about the squiggles:
there has been a good deal of discussion lately, about the problem of the squiggles, but nobody has described the cause of the problem, only the symptoms.
i think maybe it would help the other newtbies <myself included> to talk about the basic cause, which is uneven pressure on the newton's pressure-sensitive screen. i wrote the following to describe the problem to a fellow newton newbie, and i thought some others on the list might benefit:
consider the screen as if it were a large trackpad - much like those found on laptops. when you put your finer on the trackpad, it tracks the cursor to where it calculates the center of your finger to be, no matter how large a paw you have.
if you use two fingers <if you have a powerbook, try this, it's kinda fun :) > at the same time, you can see how the cursor floats between the two control points as you move your fingers around the trackpad. try the same thing on your newt: while you hold the stylus in one place, use your finger or other blunt instrument on the screen at the same time. especially in sketch mode, this creates some interesting shapes.
and so, if you have even the tiniest pieces of dirt under the edge of your screen, it will interfere with the way the screen tracks the stylus by recentering the cursor whenever the dirt engages the screen's pressure sensitivity. while writing, the effect is most notble as you are placing uneven pressure on the screen and typically holding the newton in your hand, so the screen alternately senses and doesn't sense the dirt - hence the jaggies.
the solution may be as simple as cleaning, or as difficult as a complete screen replacement in the event that the trouble tracking is a hardware problem, and not simply dirt under the screen.
Charles 'Option 8' Mangin-
Sent Via Newton MessagePad 2000
http://www.newtontraveler.com
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