Drawing as a type of art has been passed on and developed for thousands of years. The form and way of drawing can be innumerable. From the beginning of drawing buildings, landscapes, and animals to abstract, human, and imagination, the object of drawing has also changed over time. However, the purpose of drawing has remained the same: to record the beautiful scenes people have seen and let people who understand it appreciate it. The most common way of drawing in history till now is to draw on a piece of paper with a tool such as a pencil, pen, brush, etc. As technology advanced, so did the process of drawing as technological advancements. The concept and function are similar to the digital board called Telautograph, created by Elisha Gray in 1888. The Telautograph is a work that transfers writing or drawing precisely with a pen or pencil. This type of technology is also the prototype of a fax machine. The first drawing digital board WT-460M was invented by Wacom company that is created in 1984. Then are the instructions for the digital board; by using a data line to connect the computer and digital board, and then connecting to the drawing software on the computer, the artist can start to draw on it. Unlike traditional drawing, digital board drawing on the Pc can be more accessible and more amicable to newbies. Online drawing has a withdrawal button, the artist won’t have to use erase to wipe off the mistake, and it can save paper usage.
GAOMON is an Electronic Technology Co. that focuses on electromagnetic handwriting input technology and the development of digital painting products. From the beginning, GAOMON’s target was the group of beginners in digital painting, so the design style of Gao Manchu leaned toward the young trend. GAOMON’s functional design is simple, and the benefit from this is the price of GAOMON’s products are very affordable, which gets loved by the student community.
GAOMON M6 wired digital board (It will be called M6 for the rest of the essay) is one of the productions from GAOMON. The size of the M6 is 347 X 205 X 8mm, and its weight is 494g. M6 uses passive electromagnetic resonance technology to connect the digital pen and the board. M6 board combines housing, printed circuit board (PCB), chip, touch screen special IC, smart chip, main control, and working area.
Figure 1: GAOMON (2023). M6 [Photograph]. GAOMON. https://www.gaomon.cn/Pen_Tablet/M6.html
Part 1: Housing
As shown in Figure 1, the overall color of the M6’s housing is black, and the surface of the M6 has 12 hard shortcut keys on the left side and a combination of a multi-functional touch ring and function switch button in the upper left corner. Then the top middle has 16 soft shortcut keys and the rest of the space in the middle is the working area.
Figure 2: Super shrimp ball (2021). Disassembly GAOMON M6 digital board [Photograph]. Bilibili. https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv13249858?from=search
Part 2: Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
Figure 2 shows the printed circuit board, which is the PCB of the M6. A PCB is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways and track or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate (Purnell, 2022). It is the most important and central part of the digital board.
Figure 3: Super shrimp ball (2021). Disassembly GAOMON M6 digital board [Photograph]. Bilibili. https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv13249858?from=search
Part 3: Analog Signal Test Point
The dense point that is shown in Figure 3 is the analog signal test point; it is on the back side of the PCB. An analog signal is a voltage, current, or physical quantity that continuously and infinitely varies in accordance with some time-varying parameter. For example, radio waves, television waves, and sound waves are all examples of analog signals (Keysight, 2023).
Figure 4: Super shrimp ball (2021). Disassembly GAOMON M6 digital board [Photograph]. Bilibili. https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv13249858?from=search
Part 4: IC (smart chip)
The IC HUION HV901 shown in the bottom left of Figure 4 is the main IC of the M6. Integrated circuits (ICs) are a keystone of modern electronics. They are the heart and brains of most circuits (Jimblom, 2023).
The upper left of Figure 4 is the touch screen dedicated IC, which means it is only used for functioning the touch screen, which is the working area of M6, and the touch ring.
The upper right of Figure 4 is the SGM5532 Dual Low Noise Operational Amplifier. SGM5532 is a dual, low-noise operational amplifier which operates on a wide supply range from 5V to 36V (Sgmicro, 2023). The SGM5532 offers an ultra-low noise of 5nV/√Hz with low distortion. It also features unity-gain bandwidth, a high slew rate, and high output current. The device has input protection diodes and provides output short-circuit protection (Sgmicro, 2023). This means SGM5532 is used to increase the performance of M6 and protect the device from short-circuit.
