HOW TO: Install a LinuxWacom Kernel Driver for Tablet PC's

[marranzano]

hi Favux,
just a quick note:
I've found xinput_calibrator to be a possible substitute to wacomcpl for those who, like me, are using lucid..

thanks for your great work
Marranzano

[curson]

Hello there! I've just bought a Wacom BAMBOO Pen (CTL-460/K) and followed the instructions on the first post in this thread for 9.10 Karmic + linuxwacom-0.8.8-6 using the configuration via 10-linuxwacom.fdi option.

I get no clear "error message" at any steps of the guide, but still, the tablet doesn't work.

I believe the problem is that, somehow, xinput and xsetwacom output end up not agreeing with each others, but I don't know where to rectify this problem, even if I believe it could be coming from the .fdi file itself (which is the generic one attached at the end of the first post of this thread as suggested in the guide).

I attach what should be some relevant output:

&> dmesg | grep acom
[   25.698399] input: Wacom Bamboo 4x5 Pen as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb5/5-2/5-2:1.0/input/input9
[   25.732651] input: Wacom Bamboo 4x5 Finger as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb5/5-2/5-2:1.1/input/input11
[   25.738624] usbcore: registered new interface driver wacom
[   25.738626] wacom: v1.52-pc-0.3:USB Wacom tablet driver

&> xinput --list --short
"Virtual core pointer"	id=0	[XPointer]
"Virtual core keyboard"	id=1	[XKeyboard]
"UVC Camera (05ca:183d)"	id=2	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=3	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=4	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=5	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=6	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Sony Vaio Keys"	id=7	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=8	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"stylus pad"	id=9	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"eraser"	id=10	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"touch"	id=11	[XExtensionPointer]
"Macintosh mouse button emulation"	id=12	[XExtensionPointer]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=13	[XExtensionPointer]

&> xsetwacom -v list
eraser     eraser
touch     touch

Launching wacomcpl results in only the eraser to be available for any kind of configuration. Neither the stylus nor the touch (that my model shouldn't have anyway) are listed.

I am a bit at a loss here, as I am not familiar with what is really happening, and the syntax of 10-linuxwacom.fdi is somewhat obscure to me.

Anyone to the rescue?

[Favux]

Hi curson,

Your dmesg basically looks correct. Where is stylus in 'xinput --list' though?

You can try replacing the new-generic .fdi with the new-working .fdi, and see if that fixes it, see: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=384

Or we could look at your Xorg.0.log in /var/log with your current set up and see what's going on.

[curson]

Where is stylus in 'xinput --list' though?

It appears to be listed as "Stylus Pad" as in here:

"stylus pad"	id=9	[XExtensionKeyboard]

...but I don't know if that is correct or not.

You can try replacing the new-generic .fdi with the new-working .fdi, and see if that fixes it, see: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=384

I will try it now, and see what the reboot brings me up with. I have the feeling is something to do with the .fdi, but I don't see why a generic one should not work though Mysteries.

Or we could look at your Xorg.0.log in /var/log with your current set up and see what's going on.

Here is what seems to be the relevant part (with still the generic .fdi, not the new one you've suggested yet) in my /var/Xorg.0.log:

(II) Wacom driver level: 47-0.8.8-6 $
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "stylus pad" (type: Wacom Pad)
(==) Wacom using pressure threshold of 27 for button 1
(==) Wacom USB Bamboo tablet speed=9600 (38400) maxX=0 maxY=0 maxZ=1023 resX=2540 resY=2540  tilt=disabled
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "eraser" (type: Wacom Eraser)

As far as Xorg.0.log goes, it seems pretty clean and neat

I'll try the new .fdi and come back... thanks for this first answer anyway!


!!!UPDATE!!!

After the reboot, with this .fdi file, the situation is I think even stranger and in some way, I suppose worse.

xinput --list --short gives:

"Virtual core pointer"	id=0	[XPointer]
"Virtual core keyboard"	id=1	[XKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=2	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"touch"	id=3	[XExtensionPointer]
"pad"	id=4	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=5	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=6	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=7	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Sony Vaio Keys"	id=8	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"UVC Camera (05ca:183d)"	id=9	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=10	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Macintosh mouse button emulation"	id=11	[XExtensionPointer]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=12	[XExtensionPointer]

with no mention of the stylus at all.

xsetwacom -v -list gives:

touch     touch
pad     pad

and wacomcpl displays nothing at all. The LED on the tablet is on, and it reacts when the stylus touches the tabled by blinking. Also, just having the stylus about 3mm hovering the tablet, and pressing the stylus buttons make the LED blinking.

