Could someone test LCD writing for me?

I think using the LCD on a resistive touch screen for writing is really hard to do with accuracy. When I first got my EE I wanted to draw and found it pretty close to impossible with the jumpy screen lines. The Ermine update has made it a bit better for me, but a quick note or sketch is the best it gets.

I'm still convinced this is a hardware defect. All the lines are being drawn to a single (interpolated) point in the upper left corner. If it was merely your hand or sleeve contacting the surface, or even perhaps static discharges, the lines would be random.

Send your two LCD pictures to Tech Support and insist on a repair of the LCD screen.

Originally Posted by borisb

I'm still convinced this is a hardware defect. All the lines are being drawn to a single (interpolated) point in the upper left corner. If it was merely your hand or sleeve contacting the surface, or even perhaps static discharges, the lines would be random.

I'm not at all an expert, but I tend to think Boris's is on to something, having experienced a similar problem that produced this exact result on a regular LCD monitor (my toddler threw a snow globe at it). Eventually, the lines became more numerous and longer, all of them stretching out from the point of impact.

I was able to reproduce this in both Maple paint and Note Everything by brushing the optical pad. Exact same lines going up to the left hand side in both applications. I covered the pad with an heavy piece of plastic, and no problem.

In a way, it makes sense that they would go there. Pressing on the touch screen feeds x and y coordinates to the system depending on where you touch. The optical pad has no reference points, only skips to the next "hotspot" (icon, menu, text position). When you "wake up" the pad by brushing your finger over it, and the cursor, pointer, etc is not already on a hotspot, where does it go? First hotspot in the upper left corner (ie the pencil icon in maple paint, or the title input box in a note everything paintnote).

The other thing this reminds me of is an frequent occurance waaaaay back in my Palm pilot days. Every so often some crud (technical term) would get stuck under the bezel and cause the same sort of line (position was more random). The solution was to fold a thin piece of paper, slide it under the bezel and fish the crud out.

Just a thought. In Dev Tools > Pointer Location you can see the exact x- and y-values. In my case all works fine. I have no trouble writing in Maple Paint. Maybe you can see in the Pointer Location if there are any problems with your screen?

Have you resolved this issue?

I have found the PE's resistive digitizer to be very crude compared to...well...a lot cheaper PDA/Phones/Tablets.

The streaks you show in your caps, if not caused by the optical thumbpad, are then caused by the screen being depressed in one area, usually caused by moisture, since the digitizer is usually sealed, I can only summise it's been compromised and is defective.