For the last few years, I have been using small Wacom Intuos S tablets as a replacement for mice, trackballs or touchpads.

I configure the tablets in the "Relative" mode, in which they behave exactly like a mouse, unlike in their default "Absolute" mode. I configure left click to be done by touching the tablet with the stylus and the 2 buttons that are on the stylus to generate right click and double left click.

The advantage over a mouse or trackball is the much more comfortable position of the hand and also the much higher speed and accuracy of positioning. Moving the pointer to any location on the screen is instantaneous and without any effort, due the lightness of the stylus and to the lack of contact with the tablet.

Because the stylus is extremely light, I can touch type on the keyboard while still keeping the stylus between my fingers. This allows faster transitions between keyboard and graphic pointer than with a standard mouse (because the time needed to grip the mouse is eliminated). Only when I type longer texts, I drop the stylus on the tablet.

The tablet is no bigger than a traditional mouse pad, so it does not need a bigger space on the desk.

After switching to use exclusively a graphic tablet, I would never want to use again a mouse, trackball, trackpoint or touchpad. I only regret that I have never thought earlier to try this.

Besides being a better mouse than a mouse, a tablet obviously allows to do things for which a mouse is inappropriate, e.g. drawing or handwriting (e.g. for signing a document).

I should mention that I have always used the Wacom tablets with Linux. I have never tried them on Windows, so I do not know if there they work as well.

This is pretty cool! Never considered this