[Favux]

The "stylus pad" refers to the pad, which are the four buttons. But the new Bamboos have the pad on the touch channel. So it should say "touch pad". But beyond that you have the Pen. So you shouldn't see the pad, or touch or eraser, because your stylus does not have an eraser.

We might have two .fdi's conflicting, if you did not remove/replace the default wacom.fdi that comes with Karmic. Or if you have active wacom enteries in xorg.conf. The other possibility is the Wacom names filter is not working correctly on your setup. We'd need to check out Xorg.0.log and probably lshal (lshal>yourusername_lshal.txt) to find out.

I do have a .fdi just for the Pen.

[curson]

With just the .fdi for the Pen that you posted in your last message, this is what I get.

xsetwacom list
Wacom_Bamboo_4x5_Finger     stylus

xinput --list --short
"Virtual core pointer"	id=0	[XPointer]
"Virtual core keyboard"	id=1	[XKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=2	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Sony Vaio Keys"	id=3	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=4	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=5	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=6	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"UVC Camera (05ca:183d)"	id=7	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=8	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Macintosh mouse button emulation"	id=9	[XExtensionPointer]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=10	[XExtensionPointer]
"Wacom Bamboo 4x5 Finger"	id=11	[XExtensionPointer]

Again, wacomcpl doesn't see a thing at all. LED behaviour is as described before. I've attached my xorg.conf (as far as I can tell, irrilevant), my Xorg.0.log and the result of lshal.

Again, thank you!


!!!UPDATE!!!
Out of mild boredom, I went scavenging around. I found that the .fdi provided here works! I don't know about configurations now, as wacomcpl crashes as it is, but the tablet is working (with pressure sensitivity too) in GIMP without a glitch as far as I can tell! Doesn't really give me an answer as to what was wrong before, but as far as having it working, it solves the issue.

I will see if I can work out how to tweak configurations without having wacomcpl working, but for today, I'm satisfied!

[Favux]

Hi curson,

Linuxwacom 0.8.8-6 just got re-released today. Looks like there was a problem with yesterday's release. Recompile and install it and let's see where we are.

[curson]

As said in my latest post, I somewhat managed to get things moving/working, except the fact that wacomcpl crash when called up. Might be because of the (un)setting/(un)configuring of it, but have to say it's not really usable though as it is.

I'll download and recompile, but on the website it appears still to be 0.8.8-6 dated 14/07, is that the new file or is it somewhere else?

[Favux]

Should be dated 7-15 now: https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxwacom/files/

[curson]

Recompiling killed it with my previous (see last post) .fdi that was actually working. It is now working (very erratically) with your Favux_new-generic_rc2_10-linuxwacom.fdi.txt and only with that.

"Virtual core pointer"	id=0	[XPointer]
"Virtual core keyboard"	id=1	[XKeyboard]
"UVC Camera (05ca:183d)"	id=2	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=3	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Sony Vaio Keys"	id=4	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Power Button"	id=5	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=6	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Innovace USB Keyboard"	id=7	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=8	[XExtensionKeyboard]
"Macintosh mouse button emulation"	id=14	[XExtensionPointer]
"Razer Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse"	id=15	[XExtensionPointer]
"Wacom Bamboo 4x5 Pen"	id=9	[XExtensionPointer]
"Wacom Bamboo 4x5 Finger"	id=10	[XExtensionPointer]

xsetwacom list
Wacom_Bamboo_4x5_Pen     stylus
Wacom_Bamboo_4x5_Finger     stylus

As said before, wacomcpl crashes with message:

wacomcpl: using TCLLIBPATH="[list  /usr/lib ]"
Error in startup script: Get: Unknown parameter 'SBottomX8'
    while executing
"exec xsetwacom get "$dev" SBottomX$i "
    (procedure "createScreenList" line 6)
    invoked from within
"createScreenList $dev"
    (procedure "createDeviceListPanel" line 17)
    invoked from within
"createDeviceListPanel "
    (procedure "createControls" line 9)
    invoked from within
"createControls"
    invoked from within
"if { $argc > 1 && [lindex $argv 0] == "calibrate" } {
    wm title . "Wacom Control Panel -Calibration"	
    CalibrateOnly $argc $argv
    wm geometry..."
    (file "/usr/bin/wacomcpl-exec" line 2177)

Curious that any time the tablet actually works, wacomcpl doesn't. Anyway, by erratically before I meant that: the buttons on the stylus do nothing, pressure works in GIMP but the cursor is mostly uncontrollable, and tend to freeze in place. Apparently totally randomly, I also get sort of "inversion" where I draw from one point, and I get a line starting from all the way to the left to said point... I have the feeling it's "working" just as a result of crazy settings.

Need to get to dinner now, I'll come back to this later.