CompuServe Messages

Connie, I've had a Wacom for two years now and I'm real happy with it. I use a pressure stylus and a 4 button puck. I have not had a mouse hooked up since I got the tablet, I just load the mouse emulation driver in my autoexec.bat, and in any program that needs it, I use the puck just like a mouse (its cordless too) without having to configure anything. An example would be…. in windows, the tablet driver is loaded automatically when you start windows, so I can use the stylus and get pressure support (painter and photoshop) or at any time just put the stylus aside and start using the puck just like a mouse. When I quit windows, the mouse emulation driver is already loaded, so any dos program that is loaded (including 3ds) reads the tablet and puck as a mouse automatically, no fuss, no switches…. I don't see why anybody would need a mouse hooked up if they have a wacom and a puck. (although I think that the new tablets allow you to use the stylus and a mouse at the same time). I don't think you can use the pressure stylus in 3ds w/ mouse mode… only the puck, but I think a non pressure stylus would work OK. The only annoying problem I've really had with the wacom is that you cant run windows Write with the wacom pressure driver loaded (this is apparently an MS issue with the Penwin spec), but if you have another word processor, this shouldn't be a problem. My brother has a Calcomp tablet, and while he says he's generally happy with it, he's constantly complaining about having to replace the tiny batteries in the stylus every couple of months. I've tried his and don't like the feel of it at all. Whatever you decide to get, try to make sure you can return it if you aren't happy with it, this way you know you're not going to be stuck with the wrong tablet. BTW, wacom has a section in the pen technology forum here on CIS. David