Re: [Tuxpaint-devel] Digital Arts & Crafts Studio

[<tor...@at...>]

Bill Kendrick wrote:
> I saw this kit at a store recently:
>
>   http://www.fisher-price.com/us/products/product.asp?id=40693
>
> USD$50 gets you a USB-based drawing pad (which also includes some other
> button-like devices for doing things like changing drawing tools), as well
> as some software that's presumably not unlike Tux Paint.
>
> Has anyone here played with one of these?  I'm wondering if the device
> just ends up being a mouse/keyboard to the Operating System.  If so,
> supporting (most of) it(s features) in Tux Paint should be trivial,
> and it would Just Work (tm) on pretty much all desktop platforms that
> Tux Paint supports (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and, I assume, BeOS).
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
>   
I assume it works pretty much as other tablets, which is as a mouse with 
absolute positioning (i.e. if you
lift the pen and put it in the upper left corner, the pointer stands 
still until you put the pen down, and then
moves instantly to the upper left corner of the screen). Of course most 
tablets also support pressure level,
and some support angle. The buttons will probably send keyboard sequences.

It will require the driver to work (which means it will only work with 
Windows out of the box). You will
probably not be able to change the keyboard sequences like you would on 
a normal tablet with menu hot-spots.
If it works like a keyboard, it should be easy to find out which 
sequences it send, so the poor documentation
shouldn't be a big problem. It may be impossibe (without hacking the 
driver) to prevent the button with the
power symbol to start the original program, and in worst case, that 
button is a real power button for the tablet
in addition to starting/shutting down the program.

In other words, the only way to find out is to buy one and try. The next 
question of course is whether it will be
easier to use than a Wacom Graphire or some cheap brand tablet (which 
support pressure levels).

Kind regards,
Tore