I really like how you overlay the oscilloscope output when needed to illustrate what is going on. The full-screen, hi-res attention it gets is a very nice way to present the data at hand. I wonder why they went through all the effort building the logic with several discrete 74 chips instead of just using a CPLD instead. Probably it really cuts down on the power (and given the large pull-up resistors that was probably their main concern).
Around a year ago I discovered that my Qi-chargable wireless earbuds would show up as a pointing device on my Wacom. I always figured that it was something to do with the inductive coupling but I didn't realize it was *that* simple.
Not sure anything can balance the vapid shit on the internet. But you have to start somewhere. Thanks for the info, super interesting. I’m still going to go on believing in a combination of Jesus, unicorns and fairy dust powering my Wacom tablet.
These videos are AWESOME, *very* clearly explained, I love your methodical process + analysis of how it works then how a bypass might be introduced. Please keep these videos coming!
Thanks for making this. I've had my Graphire for more than a decade. even by today's standards it was/is expensive. It broke my heart when wacom decided to stop supporting it. A lot of my hobbies and degree in design was dependent on it. I'm determined to make it usable. Your teardowns are helping me to do that.
Nice work! Now I know how to convert my wacom slate ball-pen into a pencil - theoretically. Will try to somehow move the coil, buttons and pressure sensor into my favorite pencil. All that has to stay in place is the coil, so it might be doable. Great effort on the video. Highly appreciated!!!
I picked up an Intous3 tablet at an auction for 17 bucks but it didn't come with a pen, I didn't think much of it until I read about the ridiculous compatibility stuff online. This tablet was only compatible with a handful of pens. All of them are expensive by themselves. I picked up a whole Intous3 set on eBay for another $30 with the pen, mouse, and smaller pad. But the pen stylus part isn't very sensitive for some reason. Maybe it just needs to be tuned. I see some trimmers below the rubber grip I might try tweaking them...
This may all be completely wrong and I am just crazy but: I tried a few "experiments" with my Intuos 3 and Intuos Draw to test out my theories or to learn something more about how to potentially get a pen that wasn't inteded for use on one of the tablets, to work on the tablet. So I found that although (supposedly) they work at different frequencies both pens can be used on both tablets. If I hover the intuos 3 pen over the intuos 3 and then bring the intuos draw pen over as well, it "transfers" to the intuos draw pen and recognizes it as an intuos 3 grip pen, same thing the other way around. however pressure isnt quite right as the newer pen has 2048 levels, and the i3 pen has 1024-interestingly tilt/rotation still works as i assume this is done through the tablet not the pen. Waco's after the intuos 2 have Tool ID or something so the tell which tool is over the tablet, this - afaik this is hardware within the pen-I tried the tabletswithout drivers installed with the pens and it worked the same as in you have to tranfer it over, once theyre out of range they dont connect again without the intended pen initializing the tablet i guess. I am now looking for a 1024 pressure levels pen (thinking the intuos 3, or one of the bamboo's or pen and touches) so I can see if they might work a little better. hopefully someone can figure out a way to trick tool ID into thinking that you're using the intended pen..
Have you checked the RS232 port with the scope? I have a XD-0405-R intous2 tablet, and the signals the scope probe with a coil detects on the tablet are the same another scope probe measures between pin 5 and pin 3 of the DB9 connector, but the latter show a stronger signal resembling a serial communication pattern, but I cannot decode with a DS1074Z because peaks are distorted by transient ripples. I shall use a circuit to reshape them to square pulses as you mention in your video.
@@scanlime I guess you are right, but I measured Intuos 2 tablet's RS232 port DB9 connector pin 5 and 3 to one channel of the scope and the signals caught by the coil on the tablet pad on another scope channel, both have similar patterns, but RS232 are much more intense and sharp. But my scope cannot read or decode the signal output on the RS232 port. Can you?. I perhaps did not figure out the correct RS232 parameters or perhaps in the old intuos 2, the coil (pen)motion/position generates a signal that is sends packets via RS232 that are not standard serial and the soft converts them to X/Y coordinates? Thanks for attending this question.
Hi! very nice work!, I see you have reverse engineered several aspects of drawing tablets, I have a Wacom CTH-300 wireless, and no USB receiver, rendering it useless..., is there a way to inject a new ID to a new receiver? or since there is also a wired model of this tablet, soldering a USB connector could be possible? thanks!
Wow, I have been searching for the details that you have given in the video. I would like to know if it is possible to build a tablet similar to that of the Wacom tablet using off the shelf components and dev boards?
