Whiteboard Usability

Using XP-PEN DECO 01 V2 with NotebookCast

Using a graphic tablet for distance learning improves the user experience and the quality of a teaching session. In this article we review the XP-PEN DECO 01 v2 graphic tablet and we test it with NotebookCast whiteboard to check the compatibility and the user experience.

Specifications

First let's have a look at the graphic tablet specifications. Once opened, a feature that draws my attention was the size of the drawable area, with a size of 10 x6.25 inches that's beyond the average size of other graphic tablets of the same segment. We expect that to improve the quality of writing and drawing.
Other hardware specifications are 8192 levels of pen pressure sensitivity, eight configurable buttons in the tablet and two in the pen.

The graphic tablet is very well packed and include many accessories, such as the stylus table holder, glove, many extra stylus pen tips, a long high quality USB cable and USB adapters for tablets usage.
One practical detail is that the drawing area has four led’s on the four corners which is useful for usage in dark environments.
The tablet can be used by left-handed and right handed persons and have awesome compatibility with most of the available operating systems, Windows, Mac, Linux (such as Ubuntu and CentOS) and Android.

Installing the graphic tablet software

First step is installing the drivers and software. If you have already done this previously you can skip this section and go directly to the next section (Using NotebookCast whiteboard with the graphic tablet).
The installation of the software and drivers is straightforward. First download from XP-PEN website the drivers for your operating system, in this case we are using Windows 10, once the driver is downloaded for windows which name is XP-PENWin_1.6.4.210111.exe.zip, we only have to uncompress the file, execute it and follow the installer instructions. Once finished remember to reboot the computer before executing the installed application, the following video shows the process.

Using NotebookCast whiteboard with the graphic tablet

First we create a new whiteboard by accessing https://www.notebookcast.com/en/new-board , for this example we are creating a custom whiteboard with a size of 1400 x 900.
Next we need to adjust the drawing areas of the graphic tablet to match the whiteboard, this will allow us to make the best use off all the graphic tablet drawing area, to do this we open the graphic tablet application and adjust the drawing area to match the whiteboard as shown in the following video.


Now you can share the whiteboard unique invitation link with your collaborators,
In the following video the graphic tablet is used to collaborate with other three whiteboard guests.

NotebookCast whiteboard supports up to 30 simultaneous users in a single whiteboard.

Conclusion

The usage of the XP-PEN Deco 01 V2 definitely improves the usability of NotebookCast online whiteboard compared to using a mouse or other graphic tablets with smaller drawing area. It is a recommended option and gives a high value for its price segment.