active pen for normal capacitive touchscreens?

[ochhanz]

Howdy,

Are there any good active pen's for normal touchscreens found on e.g. most convertibles? Most of the stuff I found so far is just like a simple stylus but thinner tip and working on batteries but working worse than a simple microfiber stylus. Are there any more advanced with buttons or something like that?

 

[xandros9]

Active pens require the touchscreen itself to have some extra tech installed so you won't be getting anything better than a small-tipped stylus that otherwise simulates a finger. No buttons, etc unless the pen connects to the computer by alternative means but I'm not sure such a gadget exists.

 

[ochhanz]

Yeah hmm that I am beginning to think it doesn't exist either. Technically it wouldn't be that difficult for them to make a stylus with buttons (/with bluetooth), but which ofcourse wouldn't give the benefits a digitizer touchscreen would give (variable pressure and tilt support I guess) so it probably isn't interesting for many people. Perhaps with some DIY tricks and aliexpress I can make an okay one. I did some testing with some simple styluses I have and only need to touch the stylus a little bit with a finger, so as long as I can find a bluetooth/wireless button device that is small enough not to feel clumsy it should be good enough to attach that to the stylus (and ofcourse I should be able reprogram some of the buttons with an AutoHotkey script).
I am thinking of combining a simple stylus with either a:
- mini bluetooth controller/gamepad. Contains most buttons but a bit weird shape (rectangle) for a stylus.
- mini mouse. Okay shape but maybe not useful since the buttons are mouse buttons that I cannot reprogram without removing right mouse & mouse scroll support.
- or presentation pointer. Looks like a good pen shape, don't know yet if the buttons are viable to reprogram with Autohotkey.

This is the smallest controller I could found:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ori...1103-4db8-b6e4-d3870fde37c6&priceBeautifyAB=0

Mini mouse pen's (I have one of these xD):
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...d=SB_20180408122339&SearchText=mini+mouse+pen

Mini mouse pen with also rubber stylus at back (though I will most likely end up using a microfiber stylus anyway since it works smoother I think):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-4...963c-419b-9408-6d12bcc59cfd&priceBeautifyAB=0

Presentation pointer:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NEW...963c-419b-9408-6d12bcc59cfd&priceBeautifyAB=0