Boox M92 Stylus 30% unresponsive

[ManDay]

I had this problem with the "Icarus" branded device (same hardware) before, so it appears to be a problem which is typical. The problem is that the stylus does not respond to presses in an approx. 30% of all situations with normal usage.

This is particularly annoying in the sketcher application where it becomes impossible to write normally, but it's also annoying in the normal interface because you never know whether a click got accepted.

This seems to be a software issue, though - I assume it has something to do with pressure normalization that isn't correctly handled by tslib (why does the M92 not use the famous Wacom driver, anyway?).

When this happens, it doesn't have anything to do with tilt or actual pressure. When it happens, you can move the pen all over the screen, pressing any point on the screen at any tilt to no effect. Only if you bring the tip of the stylus a bit out of proximity of the screen and then back, it re-starts functioning as if nothing had happend.

[Kirith]

Originally Posted by ManDay

I had this problem with the "Icarus" branded device (same hardware) before, so it appears to be a problem which is typical. The problem is that the stylus does not respond to presses in an approx. 30% of all situations with normal usage.

When this happens, it doesn't have anything to do with tilt or actual pressure.

У Вас неисправен стилус. Вращайте его. Найдите положение при котором внутренний контакт кончика и индуктора возможен. Будет всё работать.
You faulty stylus. Rotate it. Find a place where the inner contact tip and inductor possible. Will it work.

[ManDay]

Originally Posted by Kirith

У Вас неисправен стилус. Вращайте его. Найдите положение при котором внутренний контакт кончика и индуктора возможен. Будет всё работать.
You faulty stylus. Rotate it. Find a place where the inner contact tip and inductor possible. Will it work.

As I tried to express, this is not a hardware issue. It seems to be purely software related.

[Kirith]

ManDay, возможно плёнка с сенсорным слоем отходит в некоторых местах. Такое бывает, но нечасто. Самому лезть внутрь тогда не советую. Обратитесь в сервисный центр
ManDay, perhaps with a touch layer film departs in some places. It happens, but not often. Climb inside yourself then do not advise it. Contact the service center

[Mono]

I am not sure, if this is your case, but might be well known "feature" of M92.

If you leave a pen for certain (relatively short) time touching or close to screen and pen does not move it stops responding. The only way to make it respond again is to displace it from screen.

Someone described that it may be related to power management of M92. If pen idles for some time it is "hibernated" and the only way to make it wake-up is to place it off-screen.

I cannot say if this is a bug or design feature. If you know what leads to the state, you may avoid it. And if not successfull one knows what makes it work again...

[ManDay]

Kirith, Я боюсь, Google Translate не работают очень хорошо...
I did not understand a word you were saying

Originally Posted by Mono

I am not sure, if this is your case, but might be well known "feature" of M92.

If you leave a pen for certain (relatively short) time touching or close to screen and pen does not move it stops responding. The only way to make it respond again is to displace it from screen.

Someone described that it may be related to power management of M92. If pen idles for some time it is "hibernated" and the only way to make it wake-up is to place it off-screen.

I cannot say if this is a bug or design feature. If you know what leads to the state, you may avoid it. And if not successfull one knows what makes it work again...

Mono, excellent, I think I can confirm this pattern - this will at least help preventing it, as you said. Even if it's a design feature, it's obviously a bug because it renders the device faulty in the most typical scenarios. The timeout appears to be ridiculously short and insensitive, I'd guess 3 seconds or similar of just stopping after writing a word suffices to trigger this behaviour.

Perhaps Booxtor is willing to comment on this.

Anyway, thanks again, this clears things up, Mono.

[Mono]

Yes it is several (2-5) seconds. Someone found the exact figure.

It would be good if it is more, say 20-30 seconds. Hard to say, if it may be changed. It may be hardwired or set in drivers that Onyx cannot modify....

It has been described here at least half year ago. Probably more. Once you know, you may avoid in most cases and if not the solution is at hand....

So, I take it as feature, not bug. But I would not mind if it is solved somehow.

[por]

Originally Posted by Mono

Yes it is several (2-5) seconds. Someone found the exact figure.

It would be good if it is more, say 20-30 seconds. Hard to say, if it may be changed. It may be hardwired or set in drivers that Onyx cannot modify....

It has been described here at least half year ago. Probably more. Once you know, you may avoid in most cases and if not the solution is at hand....

So, I take it as feature, not bug. But I would not mind if it is solved somehow.

