XARA X and Graphic Tablet.

[RAM]

Hi,

Wow, what a crew in here, wonderful folks and talented too!!

Question: I am just about ready to purchase my copy of XaraX and I am also ready to invest in a graphics tablet. Here's the thing. I'm poor and I have a Gateway PC. I go out to EBay and type in Graphics Tablets and I get like 10 pages of tablets. Everything from cheap to expensive. Of course there are multitudes of Wacom but I don't have the money. There is a brand that I have bought before called Pablo, it worked great, but I now have upgraded to Windows2000, it is no longer good on this machine. So I was curious about the sister to Pablo called JamStudio. Plus Gateway carries this and that way it is supported if anything goes wrong with it.

Is is just Wacom that is supported at this time or are other/all tablets supported??

Thank you

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[RAM]

Hi,

Wow, what a crew in here, wonderful folks and talented too!!

Question: I am just about ready to purchase my copy of XaraX and I am also ready to invest in a graphics tablet. Here's the thing. I'm poor and I have a Gateway PC. I go out to EBay and type in Graphics Tablets and I get like 10 pages of tablets. Everything from cheap to expensive. Of course there are multitudes of Wacom but I don't have the money. There is a brand that I have bought before called Pablo, it worked great, but I now have upgraded to Windows2000, it is no longer good on this machine. So I was curious about the sister to Pablo called JamStudio. Plus Gateway carries this and that way it is supported if anything goes wrong with it.

Is is just Wacom that is supported at this time or are other/all tablets supported??

Thank you

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[jclements]

IMHO You may not have a lot of money, but in the long-run the Wacom graphire (for under $100 US)may be your best value ... especially when it comes to support and driver issues.

[RAM]

Thank you John,

but I have researched the Wacom and while it seems to be the tablet of choice that is one of the reasons I DON'T want it. It's a shame that more folks don't try out and support smaller companies so they are urged to improve their products. It seems to me that Xara wasn't always the top dog, but now it is, IMHO!! But it was SUPPORT that got it there. They were able to make it out of Corel's arena and out on to their own.

I want to support a tablet that IS NOT Wacom. They are, IMHO, overpriced. Paritally the reason for this is they are one of the only ones that are universelly accepted, but it doesn't have to be that way. There should be options out there and affordable ones at that!!

So again, I need some input on getting this JamStudio tablet. Seems that people ARE using other tablets in XaraX with no or little problem. So at this point anyone out there that is using this tablet, please come forward and let me know if you like it. Is it compatable with Win2000?? ect.........

Thanks again

RAMWolff

[jclements]

I understand your concern. If you do a search in this forum for "tablet" or other similar words you should find a few good threads from way back. I believe other manufactures were mentioned and discussed.

Regards

[Steve Newport]

I've seen the Pablo at Best Buy before, looks like a handy little tablet, but it's still 99$ if my memory serves me right. For that you could get a nice wacom.
I can understand your wanting to help other companies, but realize that most of the time you get what you pay for, and there's a reason for the popularity these products, because they are the best, but you will have to ship out a little more money. Unless you find a nice deal on ebay (Very unlikely with wacom, I've tried!!)

But I can relate with you about not having a lot of money! Kinda sucks with this kind of hobby huh! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Steve Newport

[michaelward]

What are the advantages of buying a Wacom tablet?

I have always wanted to buy one of these but i have never had the opportunity to use one, and never had the money to buy one.

I recently went for a cheap option and bought a Trust Design & Work Tablet 100 but I must I am dissapointed with it.

It doesn't provide the experience I had hoped for and I would like to know what advantages the Wacom series generally carry over the *cheap* alternatives out there.



Michael Ward
http://LeighCenturions.net

[eky]

(the little 4x5 one), which I love. Before that, I had a small tablet made by Calcomp, which is no longer manufactured. It had a powerplug you had to plug into the wall as well as batteries that you had to put inside the pen. It cost more than the Graphire and it heated up so it was hot to the touch. The worst part was the tablet didn't have a lot of accuracy, it often skipped and did not draw on screen where I thought I was drawing and the cursor didn't always show where the pen really was on the tablet. Moreover, it did not work with all my graphics programs. I found the Graphire a pleasure to use. It had no power plugs or batteries. You just plug it into your computer. It is extremely accurate and works with all of my programs. I think the two important things to consider when purchasing a tablet are accuracy and and compatability with programs. If possible, you should try out a tablet before purchasing it. Also, read reviews on tablets, many of which can be found online.

[RAM]

Thanks for everyones responce. As to the creadibility of Pablo itself. I DID own one and it worked quite well. It was a serial port connection with no option for USB (manufactured in 1998). I was not using Xara then and did not have anything really fancy to work with, just a program called L View Pro, which was nice enough for me at the time (I was a newbie at that time in the computer world).

The reason for my question, was compatibility with Xara and with Win2000.

There are some good deals on EBay for Wacom Tablets: http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings...680/index.html As well as other tablets. The JamStudio (bought out Pablo, I believe) is there also (many) for anywhere from a $1.00 to $25.00 and there is also Pablo Internet Edition as well as other name brands. Check it out!! Quite a few pages of them.

Also for the money that Wacom wants for it's tablets they don't give you a hell of a lot of tablet space, barely enough room to trace a large photo, that sucks!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

Thanks again

RAMWolff

[UnHoly]

Ok, Here we go.....
When buying from ebay watch your butt! Most of the stuff there is bought real cheap (Usually for a reason) and then sold on ebay. Even when you find a great deal on something as I'm finding out right now, it still has to make it to you! What am I talking about? I just bought PhotoShop 5.5 on ebay and the deal went great other than it took BillPoint 5 days to get the money to the seller that they took out of my account immediately. We got that all squared away and the seller shipped it UPS 2nd day air. Well, as my luck would have it UPS lost my package! I should have had it on the 18th of this month, do I? NO. So here I sit $350.00 worth of worthless tracking number while they look for it. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have went down to the local BestBuy and bought PS 6.0. I always try to save a buck or stretch the few I have and it always turns out like this ("tightass" or "poorboy"? heh). Mine might just be a worst case scenario, but before you buy just remember, alot of things can happen between here and there and if you can buy it in your hometown, it might be worth the extra bucks! Just my story....... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]