Author Topic: Why don't we have "tablet mice"? (Read 3967 times)

fateswarm · « **on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 08:02:10 »

Manufacturers will only make a nice handle that shoots a beam of some sort that signals the pad to get an input command.

Bonus: Wireless without lag.

Why? It's not really wireless, it's wired, but the contraption you hold is nothing but a stick that signals it, instantaneously.

edit: Bonus: It also charges the handle. But remember, it's not wireless lag, the actual input will go optically.

esoomenona · « **Reply #1 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 08:05:36 »

Like a stylus?

Computer-Lab in Basement · « **Reply #2 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 08:43:50 »

But why? Is moving your finger across the screen too difficult or something?

SpAmRaY · « **Reply #3 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 08:56:20 »

Quote from: Computer-Lab in Basement on Fri, 01 November 2013, 08:43:50

But why? Is moving your finger across the screen too difficult or something?

^^ This....I thought that was the point of a tablet....to interact with it by touching it....

microsoft windows · « **Reply #4 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 09:20:57 »

I think I'd rather just use a mouse.

tp4tissue · « **Reply #5 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 16:40:11 »

Madness....

noisyturtle · « **Reply #6 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 17:38:49 »

Then I'm looking at the tablet screen instead of my actual computer like a Wii U? Why not just use a tablet then? But then one of my issues with tablets is having my fat sausage fingers in the way of what I'm doing, so I would need to get a tablet for my tablet.

Novus · « **Reply #7 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 19:43:51 »

Not enough minerals.
Need moar drivers.

McWilloughby · « **Reply #8 on:** Fri, 01 November 2013, 20:03:53 »

Maybe I don't get what you mean but I'm fairly sure that what you just described is what a wacom tablet does when used as a mouse. Or do you mean for a tablet computer?

Findecanor · « **Reply #9 on:** Mon, 04 November 2013, 05:30:02 »

Quote from: fateswarm on Fri, 01 November 2013, 08:02:10

Manufacturers will only make a nice handle that shoots a beam of some sort that signals the pad to get an input command.

What you are proposing is a device with absolute positioning.
Mice are devices with relative positioning. People like to be able to lift the mouse and put it somewhere else.

Oobly · « **Reply #10 on:** Mon, 04 November 2013, 08:29:11 »

No idea what the OP really means, but if I have understood enough of it, well.... how about a good old "lightpen" from the 80s (although the first one was actually made in 1952!) ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pen

Or a Wacom tablet and stylus (Bamboo, Intuos, Cintiq, etc). Like the one in my Galaxy Note 2 phone and the Galaxy Note tablets. This stuff has its place and so do mice.

I have a Wacom Intuos and prefer my mouse for most input tasks. The Intuos is great for sketching, though.

Elrick · « **Reply #11 on:** Tue, 05 November 2013, 04:04:27 »

Quote from: Oobly on Mon, 04 November 2013, 08:29:11

Or a Wacom tablet and stylus (Bamboo, Intuos, Cintiq, etc). This stuff has its place and so do mice.

I have a Wacom Intuos and prefer my mouse for most input tasks. The Intuos is great for sketching, though.

Wacom got really popular with graphic professionals some years ago. Don't know if they are still that popular or if something else came along. Wacom did make for Intuos 2, a mouse that operated on a their tablet surface. The only good thing about it was you didn't need any batteries for the mouse to work.

lae · « **Reply #12 on:** Tue, 05 November 2013, 04:46:18 »

Wacom's still pretty popular. There are actually some people who use a a Wacom pad as an input device to play (and effectively) games like osu!, so it probably isn't too terrible as an input device.

vun · « **Reply #13 on:** Tue, 05 November 2013, 05:27:08 »

Quote from: lae on Tue, 05 November 2013, 04:46:18

Wacom's still pretty popular. There are actually some people who use a a Wacom pad as an input device to play (and effectively) games like osu!, so it probably isn't too terrible as an input device.

It's not just pretty popular, it's hugely popular among graphical artists, and it is an essential tool for anyone doing concept art. There are a few alternatives, I know Genius, Trust and Aiptek all make, or made, tablets, but they were all cheap knock-offs at best from what I've read.
Personally I do like it as a pointing device, and it can replace a mouse quite easily as long as you don't play a lot of games, since tablets are not suited for most games.

McWilloughby · « **Reply #14 on:** Tue, 05 November 2013, 10:56:44 »

Quote from: vun on Tue, 05 November 2013, 05:27:08

Quote from: lae on Tue, 05 November 2013, 04:46:18
Wacom's still pretty popular. There are actually some people who use a a Wacom pad as an input device to play (and effectively) games like osu!, so it probably isn't too terrible as an input device.

It's not just pretty popular, it's hugely popular among graphical artists, and it is an essential tool for anyone doing concept art. There are a few alternatives, I know Genius, Trust and Aiptek all make, or made, tablets, but they were all cheap knock-offs at best from what I've read.
Personally I do like it as a pointing device, and it can replace a mouse quite easily as long as you don't play a lot of games, since tablets are not suited for most games.

I use one for drawing lab diagrams and that sort of thing but I also use it instead of my mouse (usually when I'm not gaming), it makes a really comfortable replacement I think.

0100010 · « **Reply #15 on:** Wed, 06 November 2013, 18:37:22 »

I can remotely control my tablet with my phone, suppose that could be considered a tablet mouse.

Calcifar · « **Reply #16 on:** Wed, 13 November 2013, 16:16:47 »

I dont even...

tooki · « **Reply #17 on:** Mon, 16 December 2013, 07:15:01 »

Many graphics tablets have mouse-like devices (alluded to above) called pucks, and they can be set to relative mode (work just like a normal mouse) or absolute mode (like a stylus). They often have a loupe to allow precision work in absolute mode (the crosshairs of the loupe are the active point), so they used to be really common in CAD studios.

Wacom has had this for years and years, well before the Intuos line was ever released. This technology has been around since the 1970's, IIRC. I know for a fact that Wacom has had it since at least the early 1990s, when I got my first graphics tablet (for which Wacom offered a puck, though I never got one). At least now, Wacom only supports picks on their biggest graphics tablets, as best I can tell. Their website is really unclear on the matter.

That said, for ordinary use, a puck is fantastically annoying unless you have a really big graphics tablet, because otherwise you're limited to a small area. Big graphics tablets are 'spensive...

randomist · « **Reply #18 on:** Thu, 19 December 2013, 12:15:40 »

The pucks have been replaced in 3D aplications (at least parametric CAD, pucks might still be popular for more freeform 3D software) by the 3d Connexion Space series. Pretty interesting mice that do work outside of 3D CAD but they're mostly intended as an addition to the standard mouse.

paicrai · « **Reply #19 on:** Thu, 19 December 2013, 15:00:19 »

Don't we already have laptops?

Canious · « **Reply #20 on:** Thu, 19 December 2013, 22:42:23 »

The idea itself is somewhat absurd although i understand where your coming from

cinnamoncider · « **Reply #21 on:** Sun, 22 December 2013, 02:18:50 »

Hmm. With the current Windows 8/8.1 Pro tablets - we can interact with it with any mouse that has a USB interface.

If you're referring to android tablets - I don't think that it's suitable to use a mice as an interface.

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Author Topic: Why don't we have "tablet mice"? (Read 3967 times)