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Anybody use LV with a graphics tablet/digitizer/pen tablet?

Hello

Does anybody have any recommendation for an alternate input device (to replace the mouse) that works well in the LV environment?

Thanx in advance.
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I've been using a Kensington Expert Mouse Pro for about 2 years now. It's a fairly large trackball (the ball itself is almost the size of a pool ball) and has 4 configurable buttons around the ball.

The layout works just as well left or right handed.

Ed


Ed Dickens - Certified LabVIEW Architect - DISTek Integration, Inc. - NI Certified Alliance Partner
Using the Abort button to stop your VI is like using a tree to stop your car. It works, but there may be consequences.
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I use these as well.

One of the biggest benefits of the track ball is that the cursor movements can be issolated from button clicks. This lets you put the cursor at the exact location you are after, then without touching the ball, you can do your clicks.

This can sometimes be difficult to do using a mouse because the mouse moves just a little when you click.

The ball also lets you "throw" the cursor where you want it it to go.

If you decide to try one of these, I suggest you start out by being very conscience of your hand/arm position. You want to develop good habits that will prevent carple (sp?) tunnel.

I have three of these track balls. One for each machine I code on. I did manage to wear out one of the buttons on the machine I use at work (
8 hrs/day for 3 years). I was able to swap the switch that was bad with one that I never used and I am still using now.

I love my track balls!

Ben
Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
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> Does anybody have any recommendation for an alternate input device (to
> replace the mouse) that works well in the LV environment?
>

I have used a Wacom tablet for years, though not much with LV. It will
work with any application that can use the mouse, but click intensive
apps or righ-click happy apps feel clumsy to me.

Anyway, if you are looking for a tablet, the low end Wacom Graphire I
think are pretty nice, and the larger ones are even nicer.

Greg McKaskle
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Has anyboby else tried using a tablet for LV coding? How does it compare with a regular mouse? (Faster? More natural? Better for the wrist?...) What tablet size do you suggest? Thanks.
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For the past 6 months I have been using a Gyration optical air mouse.  It works great as an optical mouse, and when used in "air mouse" mode, the motion is much more ergonomic and comfortable.  Unfortunately it is also reduces pointing accuracy, so I usually only use it in that mode when looking around or editing simple VI (or web surfing).  It has definitely reduced the strain on my wrist.
Jim

LV 2020
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a repeat post but relevent

I had annoying pain in my wrists for several years then after about 5 years of this annoyance it turned to feeling like my wrist had been stabbed with a knife after only a minute of mouse use on any given day. My career as a labview programmer was done with.  I nevertheless researched solutions as I was not going to give up easily.   I found that my wrist pain was related almost entirely due to the angle of twist I was holding my hand at to use a mouse.  Ideally a mouse that would allow me to hold my hand vertically vs horizontally was the solution. Even trackballs could not do that.  I even switched mouse hands and the other wrist became inflamed within a day so it was not just time of irritation. It seems that holding the write palm down actually subtley compresses the nerves going through the wrist-palm area whereas a verticle position opens up that channel.

I did however recall one colleague who was using a Wacom tablet. I dismissed it at the time as having an annoying feel. However I was desperate and willing to try something else.  The pen allowed me to hold my hand vertical (as in the way one shakes a hand in greeting vs palm down to the table). So my total down time to wrist pain was really only about 3 days.  The tablet feel is different it is not an equal exchange from a mouse however the great increase in dexterity over a mouse really made a wonderful improvement.  The change from mousing to pen tablet allowed me to get up and coding in LabVIEW again almost immediately I have now been using a Wacom tablet for 4 years.  My wrist has become somewhat less sensitive so that I could go for a day with a mouse if I had to. However I have found that using the high resolution tablets speed up my LabVIEW programming considerably over a mouse.  So now even if I did not have wrist issues I would stick with the tablet as a simply superior interface device, especially for LabVIEW graphical programming.  I am also an artist so the visual graphics appeal of the tablet was somewhat more interesting to me. I purchased an Intuos 3 tablet (I don't recall the exact dimensions, a medium size) which overall is about the same footprint as a laptop and I carry with me whereever my laptop goes. I purchased the lowest level wacom table at first because I saw it as a risky investment and because that was all that was available at BestBuy off the shelf, I then upgraded to the high resolution Intuos. LabVIEW requires intensive mouse use and I highly recommend a tablet for any LV programmer regardless of wrist issues.

The source of my wrist problems is unclear. I believe it is related to a general "inflamation" problem in my joints and tendons and I suspect it is related to sugar and blood sugar issues and age.I have found that a lot walking and minimizing sugar helps. The problem with inflammation as I have experienced it, is that it seems to be a runnaway problem so minimizing irritants ASAP was critical.  Also I found wrist guards to be an irritant as well as keyboard pads. My wrist had become so sensitive that I could not wear a wrist watch nor rest my arm on an arm rest. I also remove arm rests from my office chairs. I also try to keep my forarm horizontal when working.

 

And for what it is worth I also tried out a "twitter" one handed keyboard , pen tablet for one hand and keyboard for the other which I liked especially for LV work, but found the reliability was poor and the cost was high. The advantage was the I could hold my hand and arm at any position, even hanging down or behind my back for typing thus relieving anystess.

 

Question now is has  anybody had any experience with the new Wacom Bamboo?
Thanks

Message 7 of 12
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There are now voice interfaces as well.  That could help cut down the number of actual hand motions.

 

Hummer1 

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I just put one in my Amazon cart but haven't bought it yet. I'm getting it for Blender3D CG programming but I'm hoping it will work well for other apps including LabVIEW. I'll let you know...

 

BTW, If you're not taking fish oil, try it. Does wonders for inflammation of all kinds and has numerous other benefits as well.



 

LabVIEW Pro Dev & Measurement Studio Pro (VS Pro) 2019 - Unfortunately now moving back to C#, .NET, Python due to forced change to subscription model by NI. 8^{
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Since I work in an office with multiple programmers and graphics people, a number of us have tablets. None at work though. They are all at home.

 

I work with GIMP, Blender 3D, Modo and a few other programs from time to time.

 

You might want to try: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10841&cs_id=1084101&p_id=6251&seq=1&for...

 

They deliver fast and the price can't be beat.

 

Note: if you load the Intuos drivers before loading the supplied drivers, the pen will have tilt sensitivity as well.

 

     Rob

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