Could someone test LCD writing for me?

Hi - I have just downgraded my PE to the Gold Dingo version and the problem I am having with support owning up to is still there. Could someone try to write on MaplePaint and see if they have any problems? Or if there's an app that you routinely use on the LCD side for handwriting, could you post what it is? I've got to get this ticket wrapped up...

Thanks in advance, much appreciated.

I've solved your problem! Your pinky finger (or maybe sleeve) is brushing over the optical mouse button thingy (between the Home and Rotate buttons). I get the same results when I do the same.

Keep your hand away from the optical mouse and you should be fine.

Oh Borisb, I was blessing you as I tried again with your caution. Sadly, that's not my problem as I rotated the PE so that my arm is over the e-ink side and carefully tried again and it's still doing it. With the PE rotated, the spikes now head for the bottom left corner (which would be the upper left corner non-rotated). Darn!!! I was hoping...

I think the problem is with how you hold your hand and stylus. You have to hold your hand up and away from the screen, if it makes contact you will have those lines.

Dang Boris, the mind meld again!

Originally Posted by cheyennedonna

You have to hold your hand up and away from the screen, if it makes contact you will have those lines.

That's right, the screen has something like a thin film on it (for resistive touch), if you press it strong against the lower surface, it creates those lines. Happened to me too at the very first.

Thanks for the replies... this is why it's been so difficult with support, they are blaming either the apps I'm using or contact of some sort with the LCD. I am holding the stylus at the very end and being extremely careful not to have any contact other than the tip of the stylus (hence the awful handwriting :-). I'm even staying far enough away to ensure that static isn't the problem, but I wouldn't think static would always send the spikes to the same place. I hadn't thought about the optical mouse though so I was hoping...

I'm having this exact same problem with Maple Paint. I'm left handed and have the LCD on the left side and the eink on the right. But to make sure I wasn't hitting the optical mouse, I rotated to landscape.

lol, Cheyenne

Janhall_us, try holding the stylus by it's very end and (admittedly crudely) try writing on the LCD screen in Maple Paint. The suggestion is to make sure your hand and clothing are 3-4" away from the surface of the eDGe at all times. You shouldn't see any of those lines. The LCD screen can be sensitive to static and a light touch by any object and will cause the screen to think there's input at that point of contact.

Since all the lines are pointing at one spot on the screen (top left corner), that's likely where something is touching it. If nothing else, it could be the bezel itself is pressed too tightly and just applying some pressure to the eDGe along the bezel (or on the screen with a stylus) is causing a contact to be triggered in that corner. If you're definitely not touching that area, then I would push Tech Support with an email of the photo you sent and insist you're not touching it in that area and insist that the bezel/screen may have a defect in that area.

Note that this multi-touch problem is endemic to resistive and capacitive screens, and is why the Wacom-pen-enabled eReader side is the best, hands down, for writing.

I just tried to make my EE do the same thing using Note Everything (which support said is way too sensitive to use for handwriting) and I wasn't able to make it "be bad". I'm not sure how much that proves since it's different hardware other than if it were a contact or static issue, I should see some signs of the same on the EE, shouldn't I?

It does suggest it's a hardware issue on your PE if the EE is fine. The lines all pointing to the one corner indicate that's where the point-of-contact is. When I was brushing my finger against the optical mouse, the lines were only short distances, and somewhat randome, and not all extending all the way to one corner.

My EE has been out on loan to a friend. But when I get it back, I will have to test Maple Paint to see if I have the same problem on both devices. What I did notice in my own case is that the lines go to more than just one place. The overwhelming tendency is to the bottom right corner (when in portrait), but there was some pull to the bottom left as well. I only really wanted to use Maple Paint to doodle with, so I'm not too upset. If this were happening in the journal I'd be really upset.

With the PE the mouse is optical so it is not enough for you to just rotate the orientation. You need to make sure there is no direct light source affecting the sensor.

I tried maple paint and the spikes where clearly caused by the optical mouse.

Originally Posted by janhall_us

Oh Borisb, I was blessing you as I tried again with your caution. Sadly, that's not my problem as I rotated the PE so that my arm is over the e-ink side and carefully tried again and it's still doing it. With the PE rotated, the spikes now head for the bottom left corner (which would be the upper left corner non-rotated). Darn!!! I was hoping...

OK, I tested this using MaplePaint on my PE and EE, at night, about 2 feet from a lamp (and right under the lamp -- didn't seem to make a difference). Used both the Edge stylus and Motion L-series pen.

It was much easier to get the PE to misbehave. At first, I could only get spikes by resting the edge of my writing hand on the screen or making contact with the optical mouse. Then I went and rubbed my feet on the dogs' futon (no rugs, so that's my best source of static), and that seemed to make a major difference. I was using the Motion pen on a metal split ring and I held my hand way up so that no part of it was remotely near the screen -- only the pen tip was in contact, and I was getting spikes shooting up to the left away from where my hand was. This was only on the PE. The angle of the light source may have entered into it as well.

The only thing that gets the EE to react is direct physical contact of my hand with the screen.

So either your PE is calibrating itself extra sensitively, or you are very static-y or metallic at present, is my unscientific guess. Maybe recalibrate the LCD screen one more time, and when you touch the targets, really wham them a bit forcefully so it thinks you have a heavy touch? I wonder if that would help any.

Thanks so much for all the testing everyone.

This morning I've tried going barefoot and wearing my computer grounding strap for static control, recalibrating the tablet screen with a very heavy touch, and trying the optical mouse covered and uncovered and in bright light and in shadow. I've also tried a different stylus from a Windows CE tablet I have and a generic stylus that works on the LCD side. I haven't seen any change at all in the results, everything produces the long spikes to the upper left corner.

Since others that have tried this for me are having the same or similar results, I'm not as furious as I was at support for not resolving this issue or issuing an RMA under warranty. I have one more question for the group... do you think this not been reported before because nobody is actually using the LCD for handwriting?

I do use the e-ink side for marking up books, etc. and agree it's superior, but since this is a PE and has very little room for writing (especially with my large messy handwriting due to a nerve condition), I was trying to read on the e-ink and make notes on the LCD.

Once again, thanks all, you've been a huge help.

~ Jan