HOWTO: enable your Wacom Graphire Bluetooth drawing tablet

[mertulas]

Ok here is another question, whne I log on to ubuntu for the first time, only my pen works, after I logged on pressing the F6(or F1)-F7 combination doesn't enable the mouse. Only after logging out my mouse gets activated in the login screen. Is there any way to have the mouse active on the first time?

[mesilliac]

Hmm, if the mouse is not working at the login screen you can try hitting CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE (from the login screen, with the tablet on), which should forcibly restart the X server.

Not a great solution I know, but better than having to log in and out repeatedly.

[BatPenguin]

Hello everybody. First of all, thanks for the great how-to's to all who are contributing, I'm looking into buying a drawing tablet, and wanted to make sure I get something that's well supported. Looks like Wacom is pretty much the only option for Linux, I was very happy to see these forums with such nice how-to's and all.

Anyhow, I'd like a bluetooth tablet instead of a USB one, and since I can't find a list of "supported hardware", I thought I'd ask here: do all wacom bluetooth tablets work? Or is there a compatibility list somewhere?

At the moment, I'm looking at that:

http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=163&lang=en

That's the Wacom Wireless Pen Tablet, Graphire3 Classic XL, A5, Bluetooth. Anybody using it? This would be probably for GIMP use, my wife could use one and I think our kids would love a drawing tool as well. TuxPaint is a great hit here, do these pens work in it?

Thanks in advance - and sorry if these are very simple questions, very new to these drawing tablets.

[Clochard]

I have the bluetooth model, and the info in this thread and the linked-to Howto's applies directly to this model.

[tullis]

I've just posted a new version of the graphire-bt modified kernel module:

https://sourceforge.net/tracker2/dow...52&aid=1908703

This version should fix numerous issues:
* mouse scrollwheel is no longer inverted
* mouse cursor no longer jumps around when waking up / scrolling
* tablet buttons work
* touching screen corners / edges is much easier

Let me know if there are any problems .

Can you (or someone) please post a link to to the list of hidp modules, rather than just the download links, because these links just go dead.

The link above is dead, for example.
I have got the module dated 2008-06-14 compiled and working in Jaunty (beta), but the mouse scroll wheel is reversed.

When I search Sourceforge for wacom-bt-driver it returns nothing. If I select the linuxwacom project it does not list the Bluetooth driver amongst the available files.

Many thanks.
Ben

[mesilliac]

The most recent driver does not work in jaunty.
(update: see next post for an updated driver)

I'm currently working on updating the driver for jaunty. With the changes in the kernel I should be able to write a proper driver for it now.

If anyone knows anything about making an ubuntu package for a kernel module, could they PM me?

For now, on intrepid you can still use the previous drivers, and tullis reports that the 2008-06-14 version works with jaunty. You can download them from:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/inde...96&atid=525126


@BatPenguin:
Sorry for the late reply . I believe that wacom are still using the same models (it has the Graphire3 base) for wireless tablets, just with a different name. So "Graphire Bluetooth", "Graphire Wireless", "Wireless Pen Tablet" are probably all the same.

I still would strongly recommend a wired model for family use though, mainly because the wireless tablets aren't officially supported.


@tullis:
The link above should be what you want. The page the downloads are on is on linuxwacom's sourceforge tracker, under "patches" (search for bluetooth). Unfortunately its link changes as often as the download link does.

I'm hoping I can get a proper driver written soon, which could be included in the linuxwacom project.

[mesilliac]

Okay I've got a new driver written and it seems to be working perfectly...

This driver will only work in jaunty

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?fun...96&atid=525126

(scroll down to attached files to download)

To install, extract it somewhere and cd there in a terminal, then:

make
sudo make install

The tablet should (hopefully) immediately work, with no need to reboot or anything.

If you have a custom .fdi file in /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ you should remove it, or update it somehow (details in the next post).

To get the tablet driver to load automatically at boot:

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

Open /etc/modules and add the following on a new line:

hid_wacom_bt

After saving, the wacom module will be loaded at boot, so the tablet should