Wacom believes "technology should be easy to use and simple to understand"

Jan 27, 2010 10:34 GMT  ·  By

If you’re thinking this is a driver that ensures compatibility between Mac OS X and the upcoming Apple tablet, think again. Wacom, which creates hardware solutions for professional designers and artists, has issued a free driver for users of several of its pen-based tablet devices.

Wacom Tablet Driver X supports user-specific preferences on OS X 10.2.6 and later and Fast User Switching on OS 10.3 and later. The new software (version 6.1.2-5) also supports USB tablets of the Intuos 3 (PTZ), Intuos 2 (XD), and Intuos 1 (GD) Series, as well as the Cintiq 21UX, Cintiq 18SX, 15X, PL 600, PL 500 and CintiqPartner (PTU).

As most computer users should know, a hardware driver is a small program that allows your computer to interact with other hardware, in this case, Wacom tablets. According to the company, it is important to download the most recent driver to ensure that your device is working properly and that you can access the full set of features offered by that device. Hence, the company advises Wacom Tablet owners and users of a Mac running OS X 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard) to download and install Wacom Tablet Driver X 6.1.2-5 as soon as possible.

“At Wacom, we believe that technology should be easy to use and simple to understand,” the company states. “Our aim is to make technology more human, more natural, and more intuitive, and we strive to create products and solutions that help people harness and execute new ideas.”

The new Wacom Tablet Driver fully supports Mac OS X v.10.6, according to its makers, while the Remove Tablet utility now contains an option to back up your preferences and to restore the backed up preferences at a later time. However, users must have knowledge of how to properly back up their preferences. To do this, “You must select Go Applications Wacom Tablet Remove Wacom Tablet. After the utility launches, select Back-up ..., choose the name and location of the backup file, and click OK,” the instructions go.

To restore preferences, users must again select Go Applications Wacom Tablet Remove Wacom Tablet, wait for the utility to launch, select Restore, browse to the location of their backup file and select it, and then click OK. Wacom asks users to note that an upcoming driver release will address the name of this utility, changing it. Other changes delivered by the update include:

- Cintiq calibration now works correctly. - A bug that could lead to occasional driver crashes on some systems was fixed. - Radial Menu re-naming now also works on Mac OS X v.10.6.1 (Snow Leopard). - An issue with the Pressure Curve Details dialog box was fixed. - An issue with keystrokes in Pop-Up Menus was resolved.

According to Wacom, a number of small bug fixes and improvements were implemented as well. Supported devices include USB versions of all Intuos3 (PTZ), Intuos2 (XD), Intuos (GD), Graphire2 (ET-0405A) and Graphire (ET) pen tablets and the Cintiq 21UX, 18SX, 15X and PL-500 pen displays. Use the link below to download the latest version of the Wacom Tablet Driver for Mac OS X.

Download Wacom Tablet Driver for Mac (Free)