X20 upgrades, Addons, and problems

i have a samsung x20 and have had it since around may or june of 2006.

basically the keyboard is of a lower quality than i had expected. this is a ponted remrk in certain areas since the printing of the letters isactually coming off.

i have about 2 thirds of an "o"
about a qyarter of an "n"
my "E" looks like an "F"
and some of the other keys are losing their ink

anyone else had this problem or is it just me?

additionally anyone know where i can get a replacement keyboard and how much that is likely to cost me?

overall the X20 is a fantastic laptop and i take it with me wherever i go. if i can just sortout the keyboard problem, and maybe get some bluetooth and the X dock then i will be a happy happy man!

 

use paint and a fine paintbrush to paint them back on or rub them all off and stencil a lovely font on there

 

I think it'll be around $50.

 

My X60 is 11 months old. Some of the keys have developed a bit of shine but there has been no loss of the printing. The component with most wear is the left touchpad button.

Based on my experience of the past few years, I would not expect to see loss of the printing within the first year. Unless you have very abrasive fingers or have sharp finger nails, I would call the wear on the X20 abnormal and you may wish to take it up with Samsung as a warranty claim.

John

 

I've just been looking at the keyboard of a 6-month old X60 belonging to a friend. It is looking the worse for wear. In this case it is not the lettering itself which is damaged but the paintwork below the lettering. Obviously, painted keys are more vulnerable to damage than self-coloured plastic.

I only saw this because the initial complaint was that some keys are sticking. I don't have a cure for that problem but I remember that I had a couple of sticky keys on my old X60 but the problem went away before it was convenient to think of sending the computer for servicing.

John

 

well i have had my x20 since june, and i have dead pixels, a worn out keyboard, and it gets rather hot to boot!

i love this little laptop and am already in contact with samsung to start getting this stuff sorted out!

my little x20 doesnt have much of the fanciness, it is also remiss of the bluetooth which is annoying since its one of those features that i actually would love to have!

so my question is this, what kind of recommended upgrades/addons can you guys tell me about?

oh and if anyone can tell me whether it is possible to upgrade the internals so that i can get internal bluetooth, i would be most happy!

 

in keeping with the spirit of posting instead of private messaging, i have another qwuestion!

i have a new 120GB hdd (WD scorpio!!!) and i would like to keep the AVstation program, buut since i didnt get any of my recovery CDs (problem with retailer) its going to be quite hard. mostly i just want to know if it is possible to get the avstation CD< and if it isnt, is it possible for the bootkeys - that would be booting into the avstation software - to be mapped to either: A linux partition, OR a secondary windows partition.

any kind of feedback would be awesome, especially if it involves getting some nice shiny system CD's!

 

Basically, there is no need to delete the 16 mb sized AVStation partition (actually it's somehow a strange linux partition). If you format your notebook, just keep this partition alive.

I think the CD for the AVStation isn't included when you buy your notebook. Be sure you differ between the (fat) system application AVStation and the application - they just have a similiar name. While the system application AVStation should be delivered with your notebook, the system partition AVStation you can request at Samsung support (I requested it and I got it for free).

Boah, I think you need a modified firmware to make the buttons otherwise than predefined working. I suggest using the nice GRUB boot loader ...

 

I guess updating the internals is a rather tough job and will cause the end of your warranty.

A quick and cheap solution is a bluetooth dongle, I think you can get a serious one for about 15 EUR - a real bargain.

 

Announcement

For a better organization I have merged Ecoms three threads into one. Now we are getting a better structure and all of Ecoms' lately posted questions will be answered in this thread.

 

well that would explain everything!

this laptop is one of the nicest things i have ever bought, and it would be a shame if the problems are unresolved, causing me to replace!

.tom, im not reformatting the hdd, i am installing a new one, so the 16mb partition is not there. To be honest im not sure what the deal is with AVStation in general, but in there somewhere is a really good idea, and it would be good to sort out some way of expanding it, maybe by building ,my own enhanced AVOS.

 

OK, this is another situation.

The key problem with AVStation is that it's based on a little linux (I think a GPL licensed one) but Samsung changed it to a ugly kind of closed source (but maybe there are hacks somewhere in the web).
Good image programs like TrueImage are able to image AV partition. Could also be a solution - with comfort.

The X20 is really a perfect linux machine - I am running Gentoo Linux without genkernel and I had nearly no problem with the installation and no problem relating to some ugly hardware. It's a linux user's dream!

 

I have seen a lot about Linux being used on the X20, and in a way it kinda looks like it should be runnign some kind of linux distro.

i havent used linux personally, but am lookign into it. when i go to uni in september im sure i will somehow get into it. Ive heard good things about customising GUI's

 

It's very nice especially you have - if you like - a full-time job with your operating system ...

 

so basically all i need to do is fiddle with this bootloader, and the buttons will boot into the relevant os?

yeah linux has potential for me

 

Unfortunately, no. The bootloader can not handle the buttons. As I said earlier, I think you need a modified firmware for you purpose.