Amazing video!!!! I was so curious, that I imagine if it is possible, with very low cost components to produce a DIY wacom similar devide. Do you think is it possible? What you suggest???? Thank you any reply!
Tragically I think that "74 series logic" is the TTL bipolar high current stuff from the 70s - reading the numbers on the chips "The 74LV00 is a low-voltage Si-gate CMOS device" - interesting.
Your presentation and depth of information is really good. Ive seen that compatibility table when trying to find compatible pens for embedded Wacoms (Toshiba M4, Fujitsu Stylistic), makes me curious if you can just retune the pens between similar models or if the pressure resolution is too different. (Like using the older Intuos 6D pen on the latest Intuos Pro)
Great. I always wondered how they worked. I was wondering how the tablet knew the position, and it seems to be the location of the coil above the tablet?
Since this video came out, Huion has started manufacturing pens that don't require a battery! I wonder if they function a similar fashion to the Wacom pens.
Good stuff! I have been looking for a schematic for a wacom intuos pro PTH-451, I cant seem to find it anywhere. Even though the pen works well... (works fine on the current gen PTH-660 intuos pro) the signal is jumpy as the cursor goes up and down the screen. any hope of that teardown in the future bro? would be so cool! 😁
will it be possible for you to make a tablet like circuit using an arduino ? This could be placed behind a monitor or a android tablet and a pen could be used to draw on the screen ?
Cannot be naively placed behind the display - the TFT unit will both shield and inject noise. There could be solutions to that, but they likely won't be particularly easy or low-tech-friendly. The way one would do this in a commercial device is by placing the sensing matrix in front of the display as a transparent electrode array, akin to how the capacitive touch sensors are made, but even if you had such a transparent antenna array on glass manufactured, it still won't be trivial because of TFT noise.
This is not a well-defined question. Can absolute position be read from a resistive touch panel? Yes, that's generally their purpose. Can pressure data be read off a resistive touch panel? No, it's just two linear resistors - thin glass plates coated with transparent electrodes, with spacers in between, wherever they touch, that position can be read, nothing else. They form essentially two potentiometers linked to each other whenever there's a touch of sufficient force to connect the glass panels together, else not connected. Can a dedicated pen be used to reject accidental palm or finger presses on a resistive touch panel? No, the operation is strictly mechanical.
I did the first livestream for this today, and I'll be editing a video based on this footage later. Thanks for the suggestion! ruclips.net/video/nyvNa52Xz-4/видео.html
scanlime Woooow! Thank You!!!!! Simply THE BEST Wacom tablet/pen authopsy Ever!!!! Full close up! Yes, as i saw in another vídeo, seems You have to remove the side Button before tô pull the pen content, and probably glue would fix the coil too. Thank You again! Obrigado!
20:05 I just want to say, you are hard-working, intelligent, and no doubt reverse engineering at its finest, but YOU SHOULD ALSO TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH. It seems you have not slept for years, do physical work too... We need ur video, but your health too. Don't take it another way.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
![SahBabii - Viking [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D37cL92JX0I/mqdefault.jpg)
Absolutely mental how much information is packed in this one video, reverse engineering at its finest.
I really like how you overlay the oscilloscope output when needed to illustrate what is going on. The full-screen, hi-res attention it gets is a very nice way to present the data at hand.
I wonder why they went through all the effort building the logic with several discrete 74 chips instead of just using a CPLD instead. Probably it really cuts down on the power (and given the large pull-up resistors that was probably their main concern).
You rock! I just stumbled on a cheap Wacom at a thrift shop, and was girding myself to take it to bits. Now I don't have to!
Who am I kidding, of course I still will...
@@setSCEtoAUX Bahahaha this comment made my day
I really like these reverse engineering videos you make.
Around a year ago I discovered that my Qi-chargable wireless earbuds would show up as a pointing device on my Wacom. I always figured that it was something to do with the inductive coupling but I didn't realize it was *that* simple.
The amount of effort put into this video is fucking beautiful. People like you balance out all the vapid shit uploaded to the internet.
Not sure anything can balance the vapid shit on the internet. But you have to start somewhere. Thanks for the info, super interesting. I’m still going to go on believing in a combination of Jesus, unicorns and fairy dust powering my Wacom tablet.
Your work is amazing Micah, keep it up!
EXCELLENT. Fascinating. I've owned several of these older Wacom's - neat to know how they work. Love the elaborate discrete logic circuitry used here.
These videos are AWESOME, *very* clearly explained, I love your methodical process + analysis of how it works then how a bypass might be introduced. Please keep these videos coming!
Excellent analysis, and clear explanation. Thanks!
