Cindy,

> I, too, would like some feedback on the product above. I have always
> wanted to purchase a tablet, but am not familiar enough with the
> drawbacks, if any. Also, does anyone know if this graphic tablet, with
> mouse, replaces your existing mouse all together? I just want to make
> sure that I don't need an *extra* serial port for this and could just
> use the serial port that my existing mouse is plugged into.

In my past life I was a computer technician that worked next door to the
largest
surveying outfit in town.  They had dozens of CAD stations and nobody found
a small tablet very useful.  This is particularly true of low cost pads that
use a stylus.
The stylus "looks" like a pencil but is much harder to work with.  I had
installed a few
for customers and nobody ever said they were very good.  We usually
installed
them for customers with the caveat that we did not recommend them.

The favorite at the CAD shop was a large tablet and mouse looking device
nicknamed a "puck."  It had about ten buttons on it which were very usefull
when
programmed.  It also had tiny cross hairs for tracing existing drawings.
Unfortunately these are very expensive.

Possibly the best method is to draw your pictures on paper and scan them.  I
use
a very light pencil (like a 3mm mechanical) to sketch the outline and then
go over
it with a very black fine point ink.  Be carefull with the pencil since it
smudges easily
and it shows as a dark moire-like effect where you don't want it.  After
scanning you
can clean it up a little or add color as needed with PSP or equiv.

Paul Wilson

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