Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware • Hacker News Board

Re: Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

#51

Post by TechniKris » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:17 PM UTC

hypertexthero wrote: post #43

coffeeaddict1 wrote: post #25

As an aside, anyone here uses drawing tablets for work? I got a cheap Wacom tablets and found it super useful, for sketching ideas or understanding something before starting to implement new code.

Yes, but Wacom recently discontinued macOS driver support for older versions of the Intuos, and I had to downgrade to an older driver to make it work. When it doesn’t anymore I’ll need to get something else, probably an iPad so I can also use it as a 2nd screen.

In case you need alternative to the official driver, https://opentabletdriver.net/ is a well maintained driver.

Re: Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

#52

Post by 123pie123 » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:30 PM UTC

Aromasin wrote: post #19

hipaa_eng wrote: post #12

As a software engineer, seeing hardware projects like this makes me want to go back to school and pick up a few electrical engineering courses. The hardware space just seems to unlock so much (honestly blown away with the LCD retrofit at the end of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVscvWAR1s ) I've played with simple electronics on the arduino and raspberry pi platforms but this is a whole new level. Anyon…

Honestly, just pick up the Art of Electronics - Horowitz and Hill. Spend some time working through that book. By the end of it, you'll have a better grasp of electronics than 90% of the engineers I've worked with, all who are EE bachelors/majors. It's a 3 month job at most, less if you do a dedicated hour a night. Then pick up some breadboard and parts, and build to your hearts content. Making a working circuit is ho…

there's a few youtube channels that are nice to watch to get you more interested in electronics, my two favourite are:

Bigclivedotcom (nice, basic fun) : https://www.youtube.com/@bigclivedotcom/videos

Mend it Mark (more advanced) :https://www.youtube.com/@MendItMark/videos

Re: Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

#53

Post by dhosek » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:33 PM UTC

jsheard wrote: post #30

amelius wrote: post #15

Isn't this technique encumbered by patents? Or have they expired? Anyway I'd be interested in the implementation of a 3D mouse also.

Wacoms key patents did expire which is why there's such strong competition in the tablet space now, and why prices have fallen through the floor. I wonder why Apple still uses active pens on the iPad when passive EMR has become such a commodity. Maybe it's just rent-seeking, a passive pen would probably be much easier to clone without paying Apples MFi fees.

I think there’s also latency issues and some features possible with the active pen that wouldn’t be with passive technology, although I don’t know for sure.

Re: Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

#54

Post by functionmouse » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC

jsheard wrote: post #30

amelius wrote: post #15

Isn't this technique encumbered by patents? Or have they expired? Anyway I'd be interested in the implementation of a 3D mouse also.

Wacoms key patents did expire which is why there's such strong competition in the tablet space now, and why prices have fallen through the floor. I wonder why Apple still uses active pens on the iPad when passive EMR has become such a commodity. Maybe it's just rent-seeking, a passive pen would probably be much easier to clone without paying Apples MFi fees.

because they didn't make it, of course.

Re: Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

#55

Post by kalinkochnev » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 11:32 PM UTC

Aromasin wrote: post #19

hipaa_eng wrote: post #12

As a software engineer, seeing hardware projects like this makes me want to go back to school and pick up a few electrical engineering courses. The hardware space just seems to unlock so much (honestly blown away with the LCD retrofit at the end of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVscvWAR1s ) I've played with simple electronics on the arduino and raspberry pi platforms but this is a whole new level. Anyon…

Honestly, just pick up the Art of Electronics - Horowitz and Hill. Spend some time working through that book. By the end of it, you'll have a better grasp of electronics than 90% of the engineers I've worked with, all who are EE bachelors/majors. It's a 3 month job at most, less if you do a dedicated hour a night. Then pick up some breadboard and parts, and build to your hearts content. Making a working circuit is ho…

I want to add that Moritz Klein's DIY synthesizer videos are top notch, especially for beginners in electronics. As somebody who is just working through AoE it feels like a great compliment and is very satisfying.

Re: Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

#56

Post by cadr » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 12:47 AM UTC

RossBencina wrote: post #24

Aromasin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, just pick up the Art of Electronics - Horowitz and Hill. Spend some time working through that book. By the end of it, you'll have a better grasp of electronics than 90% of the engineers I've worked with, all who are EE bachelors/majors. It's a 3 month job at most, less if you do a dedicated hour a night. Then pick up some breadboard and parts, and build to your hearts content. Making a working circuit is ho…

> Honestly, just pick up the Art of Electronics I got this advice in 1998. I have the book. I found it useful for the "art" part. It got me through the projects that I was working on at the time, but personally it didn't help me with the fundamentals. Paraphrasing what has been said on this site many times in the past: AoE is a great first book in practical electronics if you already have an undergraduate degree in p…

Seconding an old ARRL handbook.

Re: Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

#57

Post by estimator7292 » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 6:18 PM UTC

hipaa_eng wrote: post #12

As a software engineer, seeing hardware projects like this makes me want to go back to school and pick up a few electrical engineering courses. The hardware space just seems to unlock so much (honestly blown away with the LCD retrofit at the end of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVscvWAR1s ) I've played with simple electronics on the arduino and raspberry pi platforms but this is a whole new level. Anyon…

I found that programming concepts map really well to digital electronics. The objects in your object oriented language are real objects with their own internal physical state. A large fraction of what embedded engineers do is just APIs and protocols.

Controversial opinion but you do not need to learn electronics to have a good time. One can have plenty of fun simply writing software and plugging prebuilt modules together on a breadboard. Ohm and Maxwell need not apply.