Chosen Solution
Hi there, I have a “Apple MacBook Genuine A1278 MB466LL/A MB466 Silver Touchpad & Cable 821-1254-A.” It’s the internal trackpad from a modern MacBook Pro. It has some kind of 22-pin connector on the end of the cable. Does anyone know if it would be possible to convert this trackpad into a standalone USB mouse that could be used on another computer? Here’s a similar hack for older model Macbook Pros: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQKl-HV… Thanks!
Yes you can! Mac trackpads and keyboards are just USB (1?) devices! If you have a dead MacBook (Pro/ Air) you’ll still be able to convert its KYBD and trackpad to a genuine and original (although a bit steampunk) Mac KYBD & trackpad array. Apple itself, nor other brands IMHO have no KYBDs combined with trackpads on the market, So, get original! Excellent addition for an iMac, for example. You’ll need a soldering iron & some tools, as well as a simple USB A cable to spare. USB 2 connections are very simple: Common, +5V, Data+ and Data -. Just 4 soldering connections to do. The easiest Apple model to recuperate from I find is the 2007 MBP Core2 Duo with the defective NVIDIA 8600 M GT in it. To be had for free, mostly. Unrepairable, but the KYBD & trackpad may be salvaged. Internal flatcable may be defective (another generic defect with this model), but this in no way defeats our purposes. If you want a more capable trackpad, a more recent Mac wreck will do. I hope some other iFixit members will chip in with the USB board pinout. As for the present: see these: https://youtu.be/dVQKl-HVnoI https://i.imgur.com/IOur8lI.png Happy DIY!
I was able to turn my old MBP keyboard/trackpad into a functioning USB device after seeing the YouTube linked above. I had a 2008 MBP with a different board layout. I looked carefully at the tiny traces and found DP, DN, 5VO, and poked around to find ground (it wasn’t hard - you can see the ground-plane floods on the board). Here’s what mine looked like, and it works great - both trackpad and keyboard, including the special keys like brightness, play/pause, volume and mission control (on a Mac). [ edit - the trackpad does NOT work on linux incl RPi, but the keyboard does ] https://photos.app.goo.gl/xi8sumh4anKHZc… FYI, the solderpoints are TINY and you need a steady hand to avoid hitting any components – it was not easy and I definitely needed a magnifier and tweezers.
Hi, has anyone managed to do this? I’d like to try myself
I got a macbook but forgot the password how can i fix
I got a hold on the new style of trackpad (started in 2016, I think) and the board schematic for a matching macbook pro. It looks like they moved to SPI for the trackpads, so I think you’d need to add another controller to convert it and at that point I don’t think you get the driver support. Here’s some info for anyone that wants to pick up from here. Interesting chips on the trackpad: BCM5976C1 - There’s 2 and I think this is the digitizer and I think it’s i2cSTM32F103C8I6 - Arm Cortex-m3, capable of USB but IO is software controlled I think Here’s the pin out for the trackpad connector on the logic board (I think you can ignore the KBD stuff since the keyboard uses a different connector): SMC_LIDSMBUS_SMC_3_SCLSMC_PME_S4_WAKE_LSMBUS_SMC_3_SDASMC_ACTUATOR_DISABLE_LKBD_INT_LTPAD_SPI_INT_L_CONNKBD_I2C_SDAGNDGNDTPAD_SPI_MOSIKBD_I2C_SCLTPAD_SPI_CS_L_CONNKBD_BLC_XBLANKTPAD_SPI_MISOKBD_BLC_XBLANKTPAD_SPI_MISOKBD_BLC_GSSOUTTPAD_SPI_CLK_CONNKBD_BLC_GSSCKPP5V_S4_TPAD_CONNKBD_BLC_GSLATSMC_VIBE_L then everything else is power or ground (5v, 3v, 0v - active gnd, 12.6v on a fuse)
Hi guys, I also looked for info about this mod I would like to do this on the touchpad and keyboard of a 2011 macbook pro 17. Were you able to do it?