Thanks for making this. I've had my Graphire for more than a decade. even by today's standards it was/is expensive. It broke my heart when wacom decided to stop supporting it. A lot of my hobbies and degree in design was dependent on it. I'm determined to make it usable. Your teardowns are helping me to do that.
Nice work! Now I know how to convert my wacom slate ball-pen into a pencil - theoretically. Will try to somehow move the coil, buttons and pressure sensor into my favorite pencil. All that has to stay in place is the coil, so it might be doable. Great effort on the video. Highly appreciated!!!
I love how you are walking through the reverse engineering process. I'd love to add this video link to the AD2's product page!
Linked :-) store.digilentinc.com/analog-discovery-2-100msps-usb-oscilloscope-logic-analyzer-and-variable-power-supply/ !
This is incredibly cool, thanks for making this video and spending your time investigating it!
I picked up an Intous3 tablet at an auction for 17 bucks but it didn't come with a pen, I didn't think much of it until I read about the ridiculous compatibility stuff online. This tablet was only compatible with a handful of pens. All of them are expensive by themselves. I picked up a whole Intous3 set on eBay for another $30 with the pen, mouse, and smaller pad. But the pen stylus part isn't very sensitive for some reason. Maybe it just needs to be tuned. I see some trimmers below the rubber grip I might try tweaking them...
Finally some info on how the darn pressure sensitivity works
would be interesting to see the differences with the tool to tablet communications for the intuos tools, which are individually serial numbered.
been wondering if itd be possible to recalibrate the capacitance in one of these pens so itll work with a tablet it was not made for.
This may all be completely wrong and I am just crazy but:
I tried a few "experiments" with my Intuos 3 and Intuos Draw to test out my theories or to learn something more about how to potentially get a pen that wasn't inteded for use on one of the tablets, to work on the tablet. So I found that although (supposedly) they work at different frequencies both pens can be used on both tablets.
If I hover the intuos 3 pen over the intuos 3 and then bring the intuos draw pen over as well, it "transfers" to the intuos draw pen and recognizes it as an intuos 3 grip pen, same thing the other way around. however pressure isnt quite right as the newer pen has 2048 levels, and the i3 pen has 1024-interestingly tilt/rotation still works as i assume this is done through the tablet not the pen.
Waco's after the intuos 2 have Tool ID or something so the tell which tool is over the tablet, this - afaik this is hardware within the pen-I tried the tabletswithout drivers installed with the pens and it worked the same as in you have to tranfer it over, once theyre out of range they dont connect again without the intended pen initializing the tablet i guess.
I am now looking for a 1024 pressure levels pen (thinking the intuos 3, or one of the bamboo's or pen and touches) so I can see if they might work a little better. hopefully someone can figure out a way to trick tool ID into thinking that you're using the intended pen..
Have you checked the RS232 port with the scope? I have a XD-0405-R intous2 tablet, and the signals the scope probe with a coil detects on the tablet are the same another scope probe measures between pin 5 and pin 3 of the DB9 connector, but the latter show a stronger signal resembling a serial communication pattern, but I cannot decode with a DS1074Z because peaks are distorted by transient ripples. I shall use a circuit to reshape them to square pulses as you mention in your video.
which RS232 port? the pen protocol isn’t the same as async serial iirc
@@scanlime I guess you are right, but I measured Intuos 2 tablet's RS232 port DB9 connector pin 5 and 3 to one channel of the scope and the signals caught by the coil on the tablet pad on another scope channel, both have similar patterns, but RS232 are much more intense and sharp. But my scope cannot read or decode the signal output on the RS232 port. Can you?. I perhaps did not figure out the correct RS232 parameters or perhaps in the old intuos 2, the coil (pen)motion/position generates a signal that is sends packets via RS232 that are not standard serial and the soft converts them to X/Y coordinates? Thanks for attending this question.
Your videos make me wanna cry, in joy. Please upload more and livestream more often :')
Your videos are always so amazing! Keep up the good work!!!
Amazing! U are answering a lot of questions I had!!
Awesome information, communication, and presentation. Thank you =)
Amazing video! But did anyone else pause the video to check on their cat at 12:48? Thought I heard a meow. Lol
astonishing, really good and informative content here. thanks for that
Hi! very nice work!, I see you have reverse engineered several aspects of drawing tablets, I have a Wacom CTH-300 wireless, and no USB receiver, rendering it useless..., is there a way to inject a new ID to a new receiver? or since there is also a wired model of this tablet, soldering a USB connector could be possible? thanks!
Have you made a review from the Montblanc Augmented Paper pen?? I'm curious which are the internals it uses. I know are from bamboo, but which?
