Buying or making graphics tablet

[AmigaBruno]

I've recently been doing graphics on my Amiga A500 with Deluxe Paint III, like I did years ago. I also plan to get a copy of Photon Paint soon, especially as I started with Photon Paint.

Of course, it would be much easier and quicker if I had a compatible graphics tablet, but finding one nowadays would be difficult, which has even made me consider trying to make one at some stage in the future.

I think it makes sense to assume that any such tablet would be plugged into the mouse/joystick port, because the software already expects input from that port.

I think I've read that the Wacom KT-0405-A KT0405A ArtPad 2 II 5" Graphics Tablet is compatible, but that uses the serial port. Looking on eBay, there are a few, but mainly for parts or not working and postage on these from the USA to the UK is high.

The Atari 8 bit graphics tablet plugs into a joystick port and I read that the Atari reads it as a pair of paddles. I think this may be compatible, but I'm not sure how paddles are different to joysticks.

Another tablet I remember from years ago is the Koala pad, which was compatible with various computers, but I'm not sure if it requires its own software.

I hope people will be able to advise me on this. It could be an interesting electronics project for me at some stage in the future. Meanwhile, I'll continue to to graphics more slowly with the mouse.

[AmigaBruno]

Yes, I'm using an ArtPad II.  It used to be connected to my Amiga 2000 and it worked (no pressure though, but I was fine with that).  I was using a free driver off aminet.

I haven't tried to attach it to my A500 yet.  When I switched from big-box Amigas to WinUAE for graphics work (much faster CPU for graphics processing) I moved the Wacom tablet to the PC, where it worked as well (with its own drivers).

There were native graphics tablets for Amiga, but they are hard to find.

As for the Koala Pad, it's too low-resolution for Amiga graphics (i.e. it has a number of X and Y sensors which are under the resolution of most Amiga screens.  Also, I don't thing anyone ever wrote a driver for it to run on Amiga.  Lastly, it's not great at finely sensing where your pen is - okay for coarse stuff (i.e. VIC-20, C64) but I doubt for Amiga.

PS: when I bought my ArtPad II off eBay I remember it was quite cheap, being the old serial kind, and it was brand new in a box, shrink-wrapped.

So, that confirms the Artpad II works with the Amiga. I don't know what the pressure would be used for.

You seem to know a bit about the Koala Pad, as you say it has a number of X and Y sensors. What do these sensors consist of?

I remember from using the Amiga years ago that it was the normal thing to just plug in any peripheral and it worked without a driver. It seemed that only printers required drivers, but on the PC drivers were always required. Why would a graphics tablet require a driver for use on the Amiga?

[AmigaBruno]

pressure is used to determine the thickness of your brush. the harder you press, the thicker the line. this works very natural and something I wouldnt do without. (I have an a4 size tablet for my pc)

I see. Well, I'm only talking about Deluxe Paint and Photon Paint. In Deluxe Paint and from what I remember Photon Paint as well, you select the brush thickness from an on screen menu. Just because the input device is different won't change that.

I'm now reading this site about making a graphics tablet to get the general principles http://www.bongofish.co.uk/wacom/wacom_pt1.html .

[AmigaBruno]

The Koala Pad acts as if it was a pair of variable resistors one in each direction. So when you touch the pad, there's an x and y resistance that corresponds to the point you touch. The paddle hardware in the computer reads that out as a pair of values. I'm more familiar with the Atari 8-bit machines. The paddles read from 0-255 which was greater than the screen resolution in color mode.
It makes me wonder though... the resolution limit was mainly a result of the computer. If you used a a/d converter with more resolution, say 10 bits, could you get more meaningful resolution out of the Koala Pad? It's still a rather small drawing area though.

This sounds great! I don't understand it all at the moment, because I need to study some more about electronics, but I think this will put me on the right track.

[AmigaBruno]

I thought I should let everyone know that after all this time, I've recently managed to buy a classic Amiga graphics tablet from eBay, which has arrived today, Wednesday, October 28. This tablet is called a "Tabby" by Micrograf, with installation software by Datel. I'll let you know how I get on with it. I think this will greatly accelerate my production of artwork, as well as improve the quality of the artwork. I hope to transfer and upload some artwork I've already done quite soon, possibly on a dedicated website. I have found out how to transfer files between my Amiga A1200 CF card hard drive and a PC hard drive using WinUAE, but this doesn't seem to work under Linux with FS-UAE.