Then the bottom right of Figure 4 is the Analog Switches; nine analog switches are inside M6. An analog switch (sometimes just called a “switch”) is a switching device capable of switching or routing analog signals (meaning signals that can have any level within a specified legal range) based on the level of a digital control signal (Analog Devices, 2023). This stands that an analog switch is a switch to control or switches the analog signals.
The digital board is now widespread in the drawing circle, and it improves the high amount of money that it needs to spend on drawing (All the materials cause a lot of money) by drawing on a PC, which also improves the waste of paper use. However, it does not mean drawing on paper should be disused. Using the digital board is to avoid paper waste when beginners practice and also to create another drawing. The original intention of the digital board is the same as the drawing on paper, which is to let people admire it.
Work Cite
JIMBLOM. (n.d.). Integrated Circuits. Integrated Circuits – SparkFun Learn. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/integrated-circuits/all
SGM5532-SGMICRO. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.sg-micro.com/show-product-771.html
Analog Switch. Definition of Analog Switch | Analog Devices. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.analog.com/en/design-center/glossary/analog-switch.html#:~:text=An%20analog%20switch%20(sometimes%20just,of%20a%20digital%20control%20signal.
Telautograph. History Nebraska. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://history.nebraska.gov/publications_section/telautograph/#:~:text=The%20article%20described%20the%20%E2%80%9Ctelautograph,over%20any%20length%20of%20wire.
Teachmint. (2023, March 9). Digital Board for teaching. All You Need to Know. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://blog.teachmint.com/digital-board-for-teaching-what-makes-it-an-essential-teaching-tool/#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20digital%20board,helps%20students%20visualize%20content%20better.
超级虾球. (n.d.). 拆机 高漫M6数位板. 哔哩哔哩. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv13249858?from=search
How does a graphics tablet work? iskn. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.iskn.co/discover/5cbea264/how-does-a-graphic-tablet-work
M6是艺术品也是艺术创作工具. M6数位板 – 安卓手机手绘板 – Gaomon高漫官网. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.gaomon.cn/Pen_Tablet/M6.html
Purnell, C., & *, N. (2020, December 1). What does a printed circuit board (PCB) do? Exception PCB. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.exceptionpcb.com/what-does-a-printed-circuit-board-pcb-do/#:~:text=They%20are%20used%20to%20mechanically,onto%20a%20non%2Dconductive%20substrate.
What is an analog signal? meaning &definition – keysight oscilloscopeglossary – keysight technologies. What is an Analog signal? Meaning &Definition – Keysight OscilloscopeGlossary – Keysight Technologies. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://saving.em.keysight.com/en/knowledge/glossary/oscilloscopes/what-is-an-analog-signal-meaning-definition#:~:text=An%20analog%20signal%20is%20a,all%20examples%20of%20analog%20signals.
Self-Reflection
For this assignment, I chose a digital board to do the technical description because doing the discussion with other classmates, I found out the only thing that is simple and without a lot of components is the digital board I have. However, I do not want to disassemble my own digital board and I can’t disassemble the same type of digital board to disassemble pictures and descriptions online, so I choose the same company’s production M6.
The most challenging part of this assignment is the description of all parts of the M6. Although I find the picture sauce of M6’s components, I have zero knowledge of all of those components, which gives me a headache in the explanation. The most troubled one is the smart chip; I have no idea what it is and how well its performance is. How I got through the challenge is I kept researching the website that about IC, and finally found the website that explains what an IC is.
After all this assignment is fun, although it is hard for me because I have zero knowledge of it. But it opened a door for me to view, that how engineering this major is and what it contains, I know it is just the tip of the iceberg, but it increases my interest in Engineering.
