chris@utpsych.toronto.edu (Christine Hitchcock) (05/19/89)
I'm interested in buying a light pen for an IBM AT with a VGA monitor. Is there anyone who can give me some advice on what to look for? I'd like non-computer types (human subjects) to be able to use it with virtually no training. Does this sound feasible, and is there anything special I should worry about because of that? I'd appreciate any advice about brands, what to look for, etc. Is there a recent review somewhere? I'm going to check back-issues of Byte but if someone can remember reading something brilliant elsewhere, I'd love to hear about it. And BTW, is this the spot to ask such questions? If there's a better group, or another group to which I should also post, please let me know. -- Chris Hitchcock, Dept. of Psychology | chris@psych.toronto.edu University of Toronto, Toronto | hitchcoc@vm.utcs.utoronto.ca Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A1 | <insert chickadee about here> ____________________________________________________________________
ronnie@xroads.UUCP (Ronnie Phillips) (05/31/89)
In article <1989May18.213756.22453@utpsych.toronto.edu> chris@utpsych.toronto.edu (Christine Hitchcock) writes: >I'm interested in buying a light pen for an IBM AT with a VGA monitor. Is there > >anyone who can give me some advice on what to look for? I'd like non-computer Years ago, I bought a Gibson light pen for my Apple computer. I thought all the demonstrations I'd seen at computer shows made the light pen look really neat and easy to use. The software that came with it was dynamite. BUT.... What no one tells you is how tired you get from holding your hand in such an uncomfortable position at your monitor. No resting place for your hand and if you want to do anything detailed it gets very tedious. Of course, I suppose it all depends on your intended use - as a pointer it would be great... but as a drawing tool its terrible. It is accurate, but you get too tired with it. The mouse seems to be the best device for drawing that I've found. If you use a light pen for drawing, you'll end up hating it, no matter what brand you decide on. In fact, you don't even see many light pens on the market anymore - probably this is the reason. -Ronnie -- \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300|1200 Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!ronnie
hollen@eta.megatek.uucp (Dion Hollenbeck) (06/02/89)
From article <727@xroads.UUCP>, by ronnie@xroads.UUCP (Ronnie Phillips): > In article <1989May18.213756.22453@utpsych.toronto.edu> chris@utpsych.toronto.edu (Christine Hitchcock) writes: >>I'm interested in buying a light pen for an IBM AT with a VGA monitor. > > Years ago, I bought a Gibson light pen for my Apple computer. I > thought all the demonstrations I'd seen at computer shows made the > light pen look really neat and easy to use. The software that came > with it was dynamite. > > BUT.... > > What no one tells you is how tired you get from holding your hand > in such an uncomfortable position at your monitor. > The mouse seems to be the best device for drawing that I've found. > You probably have not used a tablet with a stylus. The mouse is an unnatural device for drawing, but much better than cursor keys or trackballs. When you use a tablet with a stylus it is EXACTLY like drawing with a pen, and in fact many stylii have a built in ball-point refill so you can place paper on the tablet and see what you are drawing in person and it is merely mirrored on the screen. Dion Hollenbeck (619) 455-5590 x2814 Megatek Corporation, 9645 Scranton Road, San Diego, CA 92121 seismo!s3sun!megatek!hollen ames!scubed/
ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Raymond Dunn) (06/03/89)
In article <1989May18.213756.22453@utpsych.toronto.edu> chris@utpsych.toronto.edu (Christine Hitchcock) writes: >I'm interested in buying a light pen for an IBM AT with a VGA monitor. >Is there anyone who can give me some advice on what to look for? The IBM VGA does not support a light pen, EGA does. -- Ray Dunn. | UUCP: ..!uunet!philmtl!ray Philips Electronics Ltd. | TEL : (514) 744-8200 Ext: 2347 600 Dr Frederik Philips Blvd | FAX : (514) 744-6455 St Laurent. Quebec. H4M 2S9 | TLX : 05-824090
flee@shire.cs.psu.edu (Felix Lee) (06/04/89)
In article <727@xroads.UUCP>, ronnie@xroads.UUCP (Ronnie Phillips) writes: > What no one tells you is how tired you get from holding your hand > in such an uncomfortable position at your monitor. > The mouse seems to be the best device for drawing that I've found. Mice aren't particularly good drawing devices either. My first encounter with a mouse I had enormous difficulty because I was trying to move it like a pen. Different motor skills. Different motor skills. I suspect using light pens is not so much uncomfortable as unaccustomed. Easel and chalkboard are similarly vertical. Graphics pads are "best" because they are most like what you are used to using. Pen and paper. But with enough motivation you could probably learn to draw competently with etch-a-sketch knobs. -- Felix Lee flee@shire.cs.psu.edu *!psuvax1!shire!flee
sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) (06/04/89)
In article <727@xroads.UUCP> ronnie@xroads.UUCP (Ronnie Phillips) writes: >In article <1989May18.213756.22453@utpsych.toronto.edu> chris@utpsych.toronto.edu (Christine Hitchcock) writes: >>I'm interested in buying a light pen for an IBM AT with a VGA monitor. <light pen drawbacks:> A light pen works by detecting the electron beam as it scans by the pen. As a result, it has one major drawback: It won't work on a black background or on a black color. black on a CRT is the absense of the beam (it's turned off) therefore the pen can't detect anything. It also has trouble with dark colors, especially dark blue. Also if you hold the pen even slightly away from the screen it will detect more scanlines than you might wish (think of it as a camera that is out of focus). Of course, if you are drawing with it, this can make some neat airbrush effects as the pixels drawn get randomly get drawn throughout the fuzzy focus area. The best type of input device I have used is a graphics tablet. With one of those you can even trace in things. The light pen is a good picking device for choosing points off of the screen. like in a menu type operation. -- John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps [not for RHF] | sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 If you've seen one nuclear war, you've seen them all.
morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) (06/13/89)
In article <727@xroads.UUCP> ronnie@xroads.UUCP (Ronnie Phillips) writes: >In article <>chris@utpsych.toronto.edu (Christine Hitchcock) writes: ... edited to reduce bandwidth... >>I'm interested in buying a light pen for an IBM AT with a VGA monitor. Is there >>anyone who can give me some advice on what to look for? I'd like non-computer > >Years ago, I bought a Gibson light pen for my Apple computer. I >thought all the demonstrations I'd seen at computer shows made the >light pen look really neat and easy to use. The software that came >with it was dynamite. >BUT.... >What no one tells you is how tired you get from holding your hand >in such an uncomfortable position at your monitor. No resting >place for your hand and if you want to do anything detailed it >gets very tedious. Of course, I suppose it all depends on your >intended use - as a pointer it would be great... but as a drawing >tool its terrible. It is accurate, but you get too tired with it. > >The mouse seems to be the best device for drawing that I've found. > >If you use a light pen for drawing, you'll end up hating it, no matter >what brand you decide on. In fact, you don't even see many light >pens on the market anymore - probably this is the reason. > I can second everything he says - a good friend of mine is totally blind, and BBSs with an "Optacon" tactile reader on her clone screen. Or used to. Her shoulder joints are almost junk from swinging the optacon across the screen for hours at a time. And the speech synthesis systems that are consumer affordable (especially blind consumer affordable) can't handle graphics. Pet peeve: Nobody publishes software with a configurable option for plain text. Close your eyes. Picture the opening screen(s) of your favorite software packages. Imagine that a speech synthesizer was "reading" the stuff, byte-by-byte, and what it would do with ansi codes, or high-bit graphics. And what would it take for software writers to come up with two options: no graphics, and system calls for all console I/O. Most of the software drivers that drives specialized option boards that attempt to assist the handicapped use computers link into the DOS calls. Direct I/O is fast, but totally prevents the handicapped from using that package. The handicapped would love to see those two options in an install program. End Pet Peeve mode. I came up with an idea that might save my friend's shoulder muscles and joints - she'll know in a few weeks. We're chopping a hole in her desk top and sinking a second monitor into it, as flush as we can get it. This way she'l be able to use the optacon like a mouse. She'll lose a couple of desk drawers on the right side of the computer desk, but if it works, she'll be able to use the computer again. She has been missed on the local BBSs by a lot of people. (I can hear it now: "second monitor?". yes, her husband is sighted and uses the system also. You can paralell similar monitors - in this case two monochrome units. All it takes is a Y cable.) Sorry about the length of the message, but it pushed one of my buttons. US Snail: Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov P.O. Box 1130 Also: WA6ILQ Arcadia, Ca. 91006-1130 #Include disclaimer.standard | The opinions above probably do not even