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

[erik.kugel]

Hey guys, just wanted to say I managed to get the tx2500 working with the 2.6.30+ kernels without modifying FDI files (using only the generic LinuxWacom provided files) and without patching any wacom code. The only thing I had to do was to modify xorg.conf properly and copy 3 files over. This wasn't done on ubuntu but since it only involved copying FDI and UDEV rule files and compiling the xorg wacom_drv.so driver it should work on any distro. If it's helpful for anyone a guide was posted here:

http://erikugel.wordpress.com/2009/0...t-going-on-13/

See the Wacom portion of it.

This Ubuntu forum was very helpful for me, especially Favux and gali's comments, so it made sence to share it here.

[Favux]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for sharing your Slackware (almost 13) Wacom for the TX2500 and 2.6.30 kernel guide. It was interesting, with some different approaches to problem solving.

[Theory5]

for some reason this tutorial screwed up my computer. I got up until the first reboot, and now it boots really slowly and when it finishs, it only displays small red blobs at the top. I tried the recovery mode but that just put blue and green lines under the blobs.

Also, did you mean to put that purge command in? I mean, doesnt that defeat the whole porpose? I used that command, then I saw what it did, and so I went back and did the instructions from before that purge thing, skipped the purge thing, and continued.

[gali98]

The purge is necessary. The point of the tutorial is to compile the linux-wacom distibution. You ended up installing the sources you compiled over the present ubuntu version (which the purge command removes) leaving you with different versions possibly conflicting with each other. This might be (though it seems doubtful) the cause of the problem you are having.
Have you made any recent hardware changes?
What machine/tablet do you have?
If you cannot get into the recovery mode, I believe there is a way to start it from the cd.
Kory

[Theory5]

So the purge removes everything but the compiled version so I dont have any conflicts?
I belive I have a fix. I just need to copy the xorg configbackup file and rename it. I thought the purge was akin to uninstalling it, im kinda new to the command line of ubuntu

[gali98]

Basically purge uninstalls all the files (While remove uninstalls most files, but leaves some configuration files) so that when you do sudo make install, the system doesn't have any of the old program.

If you run the purge command after you have installed the compiled files, it will also stop making it work, as it will remove some of your compiled files as well.

You need to run the purge command, then run sudo make install in the build directory again.
Learn to use the command line... It makes things a lot easier a lot of the time... and you can show off to your friends.
Kory

[gali98]

Updated my tutorial to the latest stable release (0.8.4)
Tested and everything was working as normal.
Kory

[SINternet]

I was wondering if there would be a fix for this bug instead of patch this and brainstorming when a new kernel comes out. Anyone know if will get resolved?

Thanks,

SIN

[Favux]

Hi SINternet,

It isn't a bug, it's a consequence of compiling and installing the kernel module.

If Kharmic's version of linuxwacom works for you, and let's you do what you want, you won't need to compile and install different (newer) versions of linuxwacom anymore. In that case kernel updates won't affect you.

[gali98]

Karmic will almost certainly include the newest (or a newer) version of linux-wacom. This will include a kernel module new enough to support the USB Tablet PCs... So then the only thing we would have to do is fix the fdi file (and we may be lucky enough to even skip that) and the script that applies wacomcpl settings.
Kory