Re: NTLK Pen sensing drift

From: Laurent Daudelin (laurent_daudelin@fanniemae.com)
Date: Tue Aug 22 2000 - 10:57:04 CDT


david ting wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I'm a newbie to this list, but have been using an MP2100 since early
> 1998. Over several months, I've noticed my Newton very frequently thinks
> my pen placement is about 3mm to the left of where I actually place the
> pen tip. When I go to "Align Pen" under Preferences, my Newton regains
> accuracy again for about a half a day, then "drifts" back to being about
> 3mm off.
>
> I've taken to pressing the reset button whenever I'm done using my Newton.
> This seems to preserve tracking accuracy. However, it doesn't seem to be
> a fool-proof method. Interestingly, we've got several MP2100's in our
> office, and it seems to me they also "drift" after several uses.
>
> Is this something that other users have seen before? Is there a software
> fix or patch to prevent it? (I've got SysPatch 0.6b running, and OS
> ver 2.1 (717260) installed.)

You seem to suffer of what we call "the jaggies", or something like
that, in an early stage. Many 2100 owners (myself included) did suffer
of this. Initially, the pen is always off, no matter what you do. Then,
at some point, when you start writing, you'll see some kind of
'squiggle' lines appearing around the pen tip, depending on the
pressure. This obviously affects handwriting recognition.

There have been 2 theories to explain that. One says that, over time,
after trying a few packages that leave some information in the system
soup, the soup can becomes corrupted and generate this erratic behavior.
Some people reported the problem completely cured after making a full
backup, doing a hard reset and then restoring everything from the
backup, except the system soup.

The other theory is that over the time, the touch screen on the 2x00
starts to wear off, and some contacts between the touchpad and the
screen become loose. As a result, the touchpad is no longer able to
track the pen correctly. The only fix for this problem is to return your
MP to Apple that will fix everything that is wrong with it, including
screen replacement, for about $185 USD.

Nobody ever comes to a definite solution, although the repair seems to
fix it for good, and you get back a backlight that is brand new.

-Laurent.
=====================================================================
Laurent Daudelin Developer, Adaptive Infrastructure, CIS
Fannie Mae Washington, DC, USA
Phone: 703-833-4266 mailto:Laurent_Daudelin@fanniemae.com
           ********** Usual disclaimers apply **********

***************************************
NewtonTalk brought to you by:

EVOTE.COM -- the ESPN of politics on the Internet! All the players, all the news, and the hottest analysis and features (plus 'toons!) anywhere.... visit http://www.evote.com today!

***************************************
Need Subscribe/Unsubscribe info?

Visit the NewtonTalk section at http://www.planetnewton.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Sep 01 2000 - 00:00:14 CDT