jmitche@pacsbb.UUCP (James Mitchell) (12/12/88)
I'm about to purchase a small (11x11) digitizer tablet for my Mac-2. Any information about experiences with various manufacturers would be welcome. My primary use will be with graphics programs including MacDraw2 and VersaCad, AutoCad. I'd also like to be able to have pointable macros on it as is done with Autocad. I've heard good things about Summagraphics and seen a lot of press on Kurta.
oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (David Phillip Oster) (12/15/88)
Try before you buy! Many digitizing tablets have one or more of the
following flaws:
1.) uses up one of the two precious serial ports on a mac, instead of
hanging off the Apple Desktop Bus.
2.) feels sluggish in its mouse emulation response
3.) does not trace accurately because the position the tablet sends to
the computer is irregularly dependent on the pressure of your hand on the
tablet, or the angle of the stylus. (some tablets will let you hold the
stylus in one hand, and pick up the pen position as you "finger paint"
with the other hand. These tablets tend to offset the position they
report depending on how much of your hand is touching the tablet.)
4.) does not give you access to the full resolution and range of the
tablet. (many tablets are 1000ppi, compared to the screen's ~72pp.i)
on a MacPlus, screen coordinates range from 0..512 horizontally, by
0..342 vertically. a 12x12 1000dpi tablet can generate coordinates in the
range 0..1200. You'll want to make use of the extra range.
5.) Does not give you flexible, convenient control of the mapping
between areas of the tablet and areas of the screen. (Some software
restricts you to a small number of "canned" tablet to screen maps.
This can be a pain if the origianl artwork you're tracing is taped to
the wrong spot on the tablet.)
6.) Insists that you use the tablet as an absolute positioning device
i.e., doesn't support "mouse mode". (Does it support mouse scaling in
mouse mode?)
Do you care whether the tablet software gives you a macro package, like
QuickKeys, Tempo, or MacroMaker or not?
The behaviour of any tablet on the Macintosh depends on:
1.) the raw tablet hardware
2.) the firmware in the tablet
3.) the device driver software, launched from a "startup document" on
the Mac.
4.) the tablet control user interface, which is either a chooser device,
a control panel device (a CDEV), an FKEY, or a desk accessory.
so you can't just look at hardware and brandnames. You need to check the
software. Try to see version histories, so you'll know how hard the
the back-room guys are working on this product and how fast it changes.
The firm 4SITE, 200 7th Ave. Suite 250, Santa Cruz CA 95062,
(408) 425 8700 specializes in Macintosh tablets.
You should know: I wrote tablet drivers professionally for the Macintosh
for awhile.
--- David Phillip Oster --"When we replace the mouse with a pen,
Arpa: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu --3 button mouse fans will need saxophone
Uucp: {uwvax,decvax}!ucbvax!oster%dewey.soe.berkeley.edu --lessons." - Gasee