Lion and Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch

Question

Level 1

9 points

Lion and Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch

I installed Lion 2 weeks ago on my MacBook Pro for testing before I install it on my desktop machine, bought the book Take Control of Using Lion, read the whole thing, applied most of the stuff suggested in the book and everything works like a charm (so far).

Now, with my MacPro (still running Snow Leopard) I use a Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch that can act like a big trackpad; I usually use it with the pen but I was wondering, is there a way to make the tablet act like the laptop trackpad? It has a few "built-in" gestures already, but after testing it with my laptop the ones I'm really missing are the swipes to move between fullpage applications and to invoke Mission Control, and the pinch to bring up Launchpad.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Aug 14, 2011 3:45 PM

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Answer 1

soehn

Level 2

195 points

Aug 14, 2011 3:54 PM in response to Monsetta

This depends on the version of the tablet you have. There is a first and second generation of these tablets. Only the newer ones support two and four finger gestures (mine is first generation :-( ). You can download the newest driver from the Wacom website and try it.

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Answer 2

Monsetta Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 14, 2011 6:11 PM in response to soehn

Hum... I bought my tablet about 18 months ago, and I use the latest driver with it. I don't have a clue whether it's a first or second generation (any idea how to find out which one I have?). The swipe gesture didn't seem to work but I didn't try for very long and I certainly need to experiment more before I give up the idea of using the Bamboo as a giant trackpad with my Mac Pro. I'll post how it goes.

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Answer 3

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Aug 14, 2011 6:56 PM in response to Monsetta

This is a screenshot of my Tablet's Pref Pane in System Preferences with the 5.2.1.-3 driver version installed:

The hand/fingers actually move to show the movement. I haven't tried it a lot though because I do have the trackpad (purchased before they updated the driver to include gestures)....

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Answer 4

soehn

Level 2

195 points

Aug 15, 2011 12:41 AM in response to babowa

The latest driver is 5.2.4-4.

You can find it here: http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=29&lang=uk

There is also a way described to find out wether your tablet is first or second generation by model number.

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Answer 5

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Aug 15, 2011 9:06 AM in response to soehn

Thanks, I had that version on one of my other partitions (too many partitions = can't remember what's installed where occasionally 😉 )

In any case, I updated this one. And, FWIW, the link you provided was for the UK, not the US (which is what I need).

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Answer 6

Monsetta Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 15, 2011 11:41 AM in response to soehn

Turns out I have the first generation Bamboo, so the three- and four-fingers swipes will not work. I've programmed the buttons to activate Mission Control and Launchpad, and to switch between applications; I will have to be satisfied with some gestures: scroll left-right and up-down, zoom in and out, bring up contextual menus, click and drag, and rotate. Altogether not bad, but incomplete...

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Answer 7

Monsetta Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 15, 2011 12:08 PM in response to Monsetta

A small change: I've re-programmed my Bamboo buttons to Previous Space, Next Space, and Mission Control; a lot more useful this way...

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Answer 8

soehn

Level 2

195 points

Aug 15, 2011 12:41 PM in response to Monsetta

A very good idea. I just did the same. Thank you!

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Answer 9

tuckery

Level 1

2 points

Aug 27, 2012 6:42 PM in response to Monsetta

So it's the actual hardware that won't accept 3/4 finger gestures? HOW RIDICULOUS is WACOM for doing this? What a waste of my money.

And no software, that enables those actions w/ 2 finger gestures? THE HECK? will have to do some digging.

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Answer 10

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Aug 27, 2012 6:44 PM in response to tuckery

Since this thread is a year old, whatever info was posted is most likely outdated.

You might want to check the Wacom site for updated drivers for your tablet.

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Answer 11

tuckery

Level 1

2 points

Aug 28, 2012 5:36 AM in response to babowa

Thanks for the heads up. I crisply bought my bamboo touch a year ago, so unfortunately I'm dealing with the same piece of incapable hardware.

Apparently gen 2,3 of the same tablet support the full set of osx gestures. Pretty crappy that they haven't written software to fix for gen 1

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Answer 12

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Aug 28, 2012 7:58 AM in response to tuckery

Mine is at least 2 - 3 years old and here is a screenshot of the functions it supports (these are the default settings; I only use my Wacom with a pen for graphics work, so I've never even used most of them):

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Answer 13

Sep 29, 2012 9:12 AM in response to tuckery

Hi. I'm trying to find out if this is 100% true (I am soon to buy gen2 but not sure if it supports full gestures).

Where did you hear this? Thanks. 🙂

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