# Either help me fix this, or please get me a list of Wacom tablet alternatives...



## Itakirie (Feb 13, 2011)

Okay then, I have two Wacom tablets. The first one is a Bamboo like this.
The second one is a Bamboo pen and touch. 

The first one I've had for about 3 years now and it still works fine except the cord is frayed to Hell, I plan on getting another cord but the thing is I plan for it to be a gift for a friend who needs one really badly; I don't care what he says, he needs a damn tablet. >___>

So, in the end I'll be stick with the second one. The second one though, is such a huge headache; I've had it for about two years, got it for Christmas in 2009 but it went almost totally unused until about two months ago due to shit and such. Ever since then, its been a bitch. It has a ridiculous oversensitivity problem, sometimes even installing the drivers don't help any and I just have to wait until it decides to randomly work again and it's annoying the fuck out of me. I've looked all over for solutions to this problem, nothing works. So about 20 minutes ago when it stopped working for the 5th fucking time today, I decided to make this thread...

So, to the real question; anyone know how to permanently fix the problem or are there any good, non expensive Wacom alternatives out there?


----------



## Monster. (Feb 13, 2011)

Intuos are pretty sturdy; they're a tad expensive compared to the wacom, but it's worth it because it lasts longer.


----------



## Lobar (Feb 13, 2011)

Intuos is Wacom, it's their professional line (Bamboo is their entry level).  So yes, they are very expensive.

I recommend the Monoprice tablet.  95% of the Wacom bang for 20% of the Wacom buck.


----------



## Monster. (Feb 13, 2011)

Oops, I meant to say that Intuos is a better Wacom than Bamboo.


----------



## Smelge (Feb 13, 2011)

Don't Wacom have a 3 year warranty?

Email them and tell them what has been happening with the tablet. See what they say.


----------



## ToeClaws (Feb 14, 2011)

Gaz said:


> Intuos are pretty sturdy; they're a tad expensive compared to the wacom, but it's worth it because it lasts longer.


 
Aye - much better line, though they do have issues after long enough.  I have a Intuos first gen tablet and the cord eventually frayed to where it stopped working.  I couldn't get a part to fix it 'cause it's about 10 years old, so had to rebuild the cord myself.  Other than that, they are very nice.

I am curious though as to whether the over-sensitivity is a tablet issue or a system/OS issue.  Have you ever tried using it on someone else's system?  Or have you tried firing up your PC on a live CD of Ubuntu or Mint and see if it behaves the same (or different) in there?


----------



## Itakirie (Feb 14, 2011)

ToeClaws said:


> Aye - much better line, though they do have issues after long enough.  I have a Intuos first gen tablet and the cord eventually frayed to where it stopped working.  I couldn't get a part to fix it 'cause it's about 10 years old, so had to rebuild the cord myself.  Other than that, they are very nice.
> 
> I am curious though as to whether the over-sensitivity is a tablet issue or a system/OS issue.  Have you ever tried using it on someone else's system?  Or have you tried firing up your PC on a live CD of Ubuntu or Mint and see if it behaves the same (or different) in there?



I have, not for long though, and it appears to go at random on my computer so I don't know, also I have Windows XP, I want to try Ubuntu but I'm afraid I won't be able to go back to Windows should I ever need it for whatever reason. My other tablet with the frayed cord has worked perfectly fine for over three years now. Only problem I've ever had with it was about 2 years ago when the driver's stopped working but was fixed very easily. I'm wondering if I just got a defective one, or Wacom's quality has gotten lower over the past few years. (Thus the reason I asked for alternatives.)


----------



## Zydala (Feb 14, 2011)

Itakirie said:


> I want to try Ubuntu but I'm afraid I won't be able to go back to Windows should I ever need it for whatever reason.


 
It's quite easy to have your computer dual-boot ubuntu and windows :] If you want functionality out of your tablets, though, it's a lot of work to get them tweaked in ubuntu so I don't know how much that'd help ya. that and art program support is iffy.

Lobar seems really impressed with the Monoprice tablets; maybe they're worth a try. Otherwise I'd look into the warranty on yours and give wacom a call.


----------



## ToeClaws (Feb 15, 2011)

Aye - as Zydala says, dual boot is easy.  Even easier is using the Wubi installer to put it on _with_ windows.  But you don't even have to do that - I was suggesting just booting the system up via a LiveCD with either Ubuntu or Mint or some other popular distribution on it and just try playing around for a while with the tablet straight off the LiveCD.  That won't install anything on your PC, but it allows you to try the tablet out in a completely new OS and environment.  If it's still twitchy, then you know it's the tablet, not the OS or drivers that's causing the odd behaviour.


----------



## Itakirie (Feb 15, 2011)

ToeClaws said:


> Aye - as Zydala says, dual boot is easy.  Even easier is using the Wubi installer to put it on _with_ windows.  But you don't even have to do that - I was suggesting just booting the system up via a LiveCD with either Ubuntu or Mint or some other popular distribution on it and just try playing around for a while with the tablet straight off the LiveCD.  That won't install anything on your PC, but it allows you to try the tablet out in a completely new OS and environment.  If it's still twitchy, then you know it's the tablet, not the OS or drivers that's causing the odd behaviour.



Yurp. It's the tablet itself. I tried using it on my old laptop and it did the same thing.
Weee, time to finally upgrade. :U


----------



## ToeClaws (Feb 16, 2011)

Itakirie said:


> Yurp. It's the tablet itself. I tried using it on my old laptop and it did the same thing.
> Weee, time to finally upgrade. :U


 
Doh!  Well at least you know now.


----------



## Volkodav (Feb 16, 2011)

Maybe it's a problem with the cord? idk you should contact Wacom.
You can also go into the settings and fuck with the sensitivity.

I remember when I first got my tablet, I gave up on using it in total because I had to press SO HARD to make lines appear... then I figured out that the sensitivity was jacked up, so I fixed it and I've been using it ever since..

Now, the cord. How do you put your tablet away when you're done using it? Do you wrap the cord around it? How is the pen? Have you dropped it before? Did you press really hard? Is the pen nib broken? Have you tried replacing the nib?


----------



## Itakirie (Feb 17, 2011)

Clayton said:


> Maybe it's a problem with the cord? idk you should contact Wacom.
> You can also go into the settings and fuck with the sensitivity.
> 
> I remember when I first got my tablet, I gave up on using it in total because I had to press SO HARD to make lines appear... then I figured out that the sensitivity was jacked up, so I fixed it and I've been using it ever since..
> ...


 
First things I've noticed. The whole option to jack with the sensitivity in the control panel is just GONE. It went away when it first started doing it. As for the cord, I don't wrap it around at all since I don't want it to get frayed by it bending to much. The pens been dropped several times, I've never pressed hard and I've tried replacing the nib. I'm pretty sure its the tablet itself. :c


----------



## Smelge (Feb 19, 2011)

Have you tried contacting Wacom yet.

They are good with repairs and fixing or troubleshooting their stuff. Stop moaning about it and email or phone them.


----------

