?

Thanks a lot!!
 

chcarnage

Golden Member
May 11, 2005
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Looks like pre-2005 PowerBooks don't support two-finger scrolling. From the FAQ of a Mac trackpad software (Link):

In order to support two-finger scrolling the trackpad hardware must support detecting two fingers on the trackpad. Some pre-2005 PowerBooks have this capability (W-Enhanced mode); however, they do not allow two-finger detection while operating in absolute tracking mode. SideTrack requires absolute tracking for features like corner tap actions and custom tap filtering. Since SideTrack cannot use two-finger detection on these trackpads without breaking other major features, SideTrack does not support two-finger scrolling on these models.

The feature can be (de)activated in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Trackpad.
If there's not a checkbox named "use two finger to scroll" (my translation) or if the box is greyed out, she's out of luck.

You can check the availability of this feature also by identifying the hardware: In 2005, Apple sold 12" PowerBooks clocked at 1.5 Ghz, if the PowerBook in question is clocked lower, two-finger scrolling probably isn't supported by the hardware. (You can identify the CPU by clicking the Apple symbol in the upper left corner and chosing "About this Mac").