Digital Pens

[imadoofus]

Anyone got one?
Anyone used one?
Anyone got any useful advice?

TIA

PJ

 

[Dryce]

Anyone got one?
Anyone used one?
Anyone got any useful advice?

You mean the Anoto devices (eg. Logitech IO pen)?

I evaluated one a few years back. Pen was quite usable. Killer was requirement for special paper. Further killer was that if you wanted to design your own forms then you had to either pay a licenced partner or get your own licence. Not worth the hassle.

I suspect that a lot of others though the same and the technology seems to have becalmed itself.

 

[agatward]

They used some down at the annual archaeology summer school at work - relevent blog entries can be found at https://vera.rdg.ac.uk/blog/?p=416.

Looked pretty good to me, but I was concentrating on getting a 6Mbit/s internet connection to the middle of a field in Hampshire!

 

[imadoofus]

You mean the Anoto devices (eg. Logitech IO pen)?

Yes, but there are a couple that don't need the Anoto paper. They use a 'reader' thing that clips onto the top of your page.

 

[imadoofus]

Not worth the hassle.

I suspect that a lot of others though the same and the technology seems to have becalmed itself.

Yes, they haven't taken off as expected, have they?

I have a real use for one (I don't need special forms), and I use Oxford Easybook pads anyway (although not the digital ones), but I don't know if the pens are functionally any use.

I don't even know where I can go to try one out.

 

[Dryce]

Yes, they haven't taken off as expected, have they?

I have a real use for one (I don't need special forms), and I use Oxford Easybook pads anyway (although not the digital ones), but I don't know if the pens are functionally any use.

I don't even know where I can go to try one out.

The alternative is an Acecad, Genius, or Medion digital notepad.

Battery powered pen and clipboard. Ordinary paper. USB connection.

Aldi were selling the Medion version off cheap - including handwriting recognition software (usually an extra - MyScript, same as used by the Logitech digital pen).

If you find it in Aldi or order from QVC you can try it and return it if you don't like it.

The supplied software is PC only but the file format is reasonably simple and there are third party utilities to convert to SVG which can be used on Mac or Linux (the device looks like a USB drive so you just copy off the files).

I still have a Logitech pen. It was quite bulky (and had a little vibration device to make it shudder to signal events to you).

I've switched to using one of the Medion A4 digital pads. It removed the hassle of the special paper. The pen is smaller (The Anoto devices were bulky). The clipboard part would be nicer if it was thinner.

I don't bother with the MyScript software as I'm looking to store stuff as a record or for manual transcription.

There is a newer version of the device available from Acecad - try Dabs or Scan websites.