Light pen for modern computers - like the old atari's

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raytaylor

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#16372 6-Oct-2007 09:54

I am wanting to know if anyone remembers the old light pens that used to turn your tv into a tablet screen. They look like the pen style barcode scanners but rather than read barcodes, it would send the position of the pen back to the atari and then the atari would plot the lines that you draw on screen.

Here is a picture of one if you dont know what im talking about http://www.mr-atari.com/afbeeldingen/XLXE%20boxes%20carts/lightpen%20boxed.jpg

Anyhow back to my question. Does anyone know if you can get one of these for modern computers?

The reason I ask is because I just purchased a new jap import subaru with an lcd screen in it. The touch screen part only works for the gps which cant be used in nz. I have managed to hook up my laptop to it using the composite output and a low resolution in ntsc mode. Now i just need to send mouse signals back to the laptop rather easily.

Ray Taylor

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raytaylor

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#89789 6-Oct-2007 09:55

I have looked at a DSE tablet but would really prefer to tap directly on the lcd screen

Ray Taylor

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rcw

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#90192 8-Oct-2007 21:54

wow, the things that you don't think about for ever and ever..

yeah, I remember those; I'm pretty sure they were sync'd to the timing of the scan refresh on the crt which is how it knew where on the screen the pen was

your best bet is probably to get a separate touchscreen overlay; they exist that simulate mouse input but I haven't seen those recently either (outside of component catalogs)