Problem with Transcriber on HP 4355

[tmg]

I need the help of the collective wisdom of this board. I purchased a 4355 a few months ago and have been having problems with the transcriber. It never recognizes what I am writing and only seems to print garbage. The only third party apps I have at this point is the stuff on the HP disk, Sprite Backup Premium (which doesn't seem to work either and won't let me backup to the PC), and Pocket Quicken. HP support suggested a hard reset and that seemed to work, but I can't find the software that is creating the conflict. Any ideas on what third party software could screw-up the transcriber or is this somthing with the 4355 that I will need to send in for repair? Thanks for the help!

[Chucky]

Well I wouldn't have the slightest clue what could be causing the problem. But I suggest trying Calligrapher (http://www.phatware.com/calligrapher/), its very similar to transcriber - but quite a few nice extra features.

[Ed Hansberry]

Make sure that arrow on the lower left is pointing “up” relative to how you are holding the device or you'll get garbage just like you are seeing.

[tmg]

Thank you for the help, the arrow was pointed northeast and now that it is pointed straight up it works. What does the arrow do? You saved me from having to send it in or hard reset it and try to figure out what the potential conflict is.

[Jeff Rutledge]

The arrow sets the recognition orientation. Some people write on an angle so this setting lets you compensate for that.

[Pony99CA]

The arrow sets the recognition orientation. Some people write on an angle so this setting lets you compensate for that.
I hardly ever use Transcriber because I've never gotten good results when I've tried (even though my arrow was pointing up). Instead I've used the Letter Recognizer.

However, this is the first time I'd heard about that arrow, so I played around with it. I started a new note in Pocket Informant's notes view, turned the Transcriber arrow to the left, turned my Pocket PC on its side and wrote a few words. They got entered more or less correctly.

It probably won't be of much general use, but if you want a little more horizontal space to write in, this trick gives you a pseudo-landscape mode.

Steve

[milkman dan]

I find I can point+tap the virtual keyboard much faster than I can use the jot recognizing stuff. I find myself sitting for 20 seconds at a time writing the same damn letter over and over again untill I get it right >_<