Etymology

The modern words we have for drawing tablets: draw, tablet, pen, stylus are also ancient.

Tablet comes to us from Latin tabula which had the senses of "a board", "plank", and very relevant for us "writing table". More here: https://etymonline.com/word/table

Stylus comes from Latin stilus where has the sense of a rod with a pointed end and intended for writing or making marks. More here: https://www.etymonline.com/word/stylus

Pen comes from Latin penna meaning "feather". As you may remember, a feather being hollow when dipped into ink can be used as a writing device.

Draw is related to drag and both come from Proto-Germanic *draganan. The sense of these words comes from pulling something along. In the "draw" sense it is a writing instrument. In the "drag" sense it is any load. Even today you can see the word draw used in ways that don't have to do with creating pictures but rather the "pulling" sense - "Sally draws water from a well", "the sheriff drew his gun", "I had a blood sample drawn". More here: https://www.etymonline.com/word/draw and https://www.etymonline.com/word/drag.

Pen vs stylus

There is no right term to use. An equally good case can be made for either word. I prefer using "pen" over "stylus" only for these reasons:

• It's a more common word

• Many drawing tablets manufacturers brands use the word "pen". Example: Wacom Pro Pen 2 and Samsun S Pen.

Given my long time interest in drawing tablets I've always wanted to put together a history that would put together the various timelines, technologies, and products into a cohesive narrative.

Any such history is going to leave out many things and focus on some things to the exclusion of others.

But to the best of my ability I am working on putting one together now. I've just started this project in March of 2024. So at this stage what you're seeing is some initial notes. When I'm closer to being done I'll make that clear.

Until then if there's anything you'd like to see explored or any feedback you'd like to give please let me know at thesevenpens@outlook.com

Wacom's CEO Masahiko Yamada gave this account of Wacom's history: https://www.paintboxtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2009-08-Wacom_Art_of_Making_Marks_About_How_It_All_Started.pdf

This blog post is also a good summary of the history: https://historyofthearttablet.wordpress.com/ This document also contains a number of links.

See also this doc: https://www.billbuxton.com/inputTimeline.html

Is you want to see a list of drawing tablets from Wacom go here: Wacom tablet list

• [1] About Wacom https://www.wacom.com/en-us/about-wacom

  • [1a] archived on 2023/03/24

Unsorted

• General

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet

  • https://historyofthearttablet.wordpress.com/

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tablet_computers

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus_(computing)

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen

  • https://www.etymonline.com/word/stylus

  • https://www.etymonline.com/word/pen

• Adobe

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Inc.

• CalComp

  • Tech Tangents - 90's CAD Digitizer and AutoCAD - CalComp DrawingBoard II 2022/10/19

• HP

  • TechTangeents - HP CAD Digitizer - 9111A Graphics Tablet - Aug 12, 2023

• Microsoft

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Tablet_PC

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows

Quantel PaintBox

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantel_Paintbox

• ACM - Computer Graphics in Court - The Adobe/Quantel Case

• https://www.redsharknews.com/the-quantel-name-is-legendary.-this-is-its-story-and-ultimately-what-happened-to-it

• 1990 Quantel Paintbox Demo

• Sketchpad

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad

• RAND Tablet

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAND_Tablet

  • Aaron Rutten - The RAND Tablet - The Evolution of Drawing Tablets 2018/01/12

• Sketchpad

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad

• Wacom

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacom

  • https://www.paintboxtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2009-08-Wacom_Art_of_Making_Marks_About_How_It_All_Started.pdf

• KoalaPad

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KoalaPad

• Apple

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pencil

  • https://www.edibleapple.com/2009/11/23/the-first-apple-tablet-from-1979/

• ProCreate

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procreate_(software)

• Huion

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HUION

• XP-Pen

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XP-PEN

• Misc

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantelegraph

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telautograph

BC

• 14th century BC - evidence of wax tablets usage (see Uluburun shipwreck)

