Wacom Bamboo Touch

[gwerhart0800]

Not So Good: I am unable to map ctl->alt->z or ctl->alt->x to a button for switching my KVM between computers. The assignment in the preferences gadget shows the sequence with a capitol Z or X, when I check with "od -c" I see a "^z" and it suspends the command.

I figured out today that this issue is not a problem with the Bamboo Tablet. Basically, the KVM switcher sits between the keyboard/mouse and the computer. So, when the KVM is "listening" for the special keystrokes, it is listening directly to the keyboard and "eats" them when it sees them. The "button" processing for the tablet actually happens in the driver on the Mac. When I hit the tablet button, it passes the button press to the driver, then the driver inserts the keystrokes into the keyboard buffer in the OS. This means that the KVM never sees the keystrokes.

In terms of further use, I now feel that some of the issues with the 2 finger left/right gestures for back/forward will be mostly resolved by more training of the user (me). It seems like I was getting better results today.

Now, I have also had issues with my lingering on the tablet too long. One time, I ended up reorganizing my Dock because it selected a dock item and when I started moving, it dragged the item to a new location on my Dock. I have also run off the tablet touch surface multiple times when I was trying to select a block of text. Now, I have to look to make sure that I have enough room before I start. With the mouse, this was never an issue.

I did go the whole day without touching the mouse. It seems like I am using different muscles ... parts of my arm were more tired that usual.

Still liking it ... jury is still out on getting one for my "work" office.

 

[macsnail]

Sorry if I'm chipping in a bit late to this thread, but I'm thinking of buying a Pen and Touch. Some reviews complain of the lack of sensitivity, but many of those reviews are using Windows 7, so could be meaningless.
@gwerhart0800 How do you find the sensitivity of the touch response? How does if compare with the typical MacBook trackpad. I'm also intrigued as to how you cut-and-paste using only the trackpad - is this a multiple gesture (one finger stationary, the second 'dragging' the selection)?
Sorry for all the questions, but your reports are some of the most useful info I've found on this so far. A review from someone who actually uses the thing lol.

 

[gwerhart0800]

@gwerhart0800 How do you find the sensitivity of the touch response? How does if compare with the typical MacBook trackpad. I'm also intrigued as to how you cut-and-paste using only the trackpad - is this a multiple gesture (one finger stationary, the second 'dragging' the selection)?
Sorry for all the questions, but your reports are some of the most useful info I've found on this so far. A review from someone who actually uses the thing lol.

I have an early 2008 17" MBP as the comparison. (I don't have one of the newer glass touchpad macs to compare to.) The surface of the Wacom touch pad feels the same as the Mac touch pad and (to me) seems to have about the same sensitivity. Curiously, both the mac touch pad and the wacom pen & touch have similar oval "wear" patterns on their surface that show where I seem to be touching it the most.

Cut & paste ... selection is a single finger item. You double tap/drag to select text. Then, do a stationary double tap to bring up the right click menu to "copy/cut".

I think I posted this observation in another thread, but I do a lot of coding. The first project I started after getting the pen & touch was a port of some C# code to Java. The problem I had initially was that in the default configuration, the "double tap&drag" to select text would fail for large blocks of text because I would swipe to the bottom of the touch pad and once I hit the bottom (and went off the "touch zone" the selection would stop. Someone else pointed out that I needed to enable the "Drag lock" in the bamboo preferences "Touch Functions" pane to allow me to move my fingers to the top of the pad to continue the selection. With that change, you end the selection with a single tap. After that change, it worked better, but I find myself using the arrow keys and such for large selections now anyway.

At this point, I use the Pen & Touch in my home office and a mouse in my "work" office. I think there are merits to each pointing device. The mouse is better for some things and the touch/pen pad for others. I saw a demo of the new Apple "magic mouse" and I think it is NOT going to be the answer either.

If you have other questions ... just ask, the community will answer.