Trying Out Drawing Tablet with LTSpice

Every few years, these input devices pop up, and disappear for the same reasons. I remember the Koala Pad on the Commodore 64. Still have a pad. Same problems. Of course, now the plastic touch pad seems to have started a process of disintegration.

The device they are copying is the "puck", a special kind of work area for old CAD systems. The puck worked on a tablet, and have tons of buttons and reserved areas. These also disappeared after a while. We seem to be happy overall with Mr. Englebart's invention.

Ah. You should go get one of those hand grippers at the fitness store. Get the stiffest one you can barely squeeze. Squeeze off a few dozen squeezes every half hour or so. When I was doing intense PCB work, I got a burning sensation in my forearm's tendons. All the usual wrist-rests, suppors, etc didn't help. The gripper did. After a week or two, you'll get stronger and better at mousing for long times.

As intuitive as they seem, they don't work well for me.

I seldom draw outlines. My old intellimouse + lots of mousing is causing some wrist pain. I figure a pen grip will be less painful for longer durations of schematic drawing and guiding the autorouter.

Did the Kurta pen move the cursor with the pen hovering a few mm off the pad? D from BC Amateur smps designer British Columbia, Canada Posted to sci.electronics.design

Probably your desk (pad location) is too high. I do 12 hour days... no wrist pain... wireless mouse.

Yes. It's under a different name now... MUTOH (IIRC).

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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                          In Memoriam...
                       Duane Lee Thompson
                October 31, 1972 - April 20,2006
          4th Child, 2nd Son, of Jim & Naomi Thompson
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                    Would Have been 37 Today

On a sunny day (Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:44:57 -0700 (PDT)) it happened snipped-for-privacy@netzero.com wrote in :

In my experience that is the wrong way to use a mouse. I am used to mouse for sometimes 10 hours at the time. I rest my hand on the desk, also my wrist. All I do is move hand and mouse left to right with wrist, and fingers with mouse back to forward. Takes zero effort, optical mouse, flat desk, no mouse mat. No way will I ever get a mouse arm :-) Arm does not even move, except for going to keyboard and back to mouse

I didn't describe any particular way to use a mouse.

Allegro is the most click-intensive application I've ever used. No other software makes you click so much to accomplish so little. It's like it was programmed in an era when the mouse was new and hi- tech, and keyboards were considered old school. It's the constant clicking, combined with the usually stressful nature of being the rectum of the engineering digestive process that causes tension in the arm, I guess. The gripper is the only thing that helped.

On a sunny day (Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:03:47 -0700 (PDT)) it happened snipped-for-privacy@netzero.com wrote in :

That is really funny :-)

Well, maybe it is the muscles in the arm getting ready to punch the thing that causes the stress, fighting the other muscles trying to not do so... I'd say smash it, and get it over with. hehe.

When one hand is tired, I switch the side. Was a bit training the first time, but now there is no difference which hand I use. But don't do this with some special designed left or right handed mouses :-)

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I might try that.. Huh..That might be a hot selling item if sold in computer shops :)

oh no.. I better finish test driving this pen before my refund time expires.

Thanks for fdbk..

damn it.. where did I put that pen????

Damn, indeed! I thought you inexperienced young bucks always had a _strong_ right wrist ;-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
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How do you think they get RSI?

I bought a 'Bamboo Pen' graphics tablet to try out for schematic capture in LT Spice.

Tablet area is about 6" x 3.5" which is a close match to my widescreen aspect. I've never used a drawing tablet before. $110Can

After 5 minutes of use I've concluded the following:

1) Putting the pen down and picking it up is a pita. I put down the pen to use both hands on the keyboard. (Back to store for pen holder?)

2) I still work faster with a mouse but I suppose I need practice with the pen.

3) The cursor moves when the pen is 3 to 5mm off the pad. That's cool. (I haven't Googled yet on how that is achieved. Will gladly read responses about that.) However, floating the pen and making a 'hen peck' on the pad has caused me some misdirected part placements. iows.. It's me. When I bring the pen down, I'm changing the xy position at the same time.

4) So far using a graphics tablet seems less strenuous than my 'claw grip' on a mouse.

Anybody tried out/using a graphics tablet for ltspice and pcb layout?

D from BC Amateur smps designer British Columbia, Canada Posted to sci.electronics.design

I should have held onto the two Calcomps I had. I could have sent one up to you. They were nice and big, wireless. Ate batteries but the CAD guys loved em. The newer kids were trained on mice, so they fell by the wayside.

Cheers

I know someone whoe uses a tablet for schematics and PCB layout. He never uses the mouse.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
                     "If it doesn\'t fit, use a bigger hammer!"
--------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for offering. It's sometimes sad to see high tech become landfill material.

If I don't like the graphics tablet, I can return it to the computer shop. There's a 15% restocking fee. I've noticed the pad gets lightly scratched up by the nib. Someone buying the 'opened box' will notice the burnishing from use. btw.. that's another thing wrong with a graphics tablet and pen (Bamboo tablet by Wacom).. The nibs wear out. I can hear a scratching sound when I rub the nib on the pad. Mice have teflon pads.. Lasts longer.

D from BC Amateur smps designer British Columbia, Canada Posted to sci.electronics.design

Neato.. :)

imo... the pen does 'feel' more technical than the mouse. That might be due to my long time habit of doodling schematics on paper. I suspect the pen/tablet might be giving me my creative paper/pen mood.

D from BC Amateur smps designer British Columbia, Canada Posted to sci.electronics.design

Don't give up too soon. Maybe we're all stupid because we have been using a mouse way too long.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
                     "If it doesn\'t fit, use a bigger hammer!"
--------------------------------------------------------------

Over the years i have use almost every input device for most tasks. Some are better suited to certain tasks than others. For general use mice and trackballs are about equal and generally do better than other devices. Every device represents differing tradeoff of cost, resolution, effectiveness for a particular task, (naive) user acceptance, differing impacts of coarse/fine motor control, hand-eye coordination issues, et frigging cetera. =46or creating overlays on existing material puck type digitizers often work best. For some people they work better than trackballs or mice for most tasks. Pen type digitizers excel at capturing signatures. Touch screens excel at many consumer tasks but can have security issues. Various identification and authorization systems have characteristic issues (gosh, i am wandering a bit). The issues go on indefinitely...

I returned the Wacom Bamboo Pen drawing tablet today. :( imo...not good for pcb/schematic work..

I run dual monitor and I only get the best control when one monitor is under tablet control. With that set up, I have to use the mouse for monitor 2. Also... I missed zoom scrolling. And I got sick of looking for the pen each time I put it down.

What? Young buck doesn't have a KVMP switch ?:-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |

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