Zaurus Touch-Screen Problem

[naanu]

My SL6000L\'s touch-screen suddenly stopped working. After unsuccessfully trying out all the procedures mentioned in page 84-88 of the user\'s manual, I finally had to do a disk format. The touch-screen started working, but I lost my precious font resolution. In other words, the smoothness of the font was lost and I can now see serrations in the fonts.

If anyone had been through a similar kind of problem, I would appreciate your help and inputs.

I contacted SHARP service people and as usual they were ignorant (they stink), arrogant and stupid. Yes! these guys are stupids in my experience. They didn\'t seem to have any product knowledge and were trying hard to blame me.

May I suggest that those of us facing shabby treatment from SHARP should file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org)? That way, if enough people file complaints, SHARP service people might be forced to be polite and helpful. Afterall, we all spent $700 on this machine and wouldn\'t we want some kind of service from SHARP for this investment at least during the warranty period?

Angry and sad,
Naanu

SL-5600; SL-6000L; 256MB+256MB SD; Micro Innovations Keyboard; Ambicom WiFi for SL-5600

[boosalis]

I hd that problem at one time. After about half a dozen resets/reboots it started working again.

[Joshp]

Is this problem hardware or software?  My guess is that its software, if a reboot fixed it.

JP

[ValterEspindola]

Hi,

Mine stopped working too :cry: . I\'m trying to make it work again. But I\'ve noticed that on reboot it prints out a message saying libz.so is not an ELF executable, and after that something about a wrong kernel driver (too fast to read).

Also I\'m trying a hard reset, but the device comes back with all setup I\'ve done, so not everythng was erased....

Should I try to rewrite de flash? How do I do this?

Thks

[ValterEspindola]

:idea:
I\'ve uninstalled vnc fb server, zaurus faq & java samples, rebooted (rec+on+reset) and the touch started to work again!

The first error libz is sitll there, but the second one (kbdsim.o wrong kernel version module) is gone....

[philverb]

This happened to me too, after installling the beta version of SDGSystems' fbvncserver beta version for the SL-6000.  I have experienced the problem and found the touchscreen (/dev/sharp_ts, I guess) working again after uninstalling and rebooting.

I never got the pointer stuff working on it, either

[The instructions to run /etc/rc.d/inittab/fbvncinput did not work and I came  out only with the error "/dev/sharp_ts:  invalid argument".  I haven't yet searched the enough of the forum threads for any workarounds, but I did look at the script.  Please let me know if there is a quick and dirty solution that I might employ to get past this on the SL-6000.]

Honestly, the absence of coherent, timely support for this device is making me think that my time might be better spent helping to develop a more portable Linux distribution for other ARM processor devices, like the Hitachi G1000 I forsook for the Zaurus.  I've gotten some great help from SDGSystems in a somewhat elective-type connection with the CF-2031 software, but that, too is annoying when you consider how incomplete Sharp has allowed the distributed software to remain.

I love linux; I like some of the features of the Zaurus, but as a device, it's not so unique as to warrant spending so much time dealing with Sharp's handling of the TrollTech QTDesktop syncing software on top of the apparent lack of collaboration with the developers working to make these applications work properly.

Anyway, I'm not bailing but needed to vent a little.

[satch]

One might be excused to surmise that Sharp has used the Linux community in so far as they have provided us with a system(s) that has marginally useful software that is no more advanced than the latest version I can get for my SL-5500, yet charge a premium price for it, while offering little or no support.

And yet, I can't wait to get my SL-6000 in a day or so...(sigh)

[cvmiller]

One might be excused to surmise that Sharp has used the Linux community in so far as they have provided us with a system(s) that has marginally useful software that is no more advanced than the latest version I can get for my SL-5500, yet charge a premium price for it, while offering little or no support.

And yet, I can't wait to get my SL-6000 in a day or so...(sigh)

I would have to disagree with the comment "marginally useful software".

Perhaps the PIM software is weak. If you need good PIM, get a Palm. If on the other hand you want a little laptop in the palm of your hand, get a SL-6000. The only regret I have about upgrading to the SL-6000 (I also have a 5500) is that my eyes are too old to read the small text in the terminal.

I am pleased that most of my SL-5500 software runs on my SL-6000. And that there is an abundance of software out there just for the downloading! And then there is commercial software from places like theKompany!

I bought the SL-6000 because I wanted a bigger screen, trying to read PDFs on the SL-5500 was like reading a page through a straw. It is a wonderful (if slightly large) machine. I find myself using software like: Zeditor, Kismet, Datebook (the familiar version), QPDF, Qkonsole, NeoCal, Opera, boa and IRK everyday. It is really great stuff.

My suggestion is get beyond what Sharp included on the ROM, and enjoy the power of this little machine.

Craig...

[satch]

Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed my 5500 emensely over the last 3 yrs. I've also had 4 different environments on it multiple times. I've tracked with my Garmin & a serial connection, I've war-driven, I get WiFi at home & work without problem. I'm only pointing out that Sharp's is my least favorite of all the software I've used, mostly because it rarely improves.

But the platform rocks...

[lek]

Hi, this screen issue just happend to me as well.  I noted the post about reformatting the device, but that leaves me feeling a little uneasy.  This is the first time I have owned a device like this, and I can just see myself hosing this then ending up with a $700 brick.  Are there any other options?  I have rebooted a couple of times, but so far no luck.
Yep the sharp site sucks...
Lek

[guylhem]

Same here. Always happened when I enable wifi -  however for the last days it was fine

[lek]

I was just able to get my touch screen working.
I removed the VNC software, and the libz files I had down loaded for it. Then I  rebooted (rec+on+reset), and when I restarted the box again it worked.  

I had reset the device a number of times before, but the screen still had not worked.  I do not know if removing the VNC files made the difference.   The zaurus was working fine for about 3 weeks after I installed them on to the zaurus.
lek