Need advice on hardware? Ask questions and share your opinions here.
#64048 by Ted B
Thu May 15, 2014 3:32 pm
I've been using the same optical wireless mouse for years, but it's getting beat-up and it eats a pair of AA-batteries a month so that's getting expensive. While I know I'll probably keep the mouse for non-cad work, what's people's opinions on using pen-tablets for DC? Some of the "Bamboo"-series look interesting.

Also wondering if any have a handwriting-recognition feature. I had a Compaq Ipaq handheld that used handwriting recognition with a stylus that I loved, though the device was obsolete a year after I bought it.
#64051 by Paul Nida
Thu May 15, 2014 5:49 pm
I don't have one of the Bamboo tablets however I do have a Windows 8 tablet with a Wacom compatible screen and sylus. Although it works okay with DCAD, I don't do a lot of work on it for obvious reasons. The biggest problem I have with the stylus is that it only has one button which works as the right button on a mouse. Which means you effectively have a 2 button mouse.
#64079 by Ted B
Mon May 19, 2014 2:11 pm
Which means you effectively have a 2 button mouse.


That was my suspicion. Without a function "middle button" for snapping using Datacad is problematic at-best, that feature is a bedrock function.
#64285 by melina
Thu Jun 12, 2014 10:27 am
I have a Wacom Intuos (medium, I think) drawing tablet, for about 1 1/2 years now. I think it is great, mostly because my hand/shoulder/neck is no longer getting cramped up after a day of drawing. It took less than a couple days for me to get used to it. One doesn't actually draw across the pad in Datacad (though you do in Photoshop & similar programs) since every time the stylus hits the pad it is the same as a left-click, so you actually do a lot of tapping from point to point. Dragging is done in the air just over the pad for Direction/Distance input. O2C dragging is done on the pad. This may seem complicated, but it was really easy to use and the mouse, which I still have plugged in, I find really disorienting now.

The stylus has two buttons, so the upper button can be set to middle button, the bottom to right button. However, with the latest change in Dcad16 to Dynamic Snapping, the middle button isn't needed most of the time anyway and I fly across the screen now. I set the pad on an angle to the right (like I'm drawing on a pad of paper) and the keyboard is on an angle to left for my left hand to use quick keys & type distances and away I go. The pad is powered by USB, the stylus doesn't need any power - it has a mechanical connection to the pad.
#64340 by Ted B
Fri Jun 20, 2014 12:40 pm
The stylus has two buttons, so the upper button can be set to middle button, the bottom to right button.

And the stylus-point is the left-click. **D'oh!**

Now that makes so-much sense that it's so over-obvious that I didn't think that through far-enough initially... Thanks.
#64776 by Ted B
Tue Sep 02, 2014 3:55 pm
Argh!! Both of my ancient and loved Logitech mice have died, and both with the same problem; the middle-button failed. And Datacad (osnap) and Sketchup (obit/pan) are a B*tch without the middle-button. ( Too much cat-hair?? )

The only mouse left in the inventory that works with current Win-8.1 drivers is the wretched, tiny and tinny HP mouse that came with the HP Tower. So I'm back at mouse-shopping and also looking at digital pen-tablets like the Wacom Intuos. I'm very tempted to try the Intuos since they now have 2-button stylII (sp?) -- like a 3-button mouse -- and programmable quick keys and touch-actuated gestures. At the moment I'm torn between the small Intuos (6x4") or the older but larger Intuos5/Intuos-Pro.(8x5")

I've been thinking about a stylus/tablet rig while leaving the (inferior and tiny) HP mouse plugged-in as-reserve. I do a lot of work in Datacad -- and with Sketchup/Layout -- and I'm starting to get the occasional hand-cramps and odd-stiffnesses.
#64779 by David A. Giesselman
Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:18 pm
Ted:

Open a support ticket on the Logitech website. The micro-switches in their mice are known weak points. I've had several replaced, free of charge, even when well outside the warranty period.

Then again, perhaps it's time to upgrade (mice and DataCAD). ;)

Dave

Ted B wrote:Argh!! Both of my ancient and loved Logitech mice have died, and both with the same problem; the middle-button failed. And Datacad (osnap) and Sketchup (obit/pan) are a B*tch without the middle-button. ( Too much cat-hair?? )

The only mouse left in the inventory that works with current Win-8.1 drivers is the wretched, tiny and tinny HP mouse that came with the HP Tower. So I'm back at mouse-shopping and also looking at digital pen-tablets like the Wacom Intuos. I'm very tempted to try the Intuos since they now have 2-button stylII (sp?) -- like a 3-button mouse -- and programmable quick keys and touch-actuated gestures. At the moment I'm torn between the small Intuos (6x4") or the older but larger Intuos5/Intuos-Pro.(8x5")

I've been thinking about a stylus/tablet rig while leaving the (inferior and tiny) HP mouse plugged-in as-reserve. I do a lot of work in Datacad -- and with Sketchup/Layout -- and I'm starting to get the occasional hand-cramps and odd-stiffnesses.
#64782 by MtnArch
Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:07 pm
I've had great luck with Logitech as well - they are the DataCAD LLC of the hardware world when it comes to supporting their users! I'll never own (or look) at any other manufacturer of mice.
#64783 by melina
Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:27 am
My praise of the tablet/stylus aside, I do still have a mouse plugged in. I found that for "office" activities - wp, spreadsheet, browsing, email - it is still more effective/productive since the mouse/cursor stays where you left it and the keyboard can be moved front and center. If your system can handle both, why not? Who says there is only one "pencil" perfect for all tasks for all people?

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