I’d really appreciate it if someone could guide me on how to achieve ThinkPad-style scrolling using an optical sensor.
As for hardware, I’m using a 7-inch laptop called the GPD Pocket 2. It’s very compact and easy to use with both thumbs in aire. However, it doesn’t have any built-in way to scroll, which I think is one of the most important things.
I tried asking ChatGPT for a workaround, but I haven’t had much success so far. This are some of the prompts I’ve tried:
Making the right-click button hold act like a middle-click hold on a ThinkPad, allowing scrolling with the pointer.
Mapping a keyboard key so that holding it would let the mouse drag content, similar to a two-finger scroll gesture on a touchpad.
I feel like I need to understand more about how Linux handles peripherals like touchpads, mice, and keyboards to make this possible.
Currently, I’m using Linux Mint, but I’m open to switching to another distribution or desktop environment if it offers an solution.
If it was me though, I’d get an Apple Magic Trackpad MC380LL/A. It’s the first version that runs on 1-2 AA batteries. The design is so sane I’m pretty sure Apple bought it from someone else. It is almost as big as your laptop though.
Yeah, that pretty much matches the control scheme on my mini laptop too. On the left side, I’ve got physical buttons for left and right click, and on the right, there’s an optical sensor under glass—basically like a mouse built into the chassis. It’s surprisingly usable. When you hold the device with both hands, your thumbs naturally fall into place, making is ok to use.
Honestly, it’s a really handy setup for a portable computer you can remote into from anywhere. I tried using an Android phone with a keyboard and mouse for remote access, but it just didn’t cut it
My main use case is photo and video editing, so being able to scroll vertically and horizontally is essential. Just need to figure out how to make that optical sensor handle scrolling, and I’ll be good to go. If there’s some software trick or accessibility feature that can unlock that, I’m all ears.
Yeah, but modern trackballs are kind of ginormous, nothing you bring with with a small laptop. The Logitech one was smart, even though their logo at the time was extremely 90s, in that you could misplace it in your computer bag when you wasn’t using it.
I got inspired by your comment about how small and portable it was, so I started looking for some kind of tiny scrolling device that could be a good substitute.
I actually found a guy who made his own high-resolution scrolling device — pretty cool stuff:
Might try to build something similar but with both vertical and horizontal scrolling.horizontaly.
Since that video has over a million views, I figured maybe there’s already a commercial version out there. I found this ring that supposedly does scrolling — I’m a bit skeptical if it actually works, but it’s the only thing I’ve seen so far that might fit the idea:
Would be snazzy if it had vertical and horizontal scrolling on each side.
Not what you were looking for but might be an alternative for someone else who stumbles upon this thread in two years.
I think these were marketed as “presentation trackballs”. I think I’ve seen rings similar to the one you linked that were made to be used for presentations but I can’t find one now.
The Sanwa bluetooth finger ring mouse could be an alternative for you, the middle square is a tiny trackpad. Could only find it on ebay from Japan though.
