This page contains the revision history and known bugs and fixes for the Virtual Tablet Interface by version and component. Fixes or workarounds are included with each problem unless otherwise noted. If you are experiencing problems with the Virtual Tablet Interface drivers, utilities or applications and don't find the answer here, please contact us via email at support@vtablet.com or by voice at 425-868-3246 during technical support hours if you are a registered user.

Version 6     Version 5    Version 4    Version 3    Version 1

VERSION 2.12

(March 13, 1995)

General

Support has been added for CalComp DrawingBoard 23360, 23480 and 23600 digitizers.

Drivers

The drivers now support full interrupt and com port sharing which are useful for sharing the com port with another serial device. Use the Control Panel Applet to disable the driver or use the new entry "Enabled0" in the [Virtual Tablet] section of SYSTEM.INI which is also set from within the Applet.

Support for the CalComp pressure library CALDGWIN.DLL has been dropped.

A work around has been incorporated for Wintab compatible applications that fail to call LoadLibrary() for this driver. When you install the Windows drivers with the Setup program, a Wintab compatible driver is automatically installed in Virtual Tablet directory. In addition, “Wintab”” is added to the end of the “drivers” entry in the [Boot] section of your SYSTEM.INI and the entry “Wintab{path}Wintab.dll” is added to the [drivers] section of SYSTEM.INI.

A problem with certain GTCO models which required manually resetting the digitizer after Windows startup.

Setup

Setup now creates a file Setup.Log in your setup directory which contains important diagnostic information. If you experience difficulties after running Setup, please refer to this file and/or be prepared to provide it when requesting technical support.

Setup now detects interrupt and device driver conflicts and will warn you if found. You can ignore the warnings but will usually need to fix the error manually in SYSTEM.INI before restarting Windows and using the Virtual Tablet Interface.

Documentation

The User’s Guide now includes chapters on using the Applet and on creating and executing templates with the Virtual Tablet Editor and Loader. Supported digitizers have been moved exclusively to DIGITIZE.TXT.  

VERSION 2.11

(December 10, 1994)

General

There are a number of internal and filename changes in preparation for the Win32/NT product release. The common library has been renamed from VTCOMMON.DLL to VTLIB.DLL and the Applet library renamed from VTAPPLET.DLL to VTCTRL.DLL. If you are a registered user, contact Digitizer Technology for special upgrade instructions.

Version 1.xx support has been dropped. If you are upgrading and need to convert existing v1.xx files, contact Digitizer Technology for a copy of Version 2.10 for conversions only.

Support has been added for Kurta Series Two and the GTCO Rollup (2024R) digitizers.

Drivers

The drivers now report more detailed error message on startup and will also display a system modal dialog with the error message if they are loaded as installable drivers.

16550 UARTs are now supported which improves performance on most machines by over 400%.

ALTEK digitizers now support older controller series.

Applet

The Control Panel Applet now allows you to disable the drivers temporarily in enhanced mode in order to use the com port and/or interrupt for another device.

Editor

The Editor now sports a 'graph paper' background.

The Build tool has been changed to a Hand and the Editor will minimize itself temporarily to an icon while selecting a target window. 

VERSION 2.10

(August 30, 1994)

General

All executables have been updated for 3D dialog effects.

Support has been added for ALTEK AC and Datatab II; and the Wacom ArtPad digitizers.

Drivers

A button event problem with some digitizers in increment mode.

A full Wintab compatible library for use with applications that support the Wintab compatible Interface. See README.TXT for more information. 

VERSION 2.01

(April 30, 1994)

 General

Support has been added for CalComp DrawingBoard III, DrawingSlate, DrawingPad and EstiMat; Wacom UD Series; GTCO Super L II, Ultima and AccuTab Series; and SummaScribe, SummaDraw, Microgrid II, Microgrid III, Summagrid IV and SummaSketch FX digitizers.

Drivers

Com ports (1-4) can now accept non-standard base addresses and interrupts using the enhanced mode [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. For more information, refer to the README.TXT file, the Driver Reference chapter in the manual, and your Windows documentation.

VERSION 2.00

(January 30, 1994)

General

All executable modules and drivers have been recompiled or rewritten in the 80386 protected mode instruction set which is now the minimum microprocessor required for the Virtual Tablet Interface.

