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Anyone have an ADB graphics tablet or joystick?

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
More generally, I'm looking for a device that appears to have absolute positioning of the mouse pointer - and here's the crucial thing: without having installed a driver.

The reason I ask is because of my project, TashKM, which seeks to make it possible for classic macs to be part of an extended desktop, Synergy (or Barrier) style, and this idea sort of requires the ability to absolutely position the mouse pointer. There is a suggestion in this appnote that it's possible, using the extended mouse protocol, for a device to represent itself as a graphics tablet with absolute positioning. The trouble is that it doesn't seem to work; movement appears to be relative in spite of the graphics tablet device class.

You don't have to be willing to sell, just (hopefully) to run the ADB Parser tool off one of the dev CDs (I'll find it) or something like that. Honestly, knowing whether it's even possible at this point would be valuable.

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
Not that I can sell, but the Gravis MouseStick II, without control panel, will simply track and function as the mouse.
 

nickpunt

Well-known member
@tashtari Take a look at the MicroTouch UnMouse. Microtouch made both the UnMouse trackpad and the Mac-n-Touch touchscreen. The latter is impossible to find but the UnMouse is often on ebay. I put all the resources related to it on my github including software, pics, user manual I scanned, etc. Both the touchscreen and UnMouse have absolute positioning - the touchscreen using a 1024x1024 capacitive screen, and the UnMouse using 'Absolute mode' which also has 1024x1024 resolution (well, 'a million touch points') on the touchpad. Both use the same driver.

Love the idea of what you're suggesting. Keep us posted!
 
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tashtari

PIC Whisperer
the Gravis MouseStick II, without control panel, will simply track and function as the mouse.
With absolute positioning, though? I have a distant memory of using a Gravis MouseStick II that had absolute positioning (the mouse pointer would follow the joystick position and spring back to the center) but that might have been because of the driver.
 

nickpunt

Well-known member
How does it behave when there's no driver installed? If it's the only option, I'll imitate a device that uses a driver, but my main objective is to imitate a device with absolute positioning that doesn't require a driver.
Not sure, perhaps the UnMouse is using the absolute positioning stuff documented in that appnote? I don’t have an UnMouse and still have yet to set up my microtouch touchscreen so I can’t test. Their driver seems to be mature and well thought out so worst case using that might not be so bad.
 

SuperSVGA

Well-known member
There is a suggestion in this appnote that it's possible, using the extended mouse protocol, for a device to represent itself as a graphics tablet with absolute positioning. The trouble is that it doesn't seem to work; movement appears to be relative in spite of the graphics tablet device class.
What I understood from that appnote is that you can define a device as absolute but it looks like you still have to use slightly different code:
C-like:
CursorDeviceMoveTo(CursorDevicePtr ourDevice,long absX,long absY);

I'll have to watch some videos on UnMouse again, but I assume that uses a driver as well.
I also own an Edmark TouchWindow, which doesn't seem to do much without its driver installed.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
With absolute positioning, though? I have a distant memory of using a Gravis MouseStick II that had absolute positioning (the mouse pointer would follow the joystick position and spring back to the center) but that might have been because of the driver.
No, it will do that regardless of the Control Panel being loaded or not. The control panel was needed to set custom buttons and/or custom max/min of X/Y coordinates for certain games.
 

aladds

Well-known member
Somewhere I have an old ADB Wacom tablet - and for certain it does not have absolute positioning without the driver.
 

bdurbrow

Well-known member
Ditto. I've never seen a tablet that did absolute positioning without a driver; and we had tablets from both Wacom and CalComp that were ADB. The MouseSticks that we had would output the same number of units moved regardless of speed; so after you ran it into the edge of the screen it would always come back to the same point; but without the driver it was all relative motion.
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
I suppose I'll have to resign myself to the idea of imitating some absolute-position mouse-like device and leveraging its driver. The question now is, which device? I have a Wacom ArtZ/Digitizer II (UD-0608-R) tablet but strangely, I installed its driver and it was unable to move the mouse pointer, in spite of the device outputting data on the ADB. The UnMouse is an interesting device, but all the talk in the manual about recalibration has me a bit worried about how that might factor into the protocol. Maybe the MouseStick, if there's a control mode where it could be used as an absolute pointing device. Or maybe I should just bite the bullet and write my own system extension, hah...
 

warmech

Well-known member
I've got a Wacom ArtZ with a model number of UD-0608-A - want me to image the floppy for you to take a look? No idea if there's a difference in drivers whatsoever, but it couldn't hurt to look, I suppose.
 

warmech

Well-known member
Went ahead and imaged it in case it can be of some use for you.
 

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ApparentlyIrish

New member
Went ahead and imaged it in case it can be of some use for you.
Hello Warmech! Would you by chance have the OS9 driver/extension for the ArtZ tablet as an uninstalled (loose) file? I'm having trouble installing the Wacom software on my ADB machine because I can't have the mouse and tablet connected simultaneously; I need the mouse to click the license agreement when the installer runs, yet the tablet has to be hooked up too so the installer knows which driver to install. I can have one or the other device plugged in, but not both and can't hot-swap without risking damage to the bus.
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
I need the mouse to click the license agreement when the installer runs
Have you tried using mouse keys? I assume it's still the same keystroke in OS9 - cmd-shift-clear activates it, and you should be able to move the mouse pointer around the screen using the numeric keypad.
 

ApparentlyIrish

New member
Have you tried using mouse keys? I assume it's still the same keystroke in OS9 - cmd-shift-clear activates it, and you should be able to move the mouse pointer around the screen using the numeric keypad.
I tried that with no response. Maybe I wasn't using the right key combo. Is this available in 9.1?
 
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