Wacom tablets

[ratcreature]

Are any of the currently sold low to mid price range Wacom tablets supported by Linux? My current one (an old Wacom Volito) doesn't really work anymore, and I wanted to buy a new one (not spending more than €100-150, preferably even less, I don't need a large or high end tablet, as long as I can use a pen and have pressure sensitivity), but the small Bamboo Pen & Touch, that is listed as supported on the linuxwacom project wiki, doesn't seem to be sold anymore, and actually all the listed tablets don't seem to be available anymore, and when I google for the successor models (such as Wacom CTH-480S-DEIT Intuos Pen&Touch, or Wacom CTL-480S Intuos Pen Small) and Linux I see only forum questions about the drivers not working for them. Am I misinterpreting this?

Has anyone here recently bought a graphics tablet? Is there *any* affordable Wacom tablet model I could buy right now that would work? I don't want to spend money and then have my tablet be a brick, I only have Linux computers.

Comments

[sara]

I got a Wacom Bamboo pen to use on my Samsung phablet for Xmas, and it didn't work right -- the cursor tracked the end of the pen not the end of the pen tip, and it was basically unusable as a drawing tool. So I can't recommend those, although since I bet it's a software issue I'm hoping that if I try one again in six months it'll work.

[ratcreature]

Thanks for sharing another data point, even if it is not encouraging. :(

I guess I'll have to hope for the linuxwacom project to catch up with the current models, or look for a used tablet.

[kerravonsen]

You could possibly ask on the linuxwacom mailing list. They would be the most likely to know.

[ratcreature]

I don't really want to join a mailing list just to ask a question, that in principle is already answered in the FAQ on their wiki that lists what is supported currently as I mentioned in the post. That seems to me to just invite abuse of the JFGI/RTFM type on the slim hope that maybe there is some newer Wacom tablet that might work with one of the older drivers by chance but wasn't mentioned. I never ask questions on those kinds of forums, just read what is there to figure out a solution.

[miriam_e]

There are other (cheaper) graphics tablets out there. The brandname of the one I bought is "Varexx", but it uses a system marketted by various companies all using the same technology. You can find the Linux drivers if you do a search for "wizardpen". They are not as good as Wacom and have lower resolution, but they do work and you can easily make up for the resolution by simply enlarging your screen view. It is better than nothing and mine only cost about $50.

My aging Wacom tablet uses only an old RS232 serial connector and they are like hens' teeth these days on modern computers. I recently bought an RS232 serial to USB adapter, but somehow I doubt I'll be able to get the Wacom to work on that. I haven't tried it yet. The wizardpen device plugs straight into any USB connector.

Drawbacks:
- lower resolution (not really much of a problem)
- no eraser on the other end of the stylus (though the stylus does have a dual-action button on its side)
- the stylus doesn't have tilt
- the stylus requires a AAA battery (uses hardly any power though)

One last thing I should mention. I found one time my stylus started getting very hot after several minutes. I realised that the battery contacts were shorting out inside the pen body. It didn't hurt anything (though it might have melted the body of the pen if I'd not caught it in time). It was easy to fix. I just stuck a sliver of adhesive label on the metal rail going along the side of the battery. Of course you could always be extra careful that the spring doesn't bulge to the side and accidentally contact the rail, but I prefer the safe-instead-of-sorry solution.

Here is a picture to illustrate:

The top of the stylus body has been removed (it just pulls off for changing the battery). The rubber grip is rolled partially down to see the area more clearly. The "mouse" buttons are on the side away from view. The stylus point is at the top left of the picture -- it is more tapered than it appears here because of foreshortening in this view.

Luckily I recorded my search for drivers. Here are the pages I found in February 2012 when I was getting this to work:

A Linux/HAL/udev/X11 driver for most non-Wacom graphics pads.

https://launchpad.net/wizardpen
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/TabletSetupWizardpen

http://www.serkey.com/ubuntu-wizardpen-tablet-and-intrepid-becf68.html
http://digitalbluewave.blogspot.com.au/2008/10/genius-wizardpen-with-intrepid-ibex.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1204537.html