All executable modules and drivers have been recompiled or rewritten for Windows 3.1 or higher which is now the minimum Windows version required for the Virtual Tablet Interface (end of real mode support).

DOS support has been dropped including the DOS driver (VTABLET.SYS) and DOS component of the Virtual Tablet Loader (VTLOAD.EXE). Templates under DOS are also no longer supported. DOS 5.0 is now the minimum version required for the Virtual Tablet Interface.

Common Virtual Tablet Interface functions have been consolidated into a single dynamic link library (VTCOMMON.DLL) which replaces several separate libraries including VTUSEREG.DLL.

Online help has been greatly expanded for all executables and utilities and now supplants the Windows Write manual.

Support has been added for Science Accessories GP9, CalComp 2000, Mitsubishi Grafnet, GTCO Digi-Pad PC Boards, and Hitachi C/D/E/S/T digitizers.

Editor

The Editor now sports a Multiple Document Interface.

The Editor now supports Drag and Drop for template files.

The Editor, Loader and drivers now support sending DDE commands to application servers like AutoCAD for Windows from within templates.

Editor memory limitations have been removed and there is no longer any limit (except virtual memory) on template size.

Templates can now be added to the Editor simply by clicking on their icon in the Virtual Tablet Group of the Program Manager.

Paste and Undo capabilities have been added to region template commands (including DDE) and the Comments dialog.

Printing page ranges now includes the option for non-blank pages only (i.e. pages containing a region or combination).

The Edit menu now includes Select All for regions and combinations.

The Format menu now includes Enlarge Font and Reduce Font to change the font size of the selected object (tablet, combo or region).

The current font is now displayed in the Style dialog box Label edit box.

The Print dialog now provides and an interface to the printer setup dialog instead of the Windows Spooler and provides for page overlap on tiled pages.

The maximum number of regions per template has been increased from 256 to 1024.

The maximum number of combinations per template has been increased from 63 to 127.

Style labels have been expanded to 63 characters from 31.

Region template and DDE commands have been expanded to 127 characters from 31.

The Control Panel and Clipboard commands have been dropped as has owner draw capabilities from within the Clipboard.

Loader

The Loader now sports an improved user interface including scanning Windows and selecting available DDE servers.

The Loader now supports Drag and Drop for template information files.

Several fixes including template failures with certain applications.

Drivers

These drivers have been rewritten in 80386 assembler protected mode instructions for optimum speed and coordinate accuracy.

These drivers now support Comm 3 and 4 (interrupts 5 and 9) provided you have the ports configured correctly to use separate interrupts from Comm 1 and 2.

Clipping, rotation, acceleration support has been added to allow designating an area of the tablet for mapping to the Windows screen without requiring the use of a template.

Several fixes including button mapping under Pen Windows.

AutoEnhance mode switch because it was obsolete.

Reset switch which inhibits driver tablet resets at startup.

Relative mode now keeps the cursor centered in the Windows display upon startup.

Applet

The Control Panel Applet has been completely re-written and sports a visual look for changing the tablet, rotation, acceleration, report rate, positioning, sensitivity, etc.

The Control Panel Applet now allows you to changes tablets and the report rate "on the fly" without restarting Windows which is useful when finding the right tablet configuration for your system or changing from pressure to non-pressure sensitive applications.

The Control Panel Applet now allows you to designate an area of the tablet for mapping to the Windows screen without requiring the use of a template.

The Control Panel Applet now allows you to view communications, digitizer and driver statistics in real-time which can assist you in diagnosing or configuring the drivers for optimum use.

Setup

Setup has been streamlined considerably and supports a single directory structure instead of stuffing the Windows directory with lots of DLLs, help files, executables, etc.

Setup now includes a smart reinstall capability to avoid loading the Windows drivers in multiple configurations, i.e. Windows mouse, installable driver, Pen Windows driver or dynamic driver.

Online help is now provided for Setup which supplants the Windows Write manual.

Samples

Sample templates are no longer provided since it's just as easy to create your own with the Build command from within the Editor. However, the template for the Editor and sample style sheets are installed, updated or removed if you select Windows Editor from the Setup program.

Documentation

Online help has been greatly expanded for all executables and utilities and supplants the Windows Write manual. A printed manual is now included for registered users.

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Last modified: March 04, 2008