rotate button sucks on the XO

[david at lang.hm]

On Mon, 2 Mar 2009, pgf at laptop.org wrote:

> noiseehc wrote:
> > The question remains whether we make it rotate to match the closed ebook
> > mode or match the rotated opened-like-a-book mode.
>
> there's no good answer to this, because there's no way to make it
> "do the right thing" automatically.  the lid switch can't be
> used, because by definition the laptop isn't really in ebook mode
> when you're trying to use the touchpad.  there's no way for the
> laptop to tell that the screen is flipped around, which is what's
> needed.
>
> user configuration might be possible, but frankly, i'd just
> default it to match the "opened" mode.  i've gotten used to (in
> almost-ebook mode) moving my finger opposite to the direction i
> want the pointer to move, and i never rotate the screen in that
> mode precisely because of the rotation issue.  so it would be a
> win just to have the finger-to-pointer relationship be
> predictable, even if it's not "right".

pick something (I would suggest rotate the mouse the same way you do the 
screen, so that it will work sanely if you accidently rotate the screen 
with it open), and when rotation is requested, rotate the mouse movement 
to match, then offer a way to flip it to the other option.

the finder-to-pointer relationship is always predictable, but when it's at 
a right angle it's very hard to use.

David Lang