How do you like mice? The vast majority of us are used to them – but there is a different product we would like to recommend, called a “Graphics Tablet”. (Perhaps the most common example of this input technology is machines that couriers use for getting signatures when they deliver an item.) Have you ever read an email where the sender signed his or her name at the end of the message? This is an example of what can be done on a Graphics tablet – and it looks great!

    “A… what?” You may be asking… Perhaps some background on the product is in order! According to Wikipedia, a “Graphics Tablet” is: “a computer-input-device that allows one to hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way one draws images with a pencil and paper.” A specially designed “pen” communicates to the computer via a “tablet”, which senses the location of the pen relative to the rest of the tablet.

    For historical background, early graphic tablets where known as “acoustic tablets” (in other words, they communicated via sound). The pen on such tablets emitted clicks with a sparkplug. These clicks were detected by the tablet, and the pen’s position was triangulated. The system was quite complex and expensive, and the sensors where often susceptible to interference from outside noise.

    In 1964, a technology was introduced employing a grid of wires under an active area, which detected horizontal and vertical coordinates with a small magnetic signal. Tablets became popular in the 1970s and 1980s as input devices for many CAD (computer aided design) systems and where often bundled with high-end computers destined to run software like AutoCAD.

    Tablets were also developed using “magneto-strictive” technology – which used wires made of a special alloy stretched over a solid substrate to accurately detect the location of the pen. This technology also allowed for proximity measurement (sensing how far the pen is from the tablet, or hard you are pressing with the pen).

    The first home computer graphics tablet was called the “KoalaPad”, first produced in 1984. As with any technology, there have been “kinks” to iron out along the way. Researchers and developers, however, have worked to make tablets more and more like naturally drawing (and even erasing) on paper.

    Most tablets are “Active”. This means that the pen needs a battery, to actively transmit a signal to the tablet. Active tablets are constantly “listening” for a signal from the pen.

    “Wacom”, however, has developed a “Passive tablet” that sends a signal (“speaks”) to a specially designed pen. The special pen receives the signal and then sends it back to the tablet, which then “listens” and sends the signal to the computer! Because the pen is activated by the tablet, it requires no cord or battery (and makes it less bulky). Wacom holds the patent for this technology, so its competitors are limited to “Active tablets.”

    One of Wacom’s most popular tablets (and one of the most popular tablets) is called “Bamboo Fun”. This tablet actually comes with a mouse specially designed to work on the tablet, in case you tire of navigating with the pen. It also comes with software applications, including Adobe Photoshop Elements 5, Painter Essentials 3, and Nik Color Efex Pro 2 GE. As with many tablets sold today, the “pen” has an “eraser” on the opposite end – so if you make a mistake, you can turn the pen upside-down, and “erase away”! The most popular size of this tablet is medium, which sells for $199 (the smaller size is $99). From what I have seen by way of reviews (and we welcome you to verify this), Bamboo Fun is indeed one of the best tablets you can get these days, and I (Daniel Robbins) recommend it.

    Far be it from me to try and sell you something you don’t need – but I am excited about this product. Since I’m interested in it, I think perhaps you’ll catch the spirit and give it a try. This article is my best attempt to make that happen – and I hope you live to thank me for it (and I thank Daniel Prairie for his help to that end!)

    Sincerely, (signing our names with a mouse for now),

P.S. Here are a few links if you would like to know more:

Wikipedia on “Graphics Tablets”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet
Wacom’s “Bamboo Fun”

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