Gateway M280E Notebook Tablet Convertible

[Garth]

I am trying to get the tablet functionality of my Gateway M280E notebook to work.  Being a Gateway, it uses a FinePoint digitizer; therefore it is NOT a touchscreen.  I already have a Finepoint type stylus pen, but it is from the Gateway E155C notebook tablet.  I would think they are all the same fpit driver.

The Gateway is running on Ubuntu 11.04 and the tablet package does include support for fpit devices, but neither the touchscreen nor the stylus pen seem to be working.
Why Ubuntu you may ask?  Simple: It was free.

I have searched Google and Ubuntu forums about this topic and even found someone with the same model and issues as I have, but nothing seems to be working yet.

Any suggestions/tips/hints/solutions?

[Mark]

What was the original OS for the platform?

[Garth]

I do not know for sure what the original OS was but the sticker on the machine says it was built for Windows XP Tablet Edition.
However, it was always throwing a blue screen with an error that indicated either Hard Drive failure or bad OS install.  I chose to try another OS(Ubuntu) and discovered that the OS that was installed(might or might not have been XP tablet) was the problem.

If I had a Windows OS tablet edition, I think it would do most of the work I have to do on Ubuntu for me.  I am not even sure if the "driver" for the digitizer (the tablet screen that converts pen input) is "plugged in" let alone if it even detects the stylus (for Gateway E115C) I am using.

[Mark]

I would look about reputable places to purchase a copy of XP Tablet Edition.

[Garth]

Yes... that is the best choice for making it work.

[Mark]

...And did it work?

[Garth]

Actually I found that the Tablet PC software came as an upgrade option with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.  So I just need to get a low price XP install.