Acecad USB Tablet with bad karma in Karmic

**RavanH** · November 20th, 2009

Originally Posted by Favux

...I'm assuming you tried the tablet after installing that and the stylus didn't work. In other words the package didn't install an acecad.fdi. Otherwise having two .fdi's might be a problem.

You are right, the acecad package only installs /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/acecad_drv.so (apart from some basic man, doc and bug additions) but even without the xserver-xorg-input-acecad package, the tablet is recognized as an Acecad USB Tablet and mouse pointer responds to stylus movement. As dmesg reports it is a driver called usb_acecad that is being used but strangely it is not listed by lsmod.

With this 'default' config (nothing in xorg.conf, no .fdi and no xserver-xorg-input-acecad package) the mouse pointer control is very pleasant. Hard to describe but I am comparing it to when using the acecad driver (with xserver-xorg-input-acecad installed and either defined in xorg.conf or 10-acecad.fdi) where the it is hard to make the mouse pointer stay on top of (for example) a "Close window" button to successfully click it.

Originally Posted by Favux

That could be due to a low battery. Does the stylus take a battery? It could be a bad usb cable. Also make sure it's firmly plugged in on both ends. It could be a bad usb port on the computer end. Also plug it in direct, not through a hub, while you're setting up.

The battery is fresh, cable is connected directly to the laptop and works well (see above) when NOT using the acecad driver. But with the acecad driver, the mouse pointer control is much more difficult when aiming to click on a small screen object.

So if it is not possible to adjust the default configuration (no xorg.conf, no .fdi no acecad driver) so that the tablet is used as a tablet and not as a touchpad (just as it is when using xorg.conf and acecad driver, see a previous post) and I am 'doomed'

to use the acecad driver then I hope some tinkering and fine-tuning will be possible...

Originally Posted by Favux

...
Some drivers let you change the surpress level on the data the stylus is reporting, which could smooth it out. Is there a manual for acecad?:

Code:

man acecad

That would be helpful to look at. We could also try one at a time and/or some combination of:

Code:

      <merge key="input.x11_options.USB" type="string">on</merge>
      <merge key="input.x11_options.Mode" type="string">absolute</merge>
      <merge key="input.x11_options.SendCoreEvents" type="string">true </merge>

Which is why a man would be helpful.

The info in man acecad is very minimal. See http://linux.die.net/man/4/acecad . It states there are options possible but no options are described (just a text that the man page is incomplete).

I will try some options as you describe to see what effect they have.

Originally Posted by Favux

...
Some styli like the Wacom ones have a eraser-like button on the back of the stylus. It depresses into the barrel of the stylus and also gives pressure in Gimp so you can smudge.

The stylus buttons depend on the driver so we could try adding to the .fdi:

Code:

<merge key="input.x11_options.Button2" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Button3" type="string">3</merge>

Ok, so that is an eraser. The stylus in this tablet has nothing like that...

Originally Posted by Favux

...
I'm not sure what you're saying. There must be one active since your tablet is active, presumably from the acecad package. Does it show up in lsmod? If not it could be directly in the kernel in the usb-hid part. Did I miss something and you had a tablet specific kernel driver at one point?

You are not alone

I do not understand it either. Like I described: without any xorg.conf or .fdi not even xserver-xorg-input-acecad installed, the tablet is recognized and dmesg reports it using driver usb_acecad but lsmod does not list any driver like that... Weird.

When using this mysterious usb_acecad driver, xinput --list reports the tablet being used as "Type is TOUCHPAD".

Code:

"Acecad USB Tablet"	id=2	[XExtensionPointer]
	Type is TOUCHPAD
	Num_buttons is 5
	Num_axes is 3
	Mode is Absolute
	Motion_buffer is 256
	Axis 0 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 5000
		Resolution is 10000
	Axis 1 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 3750
		Resolution is 10000
	Axis 2 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 512
		Resolution is 10000

When using the xserver-xorg-input-acecad package driver (acecad) xinput --list reports the tablet being used as "Type is TABLET".

