CompuServe Messages

>>Summa problems… You happen to be the unlucky recepient of the following. <g> I've had trouble with the Summagraphics II+ tablet since I bought it and have been in communication with Steve McGuinness of Summagraphics. The following message exchange may explain a little. This came about after I saw a message from Steve recommending that someone buy a new Summa tablet. The bottom line seems to be "don't expect too much". I hope I'm missing something major here and there is a better solution. Steve refered to a trouble-free "ADI 4.1-P driver" but does not explain how to get it. Personally, Summa/3DS has finally worn me down and I have given up. I apologize in advance for such a long message, repeated in it's entirity at the request of Mr McGuinness…. ————————————————————- #: 76434 S6/HWare/ADI/OpSys 15-Jan-94 00:46:24 Sb: #76391-Wacom Tablet Fm: JKJ (John K. Jordan) 71174,711 To: Steven M. McGuinness 73144,2412 Steven, >>SummaSketch… >>We will be shipping… >>Think twice before buying a Wacom… Many apologies if I sound a tad antagonistic here (not meaning to, really, just relating my experience). It sounds like you may work for Summa. Personally I would think twice before buying a Summa. Upon the advice of my local dealer, I bought the Summasketch II+ to use with AutoCAD, 3DStudio, and AniPro. It works fine with AutoCAD. In the middle of MANY problems with 3DS and AniPro, calls to Summa's superior customer service brought only the response "it's not our problem, call Autodesk, goodbye", who responded, "Summa needs to write a driver". Others on this forum have documented significant and similar problems with their Summa tablets. The latest drivers in 3DS release 3 are much better, but not perfect. AniPro continues to be unstable and unusable. The Summa now sits in a pile while I use the mouse and save my money for a new tablet. I would not dare sell it to someone because I would feel dishonest doing so. After feeling like I've wasted hundreds of dollars and many hours of frustration on the first Summa, you may understand why I, personally, have not been shopping for another Summa. Of course, I realize that in life very little stays constant, and the new Summa may be an excellent tablet for the money. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to buy another tablet just to see if it works. Perhaps you could expound a little on why I, and others, should "consider" another Summa. JKJ (keeping a wide open mind) ————————————————————- Date: 15-Feb-94 22:16 EST From: Summagraphics [73144,2412] Subj: SummaSketch will work … JKJ: Thank you for you patience, or whatever is left of it. I appologize or sounding a bit antagonistic myself; however, I find that you have little or no basis for you cliams against us. >>Upon the advice of my local dealer, I bought the Summasketch II+ to use with AutoCAD, 3DStudio, and AniPro. It works fine with AutoCAD. In the middle of MANY problems with 3DS and AniPro, calls to Summa's superior customer service brought only the response "it's not our problem, call Autodesk, goodbye", who responded, "Summa needs to write a driver". First of all, we do not claim to have a clean interface with 3DS and APro. Only a misinformed dealer would have promised such a thing. You cant put that blame on our product, nor the tech. reps that support it. Sure the SS is an excellent solution for AutoCAD and that may have been the basis for the recommendation. What may have mislead the dealer is that these products do have a proprietary interface to the SS; however, we do not validate any of Autodesk's claims that the interface is functional, let alone stable. On occassion, they have sent us pre-release versions of AutoCAD. We report the problems in a timely manner; however, we have no control over what gets fixed on their end. >>Others on this forum have documented significant and similar problems with their Summa tablets. The latest drivers in 3DS release 3 are much better, but not perfect. AniPro continues to be unstable and unusable. Once again, when asked to write a functional driver for 3DS, our response is misunderstood. Our ADI 4.1-P driver works well with 3DS and have recieve NO complants thusfar. If and when Autodesk upgrades thier 3DS driver to 4.2 or 5.0 (future), we would seriously consider enhancing our 4.2 driver to better support it. Like most ADI developers, we prefer to work with the current ADI spec, not one that is obsolete. >> The Summa now sits in a pile while I use the mouse and save my money for a new tablet. I would not dare sell it to someone because I would feel dishonest doing so. Perhaps you would not dare sell it to someone in your field; however, I'd be suprised if an AutoCAD user would not buy if from you, especially, knowing how new it is. If you don't know of any, just post a FOR-SALE add in the ACAD forum. >>Of course, I realize that in life very little stays constant, and the new Summa may be an excellent tablet for the money. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to buy another tablet just to see if it works. Perhaps you could expound a little on why I, and others, should "consider" another Summa. If you have been following the threads lately, namely "Summa doesn't work", you might begin to understand why we do not have a clean interface between the SS and Autodesk's multimedia products. We are optimistic that by the next release of their software, that they will upgrade their digitizer interface to a modern one and all developers in digitizer land will be at peace with them and the multitude of customers that are in the exact same situation that you are in. Because we do design and test our drivers for all SS tablets, rest assured that some day your tablet will work well with the products you intended to use it for. There is little if nothing I can do to speed that day up. Regretably yours; Steve McGuinness, Summagraphics ————————————————————- Steve McGuinness, Summagraphics; Thank you for your response. I suggest, however, you post it publicly on the ASOFT forum (before I do), where many 3DS and AniPro users have read the begininning of the conversation and may be interested in the rest. Many Autodesk multimedia product users may stand ready to purchase a tablet and should be informed not only of Summagraphics disclaimer regarding these products, but of the promise of future compatibitlty. Posting your response publicly may help some to avoid making the same mistake I did and Summagraphics may therefore avoid further alienating a segment of its potential customer base. JKJ ————————————————————- Date: 17-Feb-94 19:31 EST From: Summagraphics [73144,2412] Subj: SummaSketch will work … Dear John; Feel free to post my response on any BBS/forum you like, as long as you post your message and my response in it's entirety. I also recommend that you voice your concerns to Autodesk, so they can see how damaging an obsolete or disfunctional driver can be to the expectations of our mutial customes. They have already heard it from us. This will only expedite their efforts in developing a modern ADI interface and/or functional SummaSketch tablet driver in their Multimedia products. I encourage you and all of the Multimedia community to ban together in this effort. I will continue to do whatever is necessary to assist you. Steve McGuinness, Summagraphics Corporation ————————————————————- I apologize again for forcing all uninterested persons into paying for downloading this tiresome exchange, but I hope it will at least help to explain why you may be having problems. (Although this is not much longer than a single round of Lind-Landis discourse. <gd&r>)