[AmigaBruno]

Ive found using PCMCIA port with CF card to be a very nice way of transfering files.
No need for WinUAE, just open windows from CF card directly in Windows.
Need a CF card reader on the PC too, but I guess you already got that.

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=42&products_id=440

I've already got the PCMCIA CF card reader, but still haven't bought a CF card to go with it because I wasn't sure which ones were compatible. I then looked on my eBay Purchase History and I think it said Transcend cards are the compatible, but now I can't view this item in my Purchase History anymore.

Unfortunately, I've just tested my new graphics tablet and found out that so far I can't get it to work. I first tried it from within Deluxe Paint IV AGA and got the error message "Can't open tablet.library". I also tried some software on the accompanying floppy disk, but that doesn't respond to input from the tablet. There is no file called tablet.library on the floppy disk. I searched on Aminet, but there doesn't seem to be any file called tablet.library. I hope someone can help me find out what to do next.

[AmigaBruno]

So it seems from Oldsmobile_Mike's post that it's NOT pressure sensitive and may not require tablet.library. I want to use it from inside Deluxe Paint. It comes with software that I can't get to work. I should point out that the pen is attached by a wire and has buttons on it. Here are some pics. I wonder what to do now?

[AmigaBruno]

I have turned the Amiga off and unplugged it while I get read to go out, but it seems there is nothing called installer and nothing with the file name you mentioned. There are icons to turn it on or off, but these are called something else, possibly "Genius tablet". There's some software showing a graphic screen representing it, but the pen or stylus looks different.

[AmigaBruno]

This looks nothing like my disk, so that's the problem! Now, where can I get a copy of this software? I've already searched, but can't find it.

[AmigaBruno]

So far I've had no sign of life out of my Micrograf Tabby at all. Of course I mean that it doesn't move the mouse pointer or do anything at all.

The seller has now admitted that in spite of describing it as "used" and claiming that it worked,he actually found it in his loft and didn't have an Amiga to test it on.

This tablet came with what looks like a PC to Amiga serial adaptor. I have just unplugged it from the adaptor and checked that the plug looks the same as an Amiga mouse/Atari joystick plug. I think the next stage is to plug it in to an Amiga mouse port and see if it does anything. I could try it on my A500 Plus, which I hardly use. Some time ago I plugged in an Atari Touch Tablet, which didn't damage my mouse port, but as soon as Workbench loaded I got an error message saying that it wasn't supported.

[AmigaBruno]

So far I've had no sign of life out of my Micrograf Tabby at all. Of course I mean that it doesn't move the mouse pointer or do anything at all.

The seller has now admitted that in spite of describing it as "used" and claiming that it worked,he actually found it in his loft and didn't have an Amiga to test it on.

This tablet came with what looks like a PC to Amiga serial adaptor. I have just unplugged it from the adaptor and checked that the plug looks the same as an Amiga mouse/Atari joystick plug. I think the next stage is to plug it in to an Amiga mouse port and see if it does anything. I could try it on my A500 Plus, which I hardly use. Some time ago I plugged in an Atari Touch Tablet, which didn't damage my mouse port, but as soon as Workbench loaded I got an error message saying that it wasn't supported.

[AmigaBruno]

I have now contacted the user on Amibay, as well as a large Amiga dealer on eBay about getting the right driver. The dealer actually sold a Tabby disk just before I got my tablet! I suppose the reason why the Atari Touch Tablet didn't ruin my Amiga mouse port is because it was designed to plug into an Atari joystick style port.

I notice there are six programs on Aminet that come up in a search for "tablet driver". I wonder if any of them is compatible with the Micrograf Tabby?

The way things stand at least I've got a PC to Amiga serial adaptor.

[AmigaBruno]

I wrote the driver for the Amiga for the Tabby graphics tablet - I'll resurrect what I can find and post it here

Thank you so much! I hope this will enable me to use it within DPaint, which is all I really want. :drink::drink:

[AmigaBruno]

Well done! I've just downloaded and unarchived that on my laptop running Linux and read the documentation. I plan to install it on my Amiga A1200 later today. I hope to post some screenshots soon.

Of course, after installation I may well find that the Tabby itself doesn't work because of physical damage, but I'm now a member of a club which makes, fixes and modifies things, so I can take it over to there, plug my Amiga A1200 into an LCD TV via SCART and we can get it working. I also saw a Wacom tablet in their premises, but I don't know how old it is or if it's compatible.