White Macbook Keyboard and Trackpad

MacBook White Early 2008
2.1 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
Intel GMA X3100 144MB Video
120GB Zorin Core only

I've installed Zorin OS Core 12 and it works mostly. Will get some random internal errors and bsod's but overall solid.

The problem is that the trackpad is overly jumpy and i changed all the mouse sensitivity settings but still basically unable to use the cursor reliably. It is all over the place! There is no Trackpad setting (only mouse)? I essentially have to use an external USB mouse to accomplish anything.

Also I noted under keyboard that it is more of a Windows style with Keypad which does not match. Is there anyway to change this to the Mac Style?

Thanks in advance

HI, have you got synaptic package manager installed? look for mouseemu - don't know if that is what you are after - more detail/screenshots would be helpful.

Total noob here

Yes I have Synaptic Package Manager Installed. I did find mouseemu but it says only works in 2.6 kernel? I think Zorin 12 is 4.4. At least that's what my uname -r reads. I tried to install it anyway and it'll 'install' but when i try to run the mouseemu command I only get errors or if the command goes through it doesn't actually change the functionality of the mouse. So it basically doesn't work...

I would like some of the functionality of the mouseemu package namely typing-block and the simulate right click but my original issue is that when i lay my finger on the mouse without moving the cursor is spastic/jittery. When I am actually moving around the cursor it's fine. It's only the last bit where for example I'm trying to click on a button it just goes crazy/unpredictable... I don't know how to screenshot that...
(Edit - forgot to add when I add an external USB mouse the cursor behavior is fine so maybe it's the trackpad itself. Like it needs a cleaning or something. Is there a way to disable the trackpad completely WHEN a usb mouse is plugged in? I know I can do this in OSX)

The second part was that since I use OSX on my other computers predominately and this is a white Macbook I would like to swap the command button to act like it does in OSX. I finally figured out currently the control button does the job of the command button... But if I could swap it to be more consistent with my other laptop that would be good.

Thanks as always. This foray into Linux has already been more enjoyable than my previous attempt 10 plus years ago when I couldn't even set up printers etc... Lol

Swarfendor437 wrote:HI, have you got synaptic package manager installed? look for mouseemu - don't know if that is what you are after - more detail/screenshots would be helpful.

Various solutions proffered here:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/65951/ho ... e-touchpad

Re Command/Control swap around:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/131900/h ... acbook-pro

Command Control Swap link provided solution and worked like a dream. Thanks

still having trouble with the Trackpad part.
I was able to reduce the sensitivity via xinput (Google says synclient should be able to do it but it doesn't work for me...). The mouse is much less jittery if I use a light touch. Much more livable.
The link shows how to disable the Trackpad. That works.
However I only want to do this under certain circumstances, namely
1. To ignore accidental touches while I am typing
or
2. When I have another pointing device installed
In my OSX and Windows machines I believe I have it set to detect both situations.
Is this possible in Zorin?
Otherwise I think I am going to go with the Custom Shortcut route to Enable and Disable the Trackpad manually so I can do that when I have the external mouse.

Swarfendor437 wrote:Various solutions proffered here:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/65951/ho ... e-touchpad

Re Command/Control swap around:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/131900/h ... acbook-pro

I don't think that is possible unless there is an app in Gnome Shell Extensions - I'm afraid I can no longer cope with Zorin 12 or Gnome based versions of Ubuntu anymore. I installed Zorin 12 64-bit again today, wanted to remove apps I did not want or have any use for I got kicked out into login screen on a continual loop. For now, this is my preferred OS - Voyager 16.04 LTS based on Xubuntu:



Notice the Tablet/Phone like icons on the left of the screen - the second one down might interest you!

Nice.

Honestly my driving factors for this install of Linux was
1) Updates for programs not being available for my out dated OSX Lion
2) What version of Linux could fit on my USB drive that I had laying around. (4 GB)

But it has been pretty smooth goings. I am predominantly a Mac user but I have a Windows machine around for compatibility purposes. I do like how Voyager looks more OSX like.

Swarfendor437 wrote:I don't think that is possible unless there is an app in Gnome Shell Extensions - I'm afraid I can no longer cope with Zorin 12 or Gnome based versions of Ubuntu anymore. I installed Zorin 12 64-bit again today, wanted to remove apps I did not want or have any use for I got kicked out into login screen on a continual loop. For now, this is my preferred OS - Voyager 16.04 LTS based on Xubuntu:


Notice the Tablet/Phone like icons on the left of the screen - the second one down might interest you!