I can't believe Booxtor was not able to find any info on that issue yet. If it's something Onyx can't change and i think they can do it by demanding a better driver from whoever provided it to them, he should just say it's not possible. I haven't seen a single comment by him on this issue.. I understand that some issues are more easy to address than others but it has been almost a year since i've described it the first time and i believe someone else had noticed it even before that...

[ManDay]

Agreed.

Besides, I wish it were 2-5 seconds. After careful trying-it-out it seems to be more like 1.5 seconds or even less

[ehammer]

This bug is so annoying and it can be easily fixed. It is a power mode setting for sure because as soon as I plug the tablet into a power source the problem disappears and the stylus is very responsive. They need to add a power mode setting in the options.

[por]

Originally Posted by ehammer

This bug is so annoying and it can be easily fixed. It is a power mode setting for sure because as soon as I plug the tablet into a power source the problem disappears and the stylus is very responsive. They need to add a power mode setting in the options.

Don't worry, nobody cares about this issue. I've described it and also the fact that it is probably a driver problem a year ago. In the meantime enormous efforts were put in developing a completely new PDF reader (which is doing more or less the same things as the old). THis means that no one cares about it so you better try to get used to it. And even if Booxtor cared, i guess there's nothing he can do since the drivers are coming from ONYX and he probably has no access/know-how for them.

The same holds for the merging of vertical and horizontal linen.

After all, this is not a company with the financial capabilities of Apple, so you can't expect too much.

I personally blame Apple for the poor development of e-ink technologies overall. They bear the responsibility because everyone is trying to copy what they do and companies like ONYX which are trying to introduce something new and useful have a hard time surviving.

I've said many times that clearing these 2 bugs would make the difference between a good and an excellent device, it would be simply recommendable without reservations...

But i guess ONYX is not a firm capable of making that step.

[ManDay]

As far as I'm concerned, fixing that bug will make the difference between being fit for the job and being useless - given that I purchased the M92 primarily because of its pen technology. Otherwise I'd have bought a cheaper device - or, much more likely, no e-reader at all. I'm confident Booxtor, who is working in close alliance with Onyx, is working on the issue. I've told him that I'll return the device under German law if this is not fixed within the warranty time of 2 years (or sooner, depending on how the market changes)

It's no problem if just making short annotations, but I haven't paid 300-something Euro for a device which doesn't properly do the job I've bought it for

But Booxtor has delivered to far less important issues in the past, so I don't doubt he is taking this one as serious as it is.

[por]

Originally Posted by ManDay

As far as I'm concerned, fixing that bug will make the difference between being fit for the job and being useless - given that I purchased the M92 primarily because of its pen technology. Otherwise I'd have bought a cheaper device - or, much more likely, no e-reader at all. I'm confident Booxtor, who is working in close alliance with Onyx, is working on the issue. I've told him that I'll return the device under German law if this is not fixed within the warranty time of 2 years (or sooner, depending on how the market changes)

It's no problem if just making short annotations, but I haven't paid 300-something Euro for a device which doesn't properly do the job I've bought it for

But Booxtor has delivered to far less important issues in the past, so I don't doubt he is taking this one as serious as it is.

The problem is, there is actually no alternative if you want to take handwritten notes and annotations at a reasonable speed on an e-ink device... This is what i meant by innovation on the part of ONYX. The ECTACO jetbook color, which i initially thought could be an alternative, is doing much worse in this respect.

Thank you for letting Booxtor know these issues are also a problem for you.

[Isles8008]

On the "zoom by two points" feature, it takes me like 10 - 15 taps to get the second 'x' to register on the screen. Otherwise, the pen will occasionally require a second tape. I would say about 20% of the time. Hopefully future software updates will work on this.

[markom]

Originally Posted by por

The problem is, there is actually no alternative if you want to take handwritten notes and annotations at a reasonable speed on an e-ink device... This is what i meant by innovation on the part of ONYX. The ECTACO jetbook color, which i initially thought could be an alternative, is doing much worse in this respect.

Thank you for letting Booxtor know these issues are also a problem for you.

If using tablet for taking handwritten notes while simultaneously reading on e-ink device is cumbersome for some people, there is always an speedy option to do as we would do with plain paper book

Get some easily erasable color pelt pen (glass painter, glass marker) to write directly on e-ink screen (with or without screenprotector) and then just taking photo of it using some camera (mobile phone, tablet), handheld scanner or home scanner.

Those that don't like idea of using glass marker on their e-ink screen can also use multicolored elastic rubber bands of different sizes or colored paper, cardboard etc. cut into different shapes for marking the text and write their notes down on a piece of paper or foil before applying.it to the screen for taking photo.