Wow, I have been searching for the details that you have given in the video. I would like to know if it is possible to build a tablet similar to that of the Wacom tablet using off the shelf components and dev boards?
Amazing video!!!! I was so curious, that I imagine if it is possible, with very low cost components to produce a DIY wacom similar devide. Do you think is it possible? What you suggest???? Thank you any reply!
Tragically I think that "74 series logic" is the TTL bipolar high current stuff from the 70s - reading the numbers on the chips "The 74LV00 is a low-voltage Si-gate CMOS device" - interesting.
Engineering and art at it's finest!
Your presentation and depth of information is really good. Ive seen that compatibility table when trying to find compatible pens for embedded Wacoms (Toshiba M4, Fujitsu Stylistic), makes me curious if you can just retune the pens between similar models or if the pressure resolution is too different. (Like using the older Intuos 6D pen on the latest Intuos Pro)
Great. I always wondered how they worked. I was wondering how the tablet knew the position, and it seems to be the location of the coil above the tablet?
well made and very in depth video. And by the way whats the element soldered on the coil at the beginning?
Since this video came out, Huion has started manufacturing pens that don't require a battery! I wonder if they function a similar fashion to the Wacom pens.
as far as i know the patent for wacoms original emr tech ran out and huion, xp pen etc copied this and made their own changes.
Good stuff! I have been looking for a schematic for a wacom intuos pro PTH-451, I cant seem to find it anywhere. Even though the pen works well... (works fine on the current gen PTH-660 intuos pro) the signal is jumpy as the cursor goes up and down the screen. any hope of that teardown in the future bro? would be so cool! 😁
thanks. best information source online
Like the way of your explanation and video, thanks.
Excellent! Thanks for your effort.
Thank you so much for these videos.
Love this video! I can't wait to see more like this. How did you get the images at 6:14? Do you have a lab x-ray machine?
Can any one please help me build that lc circuit as i have no odea where to start i have a wacom tablet and no pen
unfortunately the github schematic is down. It would be nice if anyone still had a copy of it tho
that's so cool, thanks. I'm thirty for real engineering material.
will it be possible for you to make a tablet like circuit using an arduino ? This could be placed behind a monitor or a android tablet and a pen could be used to draw on the screen ?
Cannot be naively placed behind the display - the TFT unit will both shield and inject noise. There could be solutions to that, but they likely won't be particularly easy or low-tech-friendly. The way one would do this in a commercial device is by placing the sensing matrix in front of the display as a transparent electrode array, akin to how the capacitive touch sensors are made, but even if you had such a transparent antenna array on glass manufactured, it still won't be trivial because of TFT noise.
What software do you use at 1:30?
Well done sir, Well done.
Hello! Just a noob question!
Does it emit radiation? If yes it is harmful?
Hi can you do similar video and analysis of Apple Pencil and Samsung note .
Can a resistive touch panel be used like a Wacom?
This is not a well-defined question.
Can absolute position be read from a resistive touch panel? Yes, that's generally their purpose.
Can pressure data be read off a resistive touch panel? No, it's just two linear resistors - thin glass plates coated with transparent electrodes, with spacers in between, wherever they touch, that position can be read, nothing else. They form essentially two potentiometers linked to each other whenever there's a touch of sufficient force to connect the glass panels together, else not connected.
Can a dedicated pen be used to reject accidental palm or finger presses on a resistive touch panel? No, the operation is strictly mechanical.
Really cool
As a digital artist, It's like I just stumbled on the secrets of the universe
how da faq did you do this bro. you a modern day genius bruh
Your awesome thank you !!!!
That was so cool!
Tear down an old wacom bamboo pen. The Dame u used in This vídeo. Thx
Good suggestion! I'll try to do this soon.
I did the first livestream for this today, and I'll be editing a video based on this footage later. Thanks for the suggestion! ruclips.net/video/nyvNa52Xz-4/видео.html
scanlime Woooow! Thank You!!!!! Simply THE BEST Wacom tablet/pen authopsy Ever!!!! Full close up! Yes, as i saw in another vídeo, seems You have to remove the side Button before tô pull the pen content, and probably glue would fix the coil too. Thank You again! Obrigado!
Interesting
Woooow, I did not notice you are a woman until you showed yourself :o
In some ways, this protocol reminds me of RFID.
Electronic is devine. 😁
20:05 I just want to say, you are hard-working, intelligent, and no doubt reverse engineering at its finest, but YOU SHOULD ALSO TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH. It seems you have not slept for years, do physical work too... We need ur video, but your health too. Don't take it another way.
Let us be friend