What Pen are you using? (EA800)

[Rakshasa]

I can confirm that the IBM Pen Think Pad X41 works fine with die EEE Note.

[woshi02191]

How to change the pen pressure threshold

Applies to Eee Note firmware 1.0.14.118 TW



So far I've only been able to adjust the pen pressure threshold... in the folder /etc you should find a file called /etc/ts.conf (i.e. touch screen configuration). The contents of the file will look like this:

module_raw input
#module variance xlimit=50 ylimit=50 pthreshold=1
#module dejitter xdelta=10 ydelta=10 pthreshold=1
module linear noxyswap

Start by making a backup copy of the file, just in case. To adjust the pen pressure threshold you need to add a new line to enable the pthres module, and set pmin parameter to the pressure threshold value you want. Afterwards the file should look something like this:

module_raw input
#module variance xlimit=50 ylimit=50 pthreshold=1
#module dejitter xdelta=10 ydelta=10 pthreshold=1
module pthres pmin=20
module linear noxyswap

The parameter pmin sets the minimum pressure needed to register as a pen-down event. The range of pressure values on the Eee Note is from 0 (pen-up) to 255 (maximum pressure). A pminof 20 works well on my Eee Note, but the sensitivity of yours might be different, so you will need to experiment. Don't set pmin too high, or your pen will never register any pressure events. If you get stuck you'll need to telnet in to edit the file.

If you want to assess the pressure sensitivity of your Eee Note, you can use the diagnostic tools. Use a console or telnet or file explorer to run the program /bin/ts_print_raw to see the raw pressure values from your pen, or /bin/ts_print to see the processed pressure values. Note that you have to put the pen to the screen to see any output. When you've seen enough, reboot the Eee Note (or CTRL+Z if you telnet).

@arpie: I also use one of those Tosh pens you suggest with my Eee Note, and I have also tried my Wacom UP-817E, but I find both the Toshiba and Wacom pens are much more sensitive than the SP-50 stylus that comes with the Eee Note. On my Eee Note they both pens start inking before they touch the screen, and the pressure level output from them is higher than from the SP-50. IMO this is why it's difficult to get thin/light lines using the Toshiba pen, but maybe it's also related to the pen pressure resolution. I'd like to be able to adjust the pen pressure mapping properly on the Eee Note, so I have asked Asus to publish the LGPL source code for the pen driver. I've had a nice acknowledgement from them, but so far no action.

Hi Blacknight,

I've followed your instructions to add this line "module pthres pmin=20" to "ts.conf" file, but for some reasons, after I turned off the device and rebooted it, my stock stylus pen is no longer working nor those touch sensitive buttons(I believe I have turned them off prior to the operation...)

As the result, I can now only turn off or boot up the device but can't do anything else!

So, can you please help me to sort it out, I feel really frustrated right now..thanks in advance!

[osowiecki]

You can probably make a "dvt_check" script and run it from SD.
Look in other threads for details.

[woshi02191]

You can probably make a "dvt_check" script and run it from SD.
Look in other threads for details.

Well, thanks for the suggestion, but the thing is to write a "dvt_check" script is something beyond my knowledge, but I think my problem is caused by the additional line "module pthres pmin=20" in /etc/ts.conf, if I can just get rid of it or to replace this /etc/ts.conf file to the stock original one, my device should be back to working state right away.

[Jamie-B]

I presume you'd have to open up the Eee Note (described in this thread), remove the internal MicroSD card, insert it into your computer and then manually replace the broken ts.conf with a working one. I have never opened my Eee Note, so I can't promise that this would be the exact procedure, but it seems logical.

Regarding this:

You can probably make a "dvt_check" script and run it from SD.
Look in other threads for details.

Does the dvt_check still run if the Eee Note is stuck at bootloader?

usually if are stuck the dvt_check script will not be executed.

And Woshi: If these two methods are not possible options for you, I direct you to instructions on how to format and reinstall your whole kernel without opening your Eee Note (post #16). You will, of course, lose all your saved files in the process

[BlacKnight]

Hi Blacknight,

I've followed your instructions to add this line "module pthres pmin=20" to "ts.conf" file, but for some reasons, after I turned off the device and rebooted it, my stock stylus pen is no longer working nor those touch sensitive buttons(I believe I have turned them off prior to the operation...)

As the result, I can now only turn off or boot up the device but can't do anything else!

So, can you please help me to sort it out, I feel really frustrated right now..thanks in advance!

Hi woshi02191

I'm sorry you're having difficulties. I have made a dvt_check file to fix your ts.conf file (attached).

