Chinese Handwriting Input on a MacBookPro4,1

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Chinese Handwriting Input on a MacBookPro4,1

Hello - I have a MacBook Air as well as a 2008 15" Macbook Pro (macbookpro4,1). I've installed Snow Leopard on both of them - and on my Air the chinese handwriting works perfectly (it's great by the way). But on my Macbook Pro - the grey "virtual trackpad" window appears - but moving the mouse has no effect.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
Paul S

Air and 15" MBP and iPhone 3GS, and an Apple TV, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Aug 31, 2009 10:07 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,876 points

Aug 31, 2009 10:40 AM in response to paulsorensen

but moving the mouse has no effect.

You mean using your finger to draw on the trackpad as no effect, right?

You might try creating another user account and seeing if it works when logged into that.

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Answer 2

paulsorensen Author

Level 1

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Aug 31, 2009 12:30 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Yes, while the virtual trackpad window is open - moving my finger on the trackpad doesn't show anything - although I can tap the top-left to get "backspace".

I'll try the new user account thing out...

Thx

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Answer 3

paulsorensen Author

Level 1

5 points

Aug 31, 2009 1:51 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Ok - the new account thing worked.. I'll now work out the difference between the fresh account and my normal account and post the results....

But problem solved. Many thanks.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,876 points

Aug 31, 2009 2:09 PM in response to paulsorensen

Ok - the new account thing worked.. I'll now work out the difference between the fresh account and my normal account and post the results....

Often that means a bad .plist somewhere in Home/Library/Preferences

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Answer 5

paulsorensen Author

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Aug 31, 2009 6:59 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

So it turns out that the problem occurs if you have a input method installed that doesn't support the trackpad handwriting recognition. In my main account it works fine if I switch to Pinyin Simplified first and then activate the trackpad recognition. Maybe apple should consider putting some visual indication that the recognition is disabled due to the current input method selection.

Anyway, thanks again.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,876 points

Sep 1, 2009 3:06 AM in response to paulsorensen

So it turns out that the problem occurs if you have a input method installed that doesn't support the trackpad handwriting recognition.

Do you mean you were trying to use it without any Chinese IM active, or that only certain Chinese IM's let it appear?

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Answer 7

paulsorensen Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 5, 2009 8:13 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I have installed an additional input method (QIM Sogou) that I use instead of the normal pinyin input method. I had that active instead of the standard pinyin input method when I tried to activate the handwriting recognition feature.

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Answer 8

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,876 points

Sep 6, 2009 3:20 AM in response to paulsorensen

I have installed an additional input method (QIM Sogou) that I use instead of the normal pinyin input method. I had that active instead of the standard pinyin input method when I tried to activate the handwriting recognition feature.

Thanks for that info!

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Answer 9

Sep 9, 2009 1:50 AM in response to paulsorensen

where can i find the new snow leopard mac compatible Sogou, having trouble navigating the website.

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