Wacom tablet for PC and G5

"Switch" commericals don't seem to mention this...

[garann]

Hi,

Hope it's ok to post this here. I was reading another thread that mentioned you can take a USB mouse for PC and plug it into a Mac. I don't use a mouse, I use a giant, and not very new, Wacom tablet. It's got a serial connection, not USB. I know you can get an adapter to solve the USB/serial issue, but I wondered if anyone had experience trying to use their PC tablet on a new Mac?

I'm intending to get a G5, but I'm concerned because of a few things:
1. That's a mighty expensive tablet if I buy it new. I could buy a laptop PC for as much as it would cost to replace.
2. The G5 will be my development machine, and the tablet is my most-used development tool.
3. The tablet's driver doesn't run invisibly, like most other drivers. It launches in a little window when I log on. And it crashes the computer occasionally.
4. The box specifies that it's for PC. Does that mean the hardware is different, or just that there's a PC driver disk in said box?

Anyone tried this? Any Mac geniuses who can give me theoretical guidance?

Thanks in advance!
g.

[aaronjf]

From PC to Mac - as peripherals go - there is no hardware difference. The only difference is in the drivers and if the Manufacturer was kind enough to write a driver if it was necessary. Fortunately Wacom like most graphics oriented hardware and software cross platform. So as hardware and manufacturer goes, no problems.

I wish I could answer the primary part of your question though. I have a couple ADB connection based Wacom sitting on my shelf of old hardware. I briefly considered trying the converter out, but had the funding to replace them all so I went that route.

If I had to bet money on it, I would say it should work just fine. The only issue I can foresee is whether or not Wacom's Mac app will recognize and work properly with your tablet. You might try e-mailing Wacom.

[garann]

Thanks! That's very encouraging. Looking at Wacom's site, I see that they only have drivers for each operating system - not for each model/OS combination. Seems to me that would corroborate what you said. Yay!

Thanks again,
g.

[dragonlady7]

Good luck! I just got a Wacom tablet shortly after I got my first Mac, and it takes a lot of adjusting. I imagine adjusting back the other way would be even worse.
Moving peripherals around between operating systems has been a mixed bag, for me. But the thing is, most things, if you're able to get it physically connected to the computer somehow, you can usually find some wacko who's written a driver for it. So... I'd say odds are pretty good you'll be successful. Contact the manufacturer and see what they say.
:D

[garann]

dragonlady, lucky for me, I've been working in IT jobs since I got the tablet, so I've always had to use a mouse at work. The adjustment wouldn't be too terrible if I had to back to a mouse full-time.

On the other hand, when people try to sit down at my computer, between the pen (I think the mouse is still in its baggie) and the tablet being mapped to the entire screen, they seem to have real problems navigating. If I had to spring for a replacement, the amusement factor alone might justify the expense.

I <heart> my tablet. Thanks to both of you for giving me hope I'll still be able to use it!

[aaronjf]

You know an new Wacom tablet, well the small version, is only about $99 US and USB OS X / OS 9. If the ADP converter does not work. There is one on my assistants machine and it works pretty well.

[dragonlady7]

I got the small version and I really can't use it for much. I should've just bought a big one, and taken a plunge, but I'd never used a tablet at all, and thought I could spring for a $90 one, but not a $200 one. What if I didn't like it at all?
I don't really like it and seldom use it, but I know if it were large enough to be useful, I would use it.

So, I might make a gift out of the $90 one and replace it with one large enough to be useful, when I have the dough. I haven't got the dough just now, though. Too bad.
Having one large enough to map to the entire monitor would be *sweet*. My problem is that I have such trouble figuring out where I am, because I have to re-center all the time, because the usable area of the thing is like the size of an index card. I was going to do a lot of hand-drawn graphics for my new site and it looks like I just can't get it to work well enough to really use it...

Anyhow. I hope you can use yours with a Mac, because I absolutely love my iMac and am having a total blast with OS X. It's just *fun* to use, and there are a lot of really great, cheap programs that do really nifty things that people have created as a labor of love for OS X. (VoodooPad and OmniGraffle are two of my favorites.) Plus, now my boyfriend forwards me all the mac-geek rumors because I'm "one of us" now-- he's been using Macs since the Apple IIe came out and is a software engineer for an all-Mac company. I'm seeing if I can woo my family away from castoff Win98 boxens and AOL...

The only thing I lost when I got rid of my PC was all my pirate software. Oh well...

[ytswy]

I tend to be a little suspicious of USB - PC Serial adaptors for the Mac. However there is one from Keyspan (the USB High-Speed Serial adaptor) which I've heard good things about.

However nothing is guaranteed with these kind of adaptions - I would generally sell something like that as "yes sir, it has a USB connection on one end, and a PC serial on the other. That’s about it as far as a guarantee goes."

I would be interested to know if you get it to work.

[aaronjf]

Having one large enough to map to the entire monitor would be *sweet*.

Uhhh Dragonlady are you using the OS X app that you can download from Wacom. If so you need to look closer at the prefs. You can set it to map the whole screen. The size of the tablet does not matter if you use the app. If you don't use the app Wacom provides for setting the tablet. If you don't, you will have the same problem no matter which tablet size you get.

[dragonlady7]

I've tried all the settings and it's just too cramped and I can't get comfortable with it. Thanks for the hints, and maybe I'll give it another go at some point, but I just generally haven't been able to get it set up to my satisfaction.