Altium Designer on Microsoft Surface Pro 4 with Surface Pen

[bigcuddlygreenmonster]

Has someone run Altium Designer 16.1 on  Microsoft Surface Pro 4? Has someone figured out how to use the Pen to place parts on a schematic or interactive routing?

[Neganur]

While I think that touch has its use in CAD I think the pen is probably one of the less useful things there. The mouse is just so much more accurate.

That said, I'm sure you can use the pen. After all, it doesn't do anything special and mimics the left/right click of a real mouse. You 'lose' the mouse wheel pan and zoom though...and any other buttons your mouse has.

[D3f1ant]

I couldn't get the pen working with Altium on Surface Pro 3. Tried quite hard, not saying it's not possible but I gave up.
The pen does not behave the same as a mouse.

[bigcuddlygreenmonster]

Yeah, I could not get it to work either. But I have not been at it for that long.

Will update here if I find a solution.

[bigcuddlygreenmonster]

While I think that touch has its use in CAD I think the pen is probably one of the less useful things there. The mouse is just so much more accurate.

That said, I'm sure you can use the pen. After all, it doesn't do anything special and mimics the left/right click of a real mouse. You 'lose' the mouse wheel pan and zoom though...and any other buttons your mouse has.

I bought the surface because I felt I could use it beyond the desk and chair work environment. Maybe I could use it to work on the go. In that regard the pen it much more useful than the mouse.

[trevwhite]

What about a wireless trackball? I use a trackball with CS because you don't have to keep moving the mouse all over the place. This might represent a compromise? I find a trackball really nice to use.

[tszaboo]

I run altium on 2x24 inch, but i would prefer probably 3x 27" 4k. Why would anyone try running it on a tablet is beyond me. You need the schematic, most of the time the layout, PDF datasheets, and half a dozen websites and world and excel documents open and reachable at the same time. Productivity is NIL on a tablet.

[bigcuddlygreenmonster]

I run altium on 2x24 inch, but i would prefer probably 3x 27" 4k. Why would anyone try running it on a tablet is beyond me. You need the schematic, most of the time the layout, PDF datasheets, and half a dozen websites and world and excel documents open and reachable at the same time. Productivity is NIL on a tablet.

I want to get a few things done while in transit. It is just simple schematic or routing work, so I don't need a ton of references open at the same time. Also, if I do need a reference, I can open it in split view if necessary. It's a handy little thing to have if I can.

[bigcuddlygreenmonster]

Trackball is a good option, although it would probably be used very similar to a trackpad.