The Touchmaster tablet is marketed more as an alternative keyboard than a graphics tablet. However, graphics tablet it certainly is. The tablet area is about A4 sized, housed in a good quality plastic case and is 'drawn' on with the plastic stylus provided, a pen, or even a finger.

It can be used as a child's substitute for a keyboard with the various pieces of software and overlays that Touchmaster sell (Othello, Speli-copter, etc.), however, it also has a very respectable 256 x 256 resolution and can operate as a graphics tablet.

The Touchmaster connects to the Beeb via the RS423 port, though it also has a parallel output. In fact it can connect to a number of micros. It derives its power from a small plug/transformer. It would have been much nicer to have the Beeb as the power source. A drawing program (Multipaint) is included in the package. This is not very inspired. The hardware functions well but the software - does not live up to it. More useful is the ability to use the Touchmaster from your own programs. However, next to no information is given about this in the manual. If Touchmaster cannot produce good software and no one else is interested, then there is no excuse for not giving more information for a DIY job.

As a large, child's keyboard the Touchmaster does very well, but at £150, it outprices itself from this market. As a graphics tablet it can also function well, but until more software to constructively make use of this fact arrives, it will remain a white elephant. Now if AMS was obsessed with tablets rather than mice...

Cumana's Touch Pad is much smaller than Touchmaster (about 2.5 inches square) on a wedge case. It is nicely finished in cream and black and comes with a handbook, a cassette and leads to connect into the RS423 socket for input and, for power, into the auxiliary power socket. An adaptor is thoughtfully supplied to allow a disc drive to connect to this as well.

On the top there are two LEDs ('Power On' and 'Pen Down') and two rectangular buttons with arrows on, though only one is used. In the centre of the sloping top is the tiny tablet area, and a black 'inert' plastic stylus completes the setup. Surprisingly the stylus does not mark the plastic of the tablet even though considerable pressure is required to keep the Touch Pad transmitting - lift the stylus and drawing stops. Because of the size of the pad, tracing is impractical.

A graphics program is included, offering all commands selected from a touch menu. It's not very good. It's limited to freehand, straight lines, squares and circles. The only innovation is RAYS which draws radial lines from a centre to a sequence of stylus positions.

The manual gives the usual 'how' instructions and notes for programmers. What it does not say is 'why'. There is no use for this device that is not covered better by other tablets. It is not very sensitive in its screen positioning because of the very small drawing area and the constant pressure needed. In use, its action on the screen is similar to a very stiff joystick. While it looks very nice, for its size it is expensive.

Graphpad is an A4-sized tablet which connects to the Beeb via the user port. The tablet surface is protected by a Perspex sheet under which diagrams can be inserted for tracing. An 'electric' pen is used. Pressing the pen onto the surface makes a contact detectable by the micro. This tends to scratch the Perspex, but glass could be used instead.

The surface markings are divided into a grid area and a touch pad area for menu selections. The whole tablet has a resolution of 320 x 256.

With the tablet come three programs on cassette or disc. The first program is an introductory one that displays the pen's co-ordinates, places a cursor on the screen and says whether the pen is up or down. The second and third programs are drawing programs. You can create basic shapes, draw freehand, change colours and dump the results to a printer. Only mode 1 is used and, although there is a touch pad on the tablet itself, you still need to use the keyboard to select options like colours, shapes, etc. Large characters (16 x 16) can be defined and used in your drawing. These definitions can be saved and several sets of characters loaded during a drawing session.

The manual consists mainly of listings of the programs and a routine to read the tablet, to use in your own programs. This is the only software with any lasting use but it is difficult to write effective programs even with this routine. Until third party companies can be persuaded to write for this excellent piece of hardware, Graphpad will remain underused.