• 500 BC - art depicting writing with a wax tablet and stylus

• Wax tablets used by ancient Romans and Greeks

1800s

• 1860s - Pantelegraph

• 1888 - Teleautograph patented by Elisha Gray

1950s

• 1957 - Stylator, the first use of a stylus in an electronic computing device

• 1957 - Lightpen - first tech that allows a suser to draw directly on the screen

1960s

• 1963 - SketchPad software created by Ivan Sutherland

• 1964 - The RAND Tablet

1970s

• 1975 - BitPad by Summagraphics

• 1979 - Apple Graphics tablet released

1980s

• 1981 - Quantel Paintbox released

• 1982 - Adobe founded (December 1982)

• 1983 - KoalaPad released

• 1983 - Wacom founded (July 12 1983)

• 1983 - Wacom produces first drawing tablet with a battery-powered pen

• 1984 - Wacom launches WT-460M - the first tablet with stylus not attached by cord to the tablet [1a]

• 1987 - Wacom releases first drawing tablet with EMR technology

• 1987 - Wacom creates a Mac app called Pressure Paint - may be the first application to support pressure sensitivity available on a computer available to consumers

• 1989 - GRiDPad by GRiD Systems Corporation - first tablet computer

1990s

• 1990 - Adobe Photoshop released (Feb 19, 1990)

• 1991 - Painter (later Fractal Design Painter) published - one of the very earliest apps to support drawing tablets

• 1993 - Quantel Paintbox discontinued

• 1993 - Apple Newton released

• 1999 - Microsoft starts working on Tablet PC

2000s

• 2002 - First Tablet PCs released by OEMs running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

• 2005 - XP-Pen founded (April 8, 2005)

• 2006 - Microsoft Windows Vista released (Nov 30, 2006)

• 2009 - Microsoft Windows 7 released (July 22, 2009)

2010s

• 2010 - Apple iPad released (April 3, 2010)

• 2011 - Huion founded (Mar 12, 2011)

• 2011 - Procreate app released (Mar 16, 2011)

• 2012 - Around this time many key Wacom patents expire

• 2015 - Apple Pencil (1st gen) released (Nov 11, 2015)

• 2018 - Apple Pencil (2nd gen) released (Nov 7, 2018)

2020s

• 2023 - Apple Pencil (USB-C) released (Nov 1, 2023)

• 2023 - Wacom patents for erasers in pens expires (need to verify)

• 2023 - XP-Pen introduces X3 Pro pen - first in their line of pens to have chip on their PCB

• 2024 - Huion introduces PW600 and PW600 pens - first in their line of pens to have chip on their PCB

Links

• General
• Adobe
• CalComp
• Microsoft

Quantel PaintBox

• Sketchpad
• RAND Tablet
• Sketchpad
• Wacom
• KoalaPad

• Apple
• ProCreate
• Huion
• XP-Pen
• Misc

Content moved. Go here: Standalone drawing tablet recommendations.

Antiquity

The idea of writing on a portable flat surface goes back a very long time - thousands of years.

We know from archaeological records and from the writings of ancient authors such as Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC) Romans wrote on a wax tablet, called a tabula, with a stylus.

Here's an image from Wikipedia showing what some of these tablets look like. Basically, it consisted of a wooden frame with some wax on the surface. Note that there are two tablets joined together to form a unit.

The Romans did not have modern paper, but instead used papyrus which is similar. It's unclear how expensive papyrus was (see this SE question on the cost) but in any case its easy to see why a wax tablet might be useful because it relied on everyday materials and could be erased and reused.

Even earlier in this image from Wikipedia, a painter of vases named Douris around 500BC produced of an image of man using a wax tablet, stylus in hand. Although, humorously and anachronistically this does look like someone using a laptop :-)

Here, from Douris and the Painters of Greek Vases by Edmond Pottier, you can see the a schoolmaster depicted with a stylus and tax tablets.

Some of my videos have simulations of circuits. To create those simulations I use Falstad https://www.falstad.com/circuit/

Below is an screenshot of one of this simulations.