Confirmed the Getac pen does not register on my iPhone. 
This post is in the process of being corrected, since there were a lot of mistakes. I’ll re-post it later. Thanks. R-cat
PS, I learned a lot.
Actually EMR is ElectroMagnetic Resonance and it’s the one that does NOT require a battery.
AES is active electrostatic, and that one DOES require a battery or supercapacitor.
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Thanks, Joe. Do you want me to fix it in the original post.
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What is MPP?
Apparently that’s what’s controlling the Surface Pens. “Microsoft Pen Protocol”. TBH I kind of lost track, iirc Microsoft went from Wacom EMR in the Surface Pro 1 and 2 to NTrig, which… they bought? Is that right everyone? And then they’ve been refining the pen tech, arriving at a pretty great product with the MS Pen 2. Still needs power, but the most recent version has a built-in rechargeable capacitor (battery?).
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EMR, AES, and MPP (N-trig)* are all active digitisers and some part of the system needs to be powered.
EMR has all of that done by the digitiser in the device. There are some very basic electronics in the pen.
AES and MPP require power in the pen. This requires a battery, which can be any type of battery that will fit. Lenovo have been using supercapacitors for that for years now, as well as Fujitsu (now majority Lenovo). And Wacom have released at least one dual protocol pen.
Yes, MPP is just N-trig renamed. Though Microsoft have done things like add special chips onto some of their devices’ motherboards to improve performance. I think it was Pixelsense or something? I don’t know any more about that though.
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Yes, this was that time when Samsung bought a lot of Wacom stocks and Microsoft wanted to make bigger screen tablet. So MS had to do something about it and they bought Ntrig, today called MPP.
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FWIW I’m actually fine with the Getac pen, I just wanted an extra pen to keep untethered on my desk, the OEM Getac units are not easy to find, and I’d have been ok with something a little bigger for use at the desk rather than when I’m mobile. But apparently an OEM extra it will be!
Whelp. You could try fashioning your own shell. Getting to the button might end up a little hard unless you are handy or go down the 3D printing route.
Eh, Samsung only own about 5% of the stock. The size was probably the main driver as Wacom were reticent to compete with their own products (and therefore also reportedly not great to work with).
I’m still not convinced that Microsoft had to switch. And I think the main thing that drove Wacom to open up a bit was some of their patents expiring rather than any pressure from Microsoft.
Hi Jim,
If your Getac 110 is similar to a CF-19 Toughbook, Panasonic made a larger pen that you might try, part number CF-VNP004U. It did get discontinued, but an E-Bay seller has a bunch of them and is selling each for $5.95. New Large Stylus Pen Panasonic Toughbook - CF-VNP004U - CF-28/29/34/72/73 | eBay.
Originally they were made for the T-Book model CF-20, but CF-18 and CF-19 users say they work. I may get some and try them out.
The OEM T-book pens are way too ridiculously teeny for me, even with girly fingers.
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