X220T digitizer -- my best results so far

[kvirtanen]

Thus there is no need to install another one.

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I'll add that the above applies to people who don't need pressure sensitivity across the most popular creative appliactions (Adobe for example). Otherwise, the built-in isn't enough, and an additional Wacom driver is needed.

[brokentech]

Got it figured out! The standard Win 7 calibration does not use enough points, even with 16 points. I got my calibration to work with following the advice of many users in the posts:

downloaded the latest firmware update from

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-Tablet-ThinkPad-Laptops/X220T-ThinkPad-tablet-pen-and-digitizer...

Then

(1) Tablet PC Settings>Display>Reset

(2) Start>cmd  (using an administrator account)

(3) depending on resolution:

For 1366x768
tabcal lincal novalidate XGridPts=14,28,68,136,341,546,683,820,1025,1229,1298,1339,1352 YGridPts=8,15,38,77,192,307,384,460,576,691,729,753,760

For 1280x768
tabcal lincal novalidate XGridPts=13,26,64,128,320,512,640,768,960,1152,1216,1254,1267 YGridPts=8,15,38,77,192,307,384,460,576,691,729,753,760
(I was unable to get it to calibrate with XGrid points lower to the bottom edge. I've got one spot that would not calibrate closer even if I tapped it 200 times, The above seemed to work great except for the one spot near the bottom. My windows journal now works great (my main use of the pen). The pointer now lines up with the pen! )

(I was unable to figure out if I had any drivers from control panel).

Before this, I was very unhappy with the 1366x768 calibration, even after the firmware update. The key for me was using more calibration points. Thanks!

[kvirtanen]

I'm glad the combo worked for you! It's sad that the digitizer is in such a sorry state initially, and users have to go through all this trouble to get it to behave correctly.

[davidicus]

bizarre. Settings > Display > Reset displays confirmation, but after i enter the tabcal points, i receive an error
---------------------------
Digitizer Calibration Tool
---------------------------
Linearity calibration data is already present. Please use the 'Reset' button in the Tablet PC Settings control panel applet to remove the data.

it doesn't look like anyone else gets this error

[kvirtanen]

You don't by any chance have the Wacom drivers installed as well? There's a Tablet Preference Utility for them too, where you can reset any calibration settings.

[kvirtanen]

If all else fails, you can temporarily remove the tablet features from Windows by going to "Turn Windows features on or off" and unchecking the tablet features. After doing that, a restart might be a good idea. Then re-check the box in the same dialog and try running the tabcal command again.

[kvirtanen]

For some reason I think the calibration of my screen had shifted over time. I went and reset the calibration and followed my own instructions in this thread. This time I simply cannot get the first corner to register. No matter what.

The funny thing is, that the ripple effect from the cursor indicates that I'm hitting the target dead-on! It's once again the obstinate implementation of tabcal.exe that prevents me from properly calibrating this thing. Below is a screenshot of me tapping the corner.

I decided to write Wacom a request to develop a better driver/calibration tool. You can read it here: http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9723&p=39494#p39494

I think it's high time, don't you think?

If you're a member of the Wacom forum, maybe you could show some support for the idea by replying to it? The current 4-point calibration tool from Wacom is simply not enough to tame this screen.

[kvirtanen]

Alright, got it to work again. For anyone interested, I had to basically restart from scratch and do the following:

(steps 1, 2 & 3 apply only if you've got Wacom drivers installed)

1. type "preferences" in Start menu to bring up "Remove Preferences" with the ISD tablet icon
2. remove both "My preferences" and "All preferences" using that utility
3. remove "ISD Tablet" via "Add or remove programs"
4. reset calibration data via "Calibrate the screen for pen or touch input"
5. type "features" in Start menu to bring up "Turn Windows features on or off"
6. deselect "Tablet PC Components", press OK, NOT reboot
7. go back to the same utility and re-check "Tablet PC Components"
8. press OK and reboot
9. calibrate the screen using the command in the first post
10. (optional) re-install the ISD Tablet driver mentioned in the first post to get pressure sensitivity to work in Adobe programs (didn't have to reboot even if the installer told me to)

The screen is once again aligned quite well, though the corners and bottom side of the screen still cause the cursor to jitter wildly, like there was a bad reception. The cursor won't reach the corners well either. For example, if I have the end of a scroll bar (the down arrow button) on the bottom right corner, I can't press it directly. I need to tap outside of the screen, on the black part of the screen frame.

What I'm also noticing is loss of resolution at the top of the screen. The mouse cursor only moves in 2-3px increments instead of 1px. I suspect that the drastic corrections the calibration tool has to make has somehow "streched" the coordinates beyond the IO resolution of the digitizer. Great.

But at least the whole screen isn't shifted a few millimeters to the left how it had done for some reason.

[kvirtanen]

AN INTERESTING DIAGNOSTICS TOOL:

Go to ISD Tablet Properties and CTRL-click the About button. I found it via http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?t=7904

What I could derive from it is that both X and Y-axis have bad resolution at the top of the screen. Co-ordinate values jump by 30-40 units whereas in the middle they jump about 10 units per pixel. That would correlate quite well with what I said above about the cursor moving in 2-3px increments.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you are a genius kvirtanen...