Anybody know anything about tablets for PC?

I'm not talking about the $1500 tablet PC, but simply the tablets that you attach to a PC. I want something so my mother can write chinese characters on the tablet and have it get recognized as such. I assume I need some sort of tablet and software. Can anybody point me in the write direction? (pun intended) Thanks!

edit: In other words, I'm looking for a basic tablet and the software needed for my mom to input chinese easily into an english Windows XP system and for something that can translate between english and traditional chinese text.

Wacom makes the best tablets IMO but you'll still need software for the characters. If you're using MS Word w/ Windows XP it has the ability to use both hand written and verbal input but I've never used it for a foreign language. I also recall products from TwinBridge and Dragon Software that might apply. It's been a while since I was in that market though and things have likely changed.

Good luck,
-LT

Apple's OSX can take pinying (sp?) anglocized spellings and turn them into characters on the fly. Might be a better solution.

If its for the use you've stated, you don't need a high-end tablet, maybe not even a Wacom. Anyway, within Wacom, there's the Intuous and the Graphire series, and you prob only need the graphire and the smallest one (I think its A6 size).

I've heard that Aiptek tablets are not too bad too, but your mileage may vary as some have found problems with it while others gave it good reviews.

I am personally using a Wacom Intuous 3, which is more or less a desk queen cuz I hardly use it. Haha....

My mom does not know pinying. She knows traditional chinese characters. The Big5 input method is too complicated for her too. The tablet doesn't need to be fancy, just something basic so she can write something in and have it get recognized properly as a chinese character and not scribble. Basically she'll use it to help herself search the web for stuff in chinese more easily. She can't search on Chinese Google if she can't get the characters in. I would also LOVE it if she could write something in chinese and have it translate to english (and other languages). I'd like to write stuff in english and have it get translated to traditional chinese for her too!

So how much do these tablet go for? My importantly what software do I need and how much do they go for?

Cheapest Wacom is $99, last time I checked. I think I've seen some other brand on sale for $50 somewhere, but I don't remember the brand.

For my purposes, do I need this Wacom or would some other brand do?

I have the Wacom Graphire G4 tablet. I believe that's the inexpensive model that others have recommended here.

Of the software that comes bundled with it, the only thing that approaches what you are looking for is "EverNote". It does not do character recognition of what you write though, so handwritten notes are filed and read as a graphic. It can allow you to write notes in chinese characters by hand, but only for reading back the very note (graphic) you create.

I have to think that somebody either in China or a somebody who is living abroad has tried to make something like that. I would start some Googling with several different search combinations.

Thanks for the link Lunal_Tic.

BF Hammer, saving it as a graphic won't work for my purposes. I need something that can recognize it as a chinese character.

$100 just for the tablet sounds a little high to me. I'm hoping to find something on the cheap. Anybody got one they want to trade? :naughty:

Beside that the full software seems to cost $200!!! Dang! Can't afford that. Anybody ever use the 'lite' version? What's missing in the 'lite' version? I was actually hoping with all the asian members here, someone could of chimed in with some cheap and workable alternatives.

Most chinese Software i've seen is in that price range.
SoftwareZ on the other hand.... :naughty:

I think most of us use the freebie Chinese input via keyboard that comes with Windows. I doubt many use the tablet.

我是个穷光蛋。(I'm a pauper)

Check out more tablet manufacturers from this page :-
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgraphics/a/graphicstablets_3.htm

Not sure where they are sold and for how much, but at least with a few names you can search around.

By 'input via keyboard' I assume you mean the shift-A then B or whatever combo to give yourself a set of chracters to choose from, then another set? I called that Big5, not sure if that's correct though. My mom hasn't really learned that. I know the sets of charactrs that come up involves how the characters are written in chinese (the strokes used), but my own grasp of chinese is not that advanced. I can read 1-13 though.

I can't offer any help. I have a 6x8 Intous but that's a high end graphics tablet.

My only advise is perhaps get chinese windows and chinese keyboard and set it up on a cheap spare pc...