(1) Download the zip file and unzip it onto the root of an SD card. You should see the following files in the root of the SD card.

• dvt_check
• dvt_check_pmin20
• dvt_check_uninstall
• ts.conf.bak
• ts.conf.pmin20

If the files are not in the root directory it won't work.
(2) Switch off the Eee Note.
(3) Insert the SD card in the Eee Note.
(4) Switch on the Eee Note.
(5) The Eee Note should appear to boot normally.

This will replace your ts.conf file with one that works, including the pmin=20 change.

If you want to go back to the original ts.conf settings, then rename the file dvt_check_uninstall to dvt_check on the SD card and repeat the installation steps listed above.

Please let me know whether this fixes your Eee Note.

[woshi02191]

I presume you'd have to open up the Eee Note (described in this thread), remove the internal MicroSD card, insert it into your computer and then manually replace the broken ts.conf with a working one. I have never opened my Eee Note, so I can't promise that this would be the exact procedure, but it seems logical.

Regarding this:

Does the dvt_check still run if the Eee Note is stuck at bootloader?


And Woshi: If these two methods are not possible options for you, I direct you to instructions on how to format and reinstall your whole kernel without opening your Eee Note (post #16). You will, of course, lose all your saved files in the process

Hi Jamie,

Thank you so much for your reply, and I really appreciate it!

I've refered to the thread to open up the device, and I would say it would have worked for me if I didn't try to remove the glass on top of the screen, which I have been thinking to remove for a very long time! but unfortunately, I left several scratches on the screen eventually, but that's another story, anyways, thansk again for your input!

[woshi02191]

Hi woshi02191

I'm sorry you're having difficulties. I have made a dvt_check file to fix your ts.conf file (attached).

(1) Download the zip file and unzip it onto the root of an SD card. You should see the following files in the root of the SD card.

• dvt_check
• dvt_check_pmin20
• dvt_check_uninstall
• ts.conf.bak
• ts.conf.pmin20

If the files are not in the root directory it won't work.
(2) Switch off the Eee Note.
(3) Insert the SD card in the Eee Note.
(4) Switch on the Eee Note.
(5) The Eee Note should appear to boot normally.

This will replace your ts.conf file with one that works, including the pmin=20 change.

If you want to go back to the original ts.conf settings, then rename the file dvt_check_uninstall to dvt_check on the SD card and repeat the installation steps listed above.

Please let me know whether this fixes your Eee Note.

Hi Blacknight,

Thanks for spending your time to make me a fix to my problem!

Yes, it worked right away, but the modified dvt_check file seems a little bit too sensitive, e.g. sometimes even after I lifted up the stylus after writing down a word, the screen wouldn't recognise it, as a result, there will be a line between this word and the next word I wrote. (not sure if you got the picture, I'm not native english speaker, so sorry about that if it's hard to understand)

So I then renamed the dvt_check_uninstall to dvt_check, and the device is now working as it used to.

[BlacKnight]

...So I then renamed the dvt_check_uninstall to dvt_check, and the device is now working as it used to.

Hi woshi02191

I'm glad it fixed your Eee Note.

I know what you mean about the pen lift-off not always registering. Your English is good. IMO it's because the Eee Note software is taking the pen pressure from the post-processed pen event data, but the pen on/off flag from the unprocessed data, so they don't always sync.

Personally I am now using SH0DAN's pscale module from post #67. IMO it works much better than using pthres, because it doesn't discard any events, so pre- and post-processed event data are in sync.

[SH0DAN]

Hello all,

I noticed another problem with my eeeNote. The stock pen is sometimes drawing a line even if I'm not touching the screen. Version 1.0 of the pscale module seems not to fix this problem. After some research I noticed that the pscale module can be extended to fix it, too. I updated the module to version 1.1. Please refer to the included usage.txt for detailed installation instructions.

For those that are using Version 1.0 here's the description of the new feature from the usage.txt file:

Fixing the "pen drawing without touching the screen" issue
If your pen is drawing a line even without touching the screen you can use pscale to fix this issue. Just set the btnFilter parameter to one of the folowing values:

• 0 Disable button filter (default)
• 1 Touch
• 2 Second button (not present on stock pen)
• 3 Both buttons

This enables the button filter. It filters out the specified touch/click events as long as pinLow is not reached. This makes sure the application does not detect a button event as long as the pressure level is below pinLow. The btnFilter parameter configures what button events should be filtered out.

This configuration option only makes sense if you set poutLow to 0. Using other values for poutLow can lead to strange results.

I attached the new version to this post. Have fun.