Pen Tablet to the rescue!

If you’re starting to get that tingly feeling in your wrists it’s a warning. You could be showing symptoms of carpel-tunnel syndrome. Perhaps a Pen Tablet could help.

Hey I’m not a doctor, but if you prefer to treat the cause of the problem, or better yet prevent carpel-tunnel altogether read my earlier post about my own experience.

The pen tablet has been a key factor in eliminating discomfort in my wrists. Try this simple exercise to understand how poor ergonomics using a typical mouse can cause problems for some people:
1.) Sitting down at your computer in an armless chair, put your hand at your side. Make sure it’s relaxed.
2.) Lift your arm from the elbow, and rest it on the table. Notice that your hand is resting on the “pinky” side of your hand, with the thumb on top.
3.) Now, grasp the mouse as you would work with it. Notice how your wrist twists and possibly bends? A pen tablet can help eliminate the twisting and bending in your wrists and perhaps reduce injury.

I have two pen tablets that I have purchased. One is in my home study, the other is with my computer at work. Both are made by Wacom and are Graphire models that are discontinued. They were priced at roughly $100, and easily hooked up to a MAC or Windows machine.

Outside of the possible health benefits, there are many useful operational and creative advantages.
1.) Multiple pointing modes: Mouse, pen, multi-touch finger
2.) You can customize the way the pen, mouse, or even your finger are used with individual programs. That feature can be a major productivity boost when you switch from Microsoft Word to Adobe Photoshop. The included software keeps track of which tool and the software you are using.
3.) You can write or markup documents as though you were writing on paper.
4.) Pressure sensitive pen makes the process of retouching photos or drawing more intuitive. Basically the more pressure you use, the wider the stroke.

Which one should you buy? There are many tablets out there, starting at $70 and going into the thousands. My personal suggestion is to check out the Wacom product line, and compare with others you find.

Do you have experience with a pen tablet and have recommendations? We’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment.

Remember, technology is your friend!
-John (aka Founding Geek)

iFixit.com

iFixit.com is a great site for the person who is not too afraid to open their computer, ipod, or other gadget and fix it. This is an Apple centric site primarily to fix your ailing Apple computer, iPhone, and iPod. You can also witness first time tear downs of the latest products. In fact, only a couple days after they released the new generation Nano, they had a tear-down for it.

Having said that, you should always have a healthy respect opening a complex gadget. Also, you should never be pressured by time. So, if you have a fair degree of mechanical aptitude you could save yourself a ton of money and have some fun to boot!

iFixit.com sells the tools and parts and provides free instructions. Considering tools, what’s the difference between a $2 and a $20 dollar 00 Phillips head? Plenty! Buy high quality tools. Cheap ones fail (especially Phillips head drivers). A cheap Phillips head won’t survive the first tough screw it encounters.

I have repaired two PowerBook G4’s. I replaced the hard drive on mine with a larger one. On a friend’s Apple PowerBook 15″, I replaced the DC sound card. This card is in the bottom of the computer so I had to take most everything out of the case to get to the card. i also had to disconnect every wire attached to the logic board.

Tip: use an eggcrate or iFixit’s useful screw map to keep straight which screws belong with which step.

Challenges:
With both laptops, I managed to strip a screw. In both cases, the screw was not critical to fastening a part and there were other redundant screws to carry the burden. A small screw extractor can extract the screw.

To recap:
1.) Have plenty of time and be patient. I could fix my problems because I could approach them fresh and with different tools (like the screw extractor) the next day.

2.) Buy good tools. What’s an extra $20 when your saving $50/hour for labor?

3.) Have fun. It’s amazing what you’ll find in there. How many can say they fixed their laptop, iPhone, iPod themselves?

I wish I had a site like this when I was a child taking apart retractable ball-point pens…

-Remember, technology is your friend!
John (aka Founding Geek)