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Wacom tablets track every app you open

robertheaton.com

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Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#91
post #75
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly this isn't a trivial or very fun job (last time I used them, the Linux drivers were buggy as hell). Who would have the motivation to do it on Windows, where you have a driver that works and users have little expectation of privacy to begin with?

The Linux drivers for Wacom tablets have never been buggy in the past decade in a half I’ve used them. Other parts of the stack (Xinput, libinput, GUI libraries) have been, but the actual driver provides good data to userspace. Even then, to me the drivers on Linux have been perpetually less buggy. On Windows I found myself needing to restart the usermode service and restart applications frequently, especially if the…

Ok the bugs might have been isolated to the configuration GUI and not the driver strictly speaking, but the point still stands.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#93
post #84
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Linux drivers for Wacom tablets have never been buggy in the past decade in a half I’ve used them. Other parts of the stack (Xinput, libinput, GUI libraries) have been, but the actual driver provides good data to userspace. Even then, to me the drivers on Linux have been perpetually less buggy. On Windows I found myself needing to restart the usermode service and restart applications frequently, especially if the…

Just because it would be better doesn't mean it will be made. So long as something is "good enough", it will strangle new projects in the crib.

1. Did you reply to the wrong comment? I was only remarking on the Linux driver not being buggy.

2. If you’re referring to a Windows open source Wacom driver, one already exists, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, though it has a pretty specific purpose in mind. https://github.com/hawku/TabletDriver

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#94
post #83
post #72

I received one as a gift but, to be honest, I never used it after seeing the obscure mandatory propietary format to save the files. If I can't open my files later in GNU and there is not a method at sight to save it as jpeg, png, etc... is useless. Just a cheap model probably. Collecting dust somewhere. My other wacom, and older model, was awesome as a mouse replacement; but it toke months to work in Linux and I don'…

My wacom experiences on linux have been plug and play so far. Maybe I got lucky with the model numbers.

I was a species of "mid-early adopter", probably. All should be much easier now. In any case I eventually stopped to use the older model because it was just a little cumbersome to move it around with the laptop all day.

It was a nice piece of hardware. Is a pity to hear that they are now tracking what users do with their computers. For me this is a no-way (It seems that I did the right thing dismissing the second model).

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#96
post #87

I'm surprised Wacom is still around with iPad and Apple Pencil being such a hit. I know I've migrated.

Not everyone who uses a Wacom tablet is a bedroom illustrator, even a professional bedroom illustrator. Many projects simply don't fit, and most professional applications do not have their full version available on the iPad, and that will likely continue to be the case indefinitely.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#98

I'm fine with Wacom collecting this kind of data as long as it doesn't open any security holes. There are certain classes of products where I would not care what they collected as long as it was relevant to improving the product. i.e. Wacom wants to know popular apps I use my tablet on, ok. If they wanted to know my approx location though then I'd be alarmed.

Haven't you thought that they know this already by your ip address? ;)

This is very basic information. Wacom makes drawing tablets which is usually in a static place for me.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#99
post #92
post #87

I'm surprised Wacom is still around with iPad and Apple Pencil being such a hit. I know I've migrated.

iPad doesn't run professional software that tablets are mostly used with.

With Sidecar (+ a supported Mac), you can use your tablet as a second screen and apps can access the pencil.

I can't comment on the experience.

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