Interfacing a Lap Top Touchpad to MB? Any Ideas

[thepcman]

I'm now designing my own MB64 as a live control surface to my midi setup. I have an old Toshiba Satellite SM30 lap-top which includes a synaptics touchpad. It'd be amazing if i managed to interface it to MB as an X-Y controller. Anyone have any ideas how to interface it? Should i use digital interface of the touchpad and design a serial input slave device or hack the touchpad and find out analog signals?

[J Martins]

Hi thepcman

Oh yeah, I was thinking in something like this sometime ago. Just had a look inside in a notebook and I can't see how it's possible.

Hope an guru can help you (us) :-)

Meanwhile, take a look in the TUIO stuff, maybe it can help you. Bellow some links:

http://tuio.org/

http://sethsandler.com/multitouch/mtmini/

Oh, and my favorite:

http://www.reactable.com/

http://reactivision.sourceforge.net/

K.

[thepcman]

I've found few documents about the issue, synaptics has a document discussing the interface, but the thing seems complicated to build a low cost solution. Devices use PS/2 interface and the data string is explained. But in fact i don't wanna deal with that kind of stuff, there should be an easier way :)

[J Martins]

OMG! Did you already checked those links?

hehe that's why I have 2 days browsing this forum, I'm not fast enough

Ok, changing the subject, did you checked in special this one?

http://sethsandler.com/multitouch/mtmini/

For less than $50 and to spend 5 minutes, I can't see an easier and cheap way for an touch pad. Of course if someone explain how to cannibalize an (broken) nootebook an pick up the touch pad to be useful in a MB project.

K.

[thepcman]

Having lived online for long long years, i can go over lots of things on seconds dude :P

The thing is suitable for a computer based application, but my aim is to integrate the touchpad as a small module into the MB. If i cannot integrate a touchpad, i'll try to build a low cost touchpad myself (a resistive multilayer surface and a PIC to analyze it). But that kind of thing won't do the job for me.