Stylus Calibration Easy Installer

[Adam B.]

For those who haven't been following the efforts of Jayk, jhaker, Matthijis, and others here (login required) and here -- we now have a working calibration solution for the iLiad!

I've taken their work and compiled it into an easy installer for everyone. It has been tested on my personal iLiad as well as two others without problems. However, as it copies files to the root filesystem and updates start.sh, there is always a risk involved.

To install:

• Unzip the File
• Copy it to the iLiad anywhere you'd like
• Run the installer
• Use the power switch to turn off and then turn on your iLiad
• Browse to the Notes folder and run the "Calibrate Stylus" script.

You will need shell access installed in order to do this.

Edit: Attachment removed as bug was found in software. New update to follow shortly.

[-RenE-]

Thanks Adam for providing an installer package.

I just installed the software on my fresh Iliad (only shell access / no software installed) and everything went smoothly. My stylus is spot on now. This in contrast to the factory standards which where way out of being usuable.

[yokos]

This is another must-have-app after return of my iLiad.
I'm still waiting for return of my iLiad.

preinst in control.tar.gz:

mv /home/root/start.sh /home/root/start.sh.bak

Oh, this is a good idea.
[Edit] Adam B., can you post a larger screenshot? I can't read anything on the posted on.
[Edit II] I can read it now.

[Adam B.]

Not much to see. Just a standard calibration page.

I'm glad it's working out. It's definitely a must have for anyone who takes notes. And since 2.9.10 is feature frozen, you probably won't see it officially from iRex for a while.

[templario]

Thanks a lot, it worked perfectly without any problems. Just one question, i assume there is no need to uninstall this calibration "program" when a new upgrade comes.

Thans again,

Jose

[Adam B.]

Any updates either from me or iRex will simply overwrite any existing files. Worst case scenerio, your calibration will be off and you'll need to recalibrate. You shouldn't have to do anything other than delete the installer and calibration folder in your notes directory.

[scotty1024]

Why not simply wait for iRex to publish it and not risk bricking people's units? We waited since the epoch for this. a few more weeks isn't going to kill anyone. But rushing into releasing it could brick a few iLiad's.

[Adam B.]

Exactly, people have been waiting for this for a long time. To some, note taking is impossible because of the mis-calibration. 2.9.10 is probably a month away (at least) since it it still in the development stages. The following update, which will contain this, could be next quarter....

[scotty1024]

Why does this need to be in the very risky start.sh script? Why not just use a regular SH script? It will be sitting there in Recent Documents ready to be clicked each time you start the iLiad with minimal risk of bricking anyone's unit.

I've found that using a higher quality stylus is an excellent work around for the lack of stylus calibration. I use a Cross Penabled Stylus and the factory calibration is usually dead on.

[Adam B.]

It replaces the iLiad's default xserver. Hence the changes in start.sh

[vranghel]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

I've found that using a higher quality stylus is an excellent work around for the lack of stylus calibration. I use a Cross Penabled Stylus and the factory calibration is usually dead on.

I dont think there are too many people eager to shell out another XX$ for a different stylus. Not after we paid so much for the device in the first place.

If you have one lying around, thats great, but buying one that will not fit in the slot, is not my idea of great investment.

[scotty1024]

Does your install script md5 the xserver to make sure nothing silly happened to it? In the Average Joe world "Shit happens", just look at the number of 2.9.5 failures. If the replacement xserver fails to run on reboot, for any of several Average Joe reasons, the iLiad is a brick. Has iRex signed off on providing free un-bricking for any non-developer units your installer fails on? Last time I checked the SHELL hack required you to sign off that if you damaged your unit with it it was on your nickel to get it fixed.

If you don't want to wait until the next release, how about at least waiting until iRex releases the field re-flash tool?

I mean I've done things crazier than this with my iLiad but I always had a way out tested before I tried something this utterly brickable.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by vranghel

I dont think there are too many people eager to shell out another XX$ for a different stylus. Not after we paid so much for the device in the first place.

If you have one lying around, thats great, but buying one that will not fit in the slot, is not my idea of great investment.

In addition to solving the calibration issue the Cross Penabled Stylii also provide a better fit to the hand, a better feel in use, the standard nib makes the surface feel more like paper, you get spare nibs for when it wears down and you can buy different nibs to produce different effects.

In my experience it has been a very nice investment and upgrade to my iLiad. One duplicated by others here as well.

Playing Russian Roulette with your iLiad is not my idea of a good investment. Go read Adam's announcement again, does he tell you that if his installer fails the downside can be a dead iLiad?

He says "However ... there is always a risk involved." a risk of what?

This isn't a ipdf upgrade where the downside is losing the ability to view PDF's until you have the chance to get it working again in the comfort of your own home. The potential downside here is an expensive trip back to iRex for repair.

A trip I might add that costs more than: a Cross Penabled Stylus.

[jayk]

Hey all,

I must echo Scotty1024's concern here. This is not for the feint of heart. This is a fundamental change to your iLiad and is still under development. I would under NO circumstances install this if you do not already have SSH access to your iLiad.


The script I suggested - which I believe Adam B. has placed in his ipkg, tests to see if it can execute the Xfbdev.tslib and if not attempts to load the original. The binaries I produced do not replace the stock X server, just provides an alternate. However, this is a very basic test and doesn't account for the possibility that the package may have not installed properly.

Again, I strongly suggest that if you do not have ssh access to your iLiad (and some linux knowhow) that you wait until the polished version comes out in an iDS update.

In fact, Adam B. Perhaps it'd be a good idea to check to make sure that they have dropbear enabled before allowing the ipkg to install.

We are still working on this - and I had to modify the main tablet driver just this morning - so be aware that this is a work in progress. It works fairly well - but we are still finding bugs / correcting things. I put the binaries up for people to test and give feedback without having to do the entire build themselves. In my opinion - we are not at 'public beta' stage yet.

It's a pretty fundamental change to your iLiad so you really should not do it unless you are comfortable with the possibility of un-doing it yourself - the only way to do this is, at present, to ssh in and edit that start.sh script. If you don't know how to do those things, forget this and wait. It won't be too long.

JayK

[templario]

Now i´m scared, i did install it without any problems, is there a risk now that i have it installed? what can i do to be in the safe side?. Are there anything i shouldn´t do from now on?. Any advise is very welcome.

Jose