Graphiscop II

An input device from french company M.M.C. for use with CAD software. The pencil is attached to potentiometers, and works much like a top-down analogue joystick. The pencil does also have a "fire" button, allowing to start/stop drawing. [The location of the button is still unclear: From the French article: At the end of "pencil" is a push to validate or not the route. There is no such "push" visible on the photos of the pencil...?]

Note: Many people seem to think that the Graphiscop is a plotter - it isn't. At first glance it does actually look a bit like that, but in practice it should be mechanically impossible for hardware to move the pencil at that angle - a plotter would require to have much more robust mechanics.

Technical specs

Connects to digital joystick port, and to the computers 5V supply.

Unknown how the A/D converted analog data is transferred through digital joystick port ...?

Downloads

• CAD Software ... no download ?

Pictures

• Graphiscop II
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French to English translation (from cpcrulez.fr)

Have you ever been attracted by ads which appear this curious instrument resembling a gallows? Yes, of course, and want to know how this tool to design ... Well, read on!

GRAPHISCOP II is a pure product of French ingenuity. The idea is seductive: it is difficult to reproduce a design on a computer screen, using a simple joystick or cursor keys. To assist the designer, should be able to enable it to follow the contours of the design using a tool which when coupled to the computer allow breeding knew the screen. GRAPHISCOP II is born ... It works like a joystick reversed. Hanging from a gallows, a "pen" is attached to a potentiometer acting on a system conversion "analog to digital. Appropriate software moves a cursor on the screen. whose position is linked to the "pencil". At the end of "pencil" is a push to validate or not the route. The tablet is molded plastic, blue in color. neck "at the beach AMSTRAD done by making [connecting to] the joystick [port]. the food is all taken by a jack on the 5 V of AMSTRAD.

Software and an accompanying leaflet GRAPHISCOP II. This provides a good CAD software, with features the most classic item. trait, trace, circle, fill, glass, rubber, etc..

Our tests have shown that it is illusory to draw an object along its path on a sheet of paper: the precision of cursor positioning (due to the quality of the potentiometer and the electronic circuit associated = not perfect. It is also very difficult to designate a point, move the pencil, then return precisely the same point. Seen in this light, GRAPRISCOP II is a bit disappointing. For cons, the notice advises the user of use a transparent, showing the original design, set on t'écran and follow the contours by moving the cursor mode feature ( "elastic"). To refine the details, it will be necessary to work in fashion "Please." regret, simply that in this mode, a point validated by mistake can be erased immediately.

For those who have known (including ORIC) the first version GRAPHISCOP, stress the better mechanical stability GRAPHISCOP II. Besides, several software developers have already adopted.

AMSTRAD MAGAZINE n°5, p39 - http://cpcrulez.fr