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Connecting drawing tablets with a serial cable

Overview

For several decades now drawing tablets have been using USB cables to connect to computers. However, drawing tablets existed before USB was invented. In that era, drawing tablets connected to computers using serial cables or proprietary cables such as Apple Desktop Bus (ADB).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Desktop_Bus

Serial connection with Wacom professional tablets

The first Wacom Intuos series, also known as the “Intuos1” GD series, was released in 1994. It was the first Wacom tablet to support USB in addition to serial and ADB. The Wacom Intuos2 series, the XD series, was the last Wacom tablet to support serial connections.

Using a tablet with a serial connection

If you want to use a Wacom tablet that connects with a serial cable on a modern computer and operating system, it is possible. But it requires a special setup.

Drivers

Modern Wacom drivers no longer support serial connections. However, there is an alternative. You can use KuuubeTD. This is a special driver created by tablet expert Kuuube that allows communication with older tablets that use a serial port. This is only recommended for people with deeper technical skills.

Serial ports

A modern computer is very unlikely to have a serial port. If that is the case, you can buy a serial-to-USB cable.

Serial-to-USB cables

Not all serial-to-USB cables work for this purpose. Some may work while others do not. I'm still trying to find a specific cable that will work for this scenario.

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