Code:

"Acecad USB Tablet"	id=3	[XExtensionPointer]
	Type is TABLET
	Num_buttons is 3
	Num_axes is 3
	Mode is Absolute
	Motion_buffer is 256
	Axis 0 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 1024
		Resolution is 1000
	Axis 1 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 768
		Resolution is 1000
	Axis 2 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 512
		Resolution is 1000

Another weird thing with that usb_acecad driver, is that while the mouse pointer position can be controlled and none of the stylus buttons have a function, the tip of the stylus does have some sort of effect. I'll try to explain: I can move the mouse pointer by moving the stylus over the tablet without actually touching it (as it should be) but as soon as I touch the tablet with the tip of the stylus the mouse pointer will stop following stylus motion unless when the stylus moves WHILE the tip is pressed down on the tablet. Then when I lift the stylus away from the tablet and move it back close to it, the mouse pointer will follow stylus movement without touching the tablet again...

It seems a bit weird behavior but actually makes the control of the mouse pointer more stable. When I want the pointer to stay above a very small area on the screen, I can just make it stay there by a short press with the tip after which I can easily press one of the buttons on the stylus with my thumb without making the pointer move away from its position! This last part is important to avoid mis-clicks (if you understand what I am trying to say)... This seems actually very useful where it not that none of the buttons have any effect

**RavanH** · November 20th, 2009

It is getting complicated but to respond to your questions about the output of xinput, xorg.0.log and lshal, I would like to compare the basic fresh Karmic pristene no xorg.conf / no xserver-xorg-input-acecad (I'll call it EVDEV) setup with the setup where xserver-xorg-input-acecad module driver in combination with your .fdi is used (i'll call it ACECAD).

EVDEV
This setup gives nice mouse pointer control but stylus buttons have no function and I cannot click anything. Is that caused by "Type is TOUCHPAD"?

Xorg.0.log ( EVDEV )

Code:

(II) config/hal: Adding input device Acecad USB Tablet
(II) LoadModule: "evdev"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input//evdev_drv.so
(II) Module evdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 1.6.4, module version = 2.2.5
	Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
	ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 4.0
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: always reports core events
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: Device: "/dev/input/event5"
(II) Acecad USB Tablet: Found 3 mouse buttons
(II) Acecad USB Tablet: Found x and y absolute axes
(II) Acecad USB Tablet: Found absolute touchpad
(II) Acecad USB Tablet: Configuring as touchpad
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: YAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: EmulateWheelButton: 4, EmulateWheelInertia: 10, EmulateWheelTimeout: 200
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Acecad USB Tablet" (type: TOUCHPAD)
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) filter chain progression: 2.00
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) filter stage 0: 20.00 ms
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) set acceleration profile 0
(II) Acecad USB Tablet: initialized for absolute axes.

Xinput --list ( EVDEV )

Code:

"Acecad USB Tablet"	id=3	[XExtensionPointer]
	Type is TOUCHPAD
	Num_buttons is 5
	Num_axes is 3
	Mode is Absolute
	Motion_buffer is 256
	Axis 0 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 5000
		Resolution is 10000
	Axis 1 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 3750
		Resolution is 10000
	Axis 2 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 512
		Resolution is 10000

ACECAD
This setup works but the mouse control is difficult especially right-clicking goes regularly wrong because of mouse movement while pressing the stylus button... Feels jumpy.

Xorg.0.log ( ACECAD )

Code:

(II) config/hal: Adding input device Acecad USB Tablet
(II) LoadModule: "acecad"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input//acecad_drv.so
(II) Module acecad: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 1.6.0, module version = 1.3.0
	Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
	ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 4.0
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event5"
(--) ACECAD Tablet MaxX:5000 MaxY:3750 MaxZ:512
(==) Acecad USB Tablet is in absolute mode
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: always reports core events
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Acecad USB Tablet" (type: TABLET)
(II) Acecad USB Tablet Increment: 4

Xinput --list ( ACECAD )

Code:

"Acecad USB Tablet"	id=3	[XExtensionPointer]
	Type is TABLET
	Num_buttons is 3
	Num_axes is 3
	Mode is Absolute
	Motion_buffer is 256
	Axis 0 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 1024
		Resolution is 1000
	Axis 1 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 768
		Resolution is 1000
	Axis 2 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 512
		Resolution is 1000

Attached is the lshal2.txt which resulted from lshal when 10-acecad.fdi had the (minimal?) content

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!-- -*- SGML -*- -->

<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>
    <match key="input.originating_device" contains="if0">
      <match key="info.product" contains="Acecad">
        <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">acecad</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">tablet</merge>
      </match>
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>

**Favux** · November 21st, 2009

Hi RavanH,

Do not use:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">tablet</merge>

You're not telling X you have a sylus. Use:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">stylus</merge>

Or better yet:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">stylus</merge>
        <merge key="info.product" type="string">stylus</merge>

That way applications like Blender that need to see "stylus" will work.

My guess is usb_acecad is associated with evdev. Either in the kernel or with evdev. You can see the evdev driver potentially has some options that it maybe possible to set:

Code:

(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) filter chain progression: 2.00
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) filter stage 0: 20.00 ms
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) set acceleration profile 0

You'd have to figure out which touchpad(?) .fdi it is setting your tablet up on by default and try to modify it. You might be able to add stylus buttons.

So the acecad driver is a Xorg driver. It's really what you should be using. You could find out which Xorg dev.s are responsible for it and contact them directly.

This setup works but the mouse control is difficult especially right-clicking goes regularly wrong because of mouse movement while pressing the stylus button... Feels jumpy.

That just might need the addition of:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.TPCButton" type="string">off</merge>

or "on". Depending on what the acecad driver supports some of the options on this page of the LinuxWacomProject's HOWTO may also apply when translated into .fdi lines.

**RavanH** · November 23rd, 2009

Originally Posted by Favux

Hi RavanH,

Do not use:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">tablet</merge>

You're not telling X you have a sylus. Use:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">stylus</merge>

Or better yet:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">stylus</merge>
        <merge key="info.product" type="string">stylus</merge>

That way applications like Blender that need to see "stylus" will work.

Funny, even the minimalistic content of

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!-- -*- SGML -*- -->

<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>
    <match key="input.originating_device" contains="if0">
      <match key="info.product" contains="Acecad">
        <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">acecad</merge>
      </match>
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>

works just the same as anything else... I have also noticed that whatever I try in the 10-acecad.fdi, only the top half of the tablet is used. Any possibilities of forcing it to use the complete tablet pad space?

Originally Posted by Favux

My guess is usb_acecad is associated with evdev. Either in the kernel or with evdev. You can see the evdev driver potentially has some options that it maybe possible to set:

Code:

(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) filter chain progression: 2.00
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) filter stage 0: 20.00 ms
(**) Acecad USB Tablet: (accel) set acceleration profile 0

You'd have to figure out which touchpad(?) .fdi it is setting your tablet up on by default and try to modify it. You might be able to add stylus buttons.

Hmmm, sounds complicated and way over my head... I'll pursue the acecad driver approach as you suggest then

Unless that one cannot be forced to use the complete tablet (like the evdev driver does) instead of just the top half!

Originally Posted by Favux

So the acecad driver is a Xorg driver. It's really what you should be using. You could find out which Xorg dev.s are responsible for it and contact them directly.

That just might need the addition of:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.TPCButton" type="string">off</merge>

or "on". Depending on what the acecad driver supports some of the options on this page of the LinuxWacomProject's HOWTO may also apply when translated into .fdi lines.

I'll continue tinkering with options and let you know if I find any useful settings...

Thanks again for your support, Favux! I see you are quite active on tablet related threads. Much appreciated

**Favux** · November 23rd, 2009

Hi RavanH,

It's possible the acecad driver doesn't auto calibrate.

Funny, even the minimalistic content of... works just the same as anything else... I have also noticed that whatever I try in the 10-acecad.fdi, only the top half of the tablet is used. Any possibilities of forcing it to use the complete tablet pad space?

That suggests the driver isn't attaching. Look in Xorg.0.log and see what's happening. With luck it will have the coordinates you need to and you can add them manually to the .fdi something like:

Code:

		<merge key="input.x11_options.BottomY" type="string">3909</merge>
		<merge key="input.x11_options.BottomX" type="string">3947</merge>
		<merge key="input.x11_options.TopY" type="string">185</merge>
		<merge key="input.x11_options.TopX" type="string">186</merge>

if the driver really won't calibrate the tablet.

**RavanH** · November 23rd, 2009

Originally Posted by Favux

Hi RavanH,

It's possible the acecad driver doesn't auto calibrate.

That suggests the driver isn't attaching. Look in Xorg.0.log and see what's happening. With luck it will have the coordinates you need to and you can add them manually to the .fdi something like:

Code:

		<merge key="input.x11_options.BottomY" type="string">3909</merge>
		<merge key="input.x11_options.BottomX" type="string">3947</merge>
		<merge key="input.x11_options.TopY" type="string">185</merge>
		<merge key="input.x11_options.TopX" type="

if the driver really won't calibrate the tablet.

Ok, I found

Code:

(--) ACECAD Tablet MaxX:5000 MaxY:3750 MaxZ:512

in xorg.0.log so I tried in 10-acecad.fdi

Code:

	<merge key="input.x11_options.Mode" type="string">absolute</merge>
	<merge key="input.x11_options.TopX" type="string">0</merge>
	<merge key="input.x11_options.BottomX" type="string">5000</merge>
	<merge key="input.x11_options.TopY" type="string">0</merge>
	<merge key="input.x11_options.BottomY" type="string">3750</merge>

Sadly, that did not change anything...

I had noticed that in the GDM login screen --before logging in-- the complete tablet surface is used for mouse movement but as soon as I had logged in, only half the surface is used. It turns out that the driver (or X?) auto calibrates the tablet correctly when I am using only one screen (or more but mirrored) but as soon as I set up my second screen to extend the desktop (doubling it verticaly) the tablet surface is halved... This happens on the fly.

No idea how to prevent this

**Favux** · November 23rd, 2009

Hi RavanH,

Good, finding coordinates in Xorg.0.log should help. So what we know now is:

Code:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.TopX" type="string">???</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TopY" type="string">???</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.BottomX" type="string">???</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.BottomY" type="string">???</merge>
        <merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxX” type=”string”>5000</merge>
        <merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxY” type=”string”>3750</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.zMin" type="string">0</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.zMax" type="string">511</merge>

Presumably TopX and Y are somewhere near zero. From your "xinput --list"'s when it using the Acecad drivers and it is called a "Type is TABLET" the Bottom X and Y are 1024 and 768 (or the reverse). But that sounds suspiciously like a screen resolution.

So just add what we know:

Code:

        <merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxX” type=”string”>5000</merge>
        <merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxY” type=”string”>3750</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.zMin" type="string">0</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.zMax" type="string">511</merge>

And see where that gets us. Then you can try manually adding the rest, if needed, and changing the values until they "fit".

The dual screen thing probably depends on what the driver supports and what video you have. What's your video chipset? I'd keep it to one screen for now until we've got the tablet sorted out.

**RavanH** · November 23rd, 2009

Originally Posted by Favux

...The dual screen thing probably depends on what the driver supports and what video you have. What's your video chipset? I'd keep it to one screen for now until we've got the tablet sorted out.

It is a ATI Radeon Xpress 200M chipset ( Ouch! I have had trouble with it from the start until fglrx became stable, but now that support for this chipset is dropped in fglrx I returned to the open radeon driver... )

The thing is: the acecad driver seems to be pretty OK when using only one screen (or two mirrored) and after some testing with a freshly created account (and mirrored screen layout) does not seem to need any tweaking at all even with the most basic .fdi content

So I guess the "jumpiness" is caused by this two screen setup bug: While by positioning the external screen (1024x768 LCD) above the laptop screen (1280x800 LCD) my desktop height has grown from 800px to 1568px, on the other hand the active drawing area on my tablet has been halved! This obviously results in nearly 4 times increase in vertical sensitivity of pen movement.

The double screen layout needed a virtual display size set up in Xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Configured Screen Device"
	Device	"Configured Video Device"
	SubSection "Display"
		Virtual	2048 2048
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Would that give us something to work with?

I really hope the full tablet area can be restored while keeping the double screen layout because the trade-off is not appealing to me.

**RavanH** · November 24th, 2009

Hi Favux,

this multi-monitor thing is a beast. Even with the second monitor switched off in Screen config, the acecad decides to adjust the work-area on the tablet to fit the smallest monitors ratio (3:4). Only after completely disconnecting it, the driver will use the complete tablet area.

To get any grip on this behaviour, I have been testing my head off.

Originally Posted by Favux

...So just add what we know:

Code:

        <merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxX” type=”string”>5000</merge>
        <merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxY” type=”string”>3750</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.zMin" type="string">0</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.zMax" type="string">511</merge>

And see where that gets us. Then you can try manually adding the rest, if needed, and changing the values until they "fit"...

Tried that, changed values... nothing.

Tried any other X/Y related parameter I could find... nothing.

Also tried various parameters from the wacom how-to on http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/in...owto/xsetwacom like

Code:

<merge key="input.x11_options.mmonitor" type="string">off</merge>

and

Code:

<merge key="input.x11_options.TwinView" type="string">vertical</merge>

to get the acecad driver to either ignore or recognize my double monitor setup... nothing.

I found a man page on the SVN of acecad on sourceforge ( https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/...put/acecad.man ) and tried every parameter that is described there but without any effect!

The acecad driver does not seem to listen to anything. Not even

Code:

<merge key="input.x11_options.Mode" type="string">Relative</merge>

and even though Xorg.0.log reports

Code:

(**) stylus is in relative mode

the stylus still behaves as in absolute mode

No parameter has any effect. Absolutely NOTHING!

I decided to test some with the evdev driver and removed the line

Code:

<merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">acecad</merge>

Immediately (after restarting X), the stylus went to relative mode and (thus?) the complete tablet area was usable even when I have two monitors connected. Somehow, I end up liking the evdev driver much better. If only it would accept/relay clicks and pressure...

Xorg.0.log and xinput --list now both report the stylus as "stylus" and not "Acecad USB Tablet" like they would without the 10-acecad.fdi so the line

Code:

<merge key="info.product" type="string">stylus</merge>

works even without loading the acecad driver! Sadly, the line

Code:

<merge key="input.x11_options.Type" type="string">stylus</merge>

does nothing. Xinput --list reports

Code:

"stylus"	id=2	[XExtensionPointer]
	Type is TOUCHPAD
	Num_buttons is 5
	Num_axes is 3
	Mode is Absolute
	Motion_buffer is 256
	Axis 0 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 5000
		Resolution is 10000
	Axis 1 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 3750
		Resolution is 10000
	Axis 2 :
		Min_value is 0
		Max_value is 512
		Resolution is 10000

(Note TOUCHPAD there instead of TABLET... Also note the "Mode is Absolute" in there, while the tablet behaves in relative mode!?)

I hope it is possible to use that file to further tweak the usb_acecad / evdev driver to accept stylus tip and buttons. But I have NO idea how... I cannot find anything via Google except this thread!

Any ideas?

**Favux** · November 24th, 2009

Hi RavanH,

I suppose you could try:

Code:

<merge key="input.x11_options.Button1" type="string">1</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Button2" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Button3" type="string">3</merge>

And you could take a look at this post.

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