keora

Thank you for all the contributions, a mouse seems the best solution, and cheaper than buying a graphics tablet.

I appreciate the advice. My lap top is a Samsung NP 3530EC-A0DDX, the manual isn't that useful and there's no mention of Pen-key or Shift key. I'm getting clearer about the extra equipment I need. Is a gaming mouse the best type to buy, or will an ordinary mouse do?

Thank you both for your advice. I'd never thought of using a mouse. It might not be as precise as a pen/stylus, but since I'm mainly drawing straight and curved lines, it may not be a problem. They're cheap and I imagine a mouse will be easy to set up. I'll investigate. I'm not sure how to define a Pen-key as SHIFT-Key. The advice on graphic tablets is useful, I'd not heard of the brand Aiptek. The two big IT retailers here in the UK (Amazon and Pcworld) don't stock many Aiptek items. I've found one tablet https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aiptek-MediaTablet-14000U-Digitizer-Photoshop/dp/B000TGMI5A I think it's an old model, and may have been discontinued. But the functions it offers seems to be right for me - movement of the pen on the tablet results in a similar movement of the cursor on the pc display.

I've created some location plans using paint.net. For each plan, I drew a line diagram on paper, scanned it and put it into paint.net as a background layer. I added text as further layers. The plans look good. I now want to draw line diagrams directly into paint.net. The problem is that I'm using a samsung laptop with a touch pad. I can't get get accurate lines because the touch pad doesn't recognise a stylus, so I have to draw with a finger . Please would forum members let me know if there is a better way of drawing with paint.net? What extra equipment would I need? (I've considered using a Wacom tablet and pen. I've been told I would have to draw on the tablet using the software supplied with it, and then transfer the drawing to paint.net on my laptop. It seems a complicated system. I'd rather continue using just paint.net, rather than having to learn a different drawing program)