No luck from my side with the finger tap to get the fingerboard up. This functionality seems to be broken since I installed OS2008.

@ Benson, any luck digging around gconfig?

I agree with this rant that's not really a rant but a plea for help. . .

The problems discussed are some of the main reasons I'm still using OS2007 (well, when I had a working tablet that is).

Unfortunately it is not possible to satisfy everyone. A great example of that is that I like KDE and a stylus most of the time, and occasionally want to use some finger-based apps. Also I like RPM's and not DEBs. Other people, however, would vigorously and loudly disagree and protest. They may want a DEB-based OS that uses Hildon-Gnome and have all finger-based apps.

There is absolutely no way that Nokia can satisfy everyone. There is also no way that Nokia is going do much to support stuff for older tablets if/when new ones come out. They simply don't have the resources even if they wanted to.

What needs to happen is for Nokia to release enough of the closed-source stuff in the tablets to allow people to EASILY create an alternative distro for the tablets. This would solve the problem AND save Nokia money since they would not have to do all the OS development work themselves. It would also make everybody happy since they could easily fine tune the OS exactly to their needs.

The tablets are not PDA's (ok, they may be that for some users). They are basically full-blown handheld computers that have a few (very few, actually) things that are different from other x86-based PC's . So far in the history of computers there has been only ONE succesful computer manufacturer which also makes the OS. That is Apple. All others who have tried to make a computer+OS have failed in one way or another. I don't think Nokia is looking to become another Apple. They are already more, or at least as, sucessful as that. Nokia does not even make an OS for their phones. So I don't understand why in the world they would want to do so for something as low volume as these tablets.

Now I'm certain that people here are going to come back and say "wait a minute, Nokia is not making their OS, they are using Debian." That statement, however is false. Once you start mucking around with the OS so much that the only resemblance to the upstream distro is that it uses DEBs it becomes a new OS. Besides, Debian is FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software. If there is one thing Maemo is absolutely not, well that is FLOSS.

Finally got a build of gconfedit for OS2008, so I'll start looking again...

EDIT: Well, the setting in OS2007, /apps/osso/inputmethod/finger_pressure, does not exist. I tried setting it, but I think there is no change.

Try thumping the screen harder. I'm serious. It works for me.

I don't "thump the screen harder" here.... I either tap the text entry spot (where I'm wanting to enter text) with my stylus or with my finger. If I tap with my stylus, I get the smaller on-screen keyboard; if I tap with my finger, I get the large on-screen keyboard.

[shrug]

That's the way it's supposed to work.

A lot of people have been complaining that it doesn't recognize finger taps vs. stylus taps in OS2008. I never had a problem in the very short time I used OS2007, but in OS2008, I have to hit the screen pretty hard to get it to register. So I'm just recommending that people who have trouble getting it to recognize a finger tap try pressing faster/harder. If you're having no problems, good for you.

I find I have to hit it harder - more a thump than a tap - in the edges and corners, while a tap in the center works fine.

I think doing the thumb taps a little faster works better. I can get the thumbpad up almost instantly in notes in 2008 without a problem.

Oh my god, for the first time in OS 2008 thumb keyboard actually works for me.

The amount of force I have to apply to get it is ridiculous thou. 2 taps during a period of time that is a little less than 1 second.


Oh yeah and I agree with the original post very much. Also the close application "X" is ridiculously small (thou still pretty easy to hit with finger..)..

I sharpened one of my fingers on my bench grinder the other night. When I get the bandages off, I will hopefully be able to hit the "X" much more easily.