You can take your turkey and you can all get stuffed.

[reddragdiva]

arkady is off to Wales tomorrow morning at the crack of arse, so we had Christmas a Seasonal Holiday Of Some Sort tonight. Arkady got a Muji gardener's multitool (with secauters instead of pliers or scissors) for redcountess and a double-sized coffee mug for me, Liz got Arkady a fancy Earl Grey tea kit in a basket (complete with stainless steel infuser!) and I got Arkady a mug of her business card.

Then came her birthday present, since we won't see her on it ... a Wacom Graphire A5 tablet with Bluetooth. Will definitely work with the Mac (or Windows), may well work with the Ubuntu laptop!

Happy kid with her Christmas stash.

And we ate so much roast beef and potatoes and peas and carrots and gravy and beer that we will just go fall over now. Excuse me.

Comments

[shamus9999.livejournal.com]

Hehe! "Crack of arse"!

[yellowrocket.livejournal.com]

Nadolig llawen yn gynnar...
(Merry Christmas early!)

[reddragdiva]

Put her on the Tube this morning, she's on her way to you!

[yellowrocket.livejournal.com]

Received, with thanks!

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

*goes to add tablet to wish list*

[reddragdiva]

It's really nice. Basically, you can buy a cheap one, or you can not fuck around and just get a Wacom. There is a Linux/X.Org (not sure which) driver for the Wacom and a Linux driver for the Bluetooth USB key, so it may well work properly ... but it definitely works on Windows and Mac.

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

I've always had a little A5 Wacom on my Mac at university. Drooling at the thought of the A3 ones we had in the High School of Fine Arts. I think if I get back into Photoshopping (or GIMPing) next year I'll definitely get one again.

[redcountess]

We bought this one from Jigsaw24.com who have a very good reputation amongst Mac owners.

[ajohnymous.livejournal.com]

Heh, I also got a Graphire 6x8 for a girlfriend not too long ago (omg, we have soooo much in common, lol!)

I'm not sure I understand the appeal of the bluetooth, however.. like for those times when you have the impulse to doodle 30 feet away from your monitor? The nice thing about the USB is that it's self powered -- with the bluetooth, you have to worry about battery life, or run a power cord to it anyway.

I'm seeing this same bluetooth fetish now that I'm shopping for GPS receivers... and I'm like, "yeah, cordless sounds great if it pulls electricity magically out of the air, but if it only works for a few hours before having to plug it in to a cord, what's the point?" On the other hand, if I could get my car's (otherwise powered) OnStar to output bluetooth throughout the cabin, that'd be a cool feature.

Of course, my biggest rant when shopping -- both back when shopping for the tablet and now for the GPS -- is going on eBay looking for a deal and seeing non-stop idiots bidding up auctions to 90% AND UP of regular e-tail prices. Uh, you mean you're willing to risk buying from a low-overhead, potentially fly by night operation, with typically predatory shipping pricing policies, with restrictive payment options and protections, and limited to no return and refund rights -- all to just save maybe 5-10%?

[reddragdiva]

I must say I wasn't convinced by the Bluetooth, but Liz was convinced it was a fantastic idea. It'd be good for a desktop so you could in fact move the tablet itself around at will.

[ajohnymous.livejournal.com]

I must say I wasn't convinced by the Bluetooth, but Liz was convinced it was a fantastic idea.

I'll admit Bluetooth as "fantastic" in a battery operated device if either:
1) the device has a ridiculously long battery life so as to not have to worry about charge even in the most extended, caffine-fueled workday. (And, no, an 8-10 hours battery life doesn't exceed the power of caffine. 20+ is required.)
and/or
2) the device has as its 'power in' port a standard mini-USB port, and if discharged, can be run (and ideally re-charged) off of the 5V/500mA power output of a typical USB port. I don't mind if the device has a higher amp wall AC adapter that charges faster, but you shouldn't need to take that charger with you on the road -- all you should need is a standard USB cable for emergency power.

The Wacom website doesn't describe, or picture, their 'universal charger' so I can't tell if the tablet meets critera #2.

Anyway, now that you've turned on your girlfriend on to Bluetooth, you need to get her this:
http://www.semsons.com/ibhiseaublgp.html
and this:
http://www.aircable.net/hifi-headset.html
and once she has that, she might want this extra accessory:
http://www.bluetake.com/products/BT430Tx.htm

You might also think about checking out this:
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/video/products/05_Wacom.htm
(which I've seen around torrent sites)

See what happens when you give a girl a present... it never ends -- the female appetite is insatiable!

[reddragdiva]

Liz got the Apple optical cordless Bluetooth mouse. It was FANTASTICALLY usable ... except that (1) it ONLY takes lithium batteries (at fantastic expense), not rechargeables (2) it chews them up in a week or two. I think not.

[reddragdiva]

And I got an A5 rather than an A4 so that if it does work with her Ubuntu laptop, it should be readily portable with it. I think the Wacoms are reasonably durable.