Vancouver-based
Wacom Co. Ltd, is the number 1 leading creator of
digitizers and pen input
devices. Their first device was created in 1983. They continues to make drawing devices, and in 1987 released the first
pressure sensitive tablet.
Other things Wacom is responsible for:
- the 4d Mouse
- The DuoSwitch - (A Switch located at the side of the pen to right click or left click by depressing either side of the rocker)
- PenTools - (A series of augmentative tools for the Wacom pen)
- The first true computer airbrush
- ToollD - (The ability to uniquely identify settings between pens, and retain individual pen settings)
- QuickPoint - (The ability on 9X12 and bigger tablets to zoom across the screen quickly with the lower right hand corner)
- Pressure sensitive eraser (works just like the pen side)
Their current line of products include:
- intuos - "The Intelligent grapics system". a normal line of high quality, pressure sensitive drawing tablets
- graphire - Pressure sensitive, with cordless and batteryless pen. (Comes in iMac colors)
- PL Series - like the intuos, but comes with an LCD representation of what's on screen. Very excellent, and the most expensive line.
Wacom tablets are supported under all major operating systems except
OS X (
Windows 95,
98,
98se,
2000,
ME,
Mac OS 7.0-9.0), including
Silicon graphics workstations. There is 3rd party support on linux and BeOS.
Source: wacom.com, intuos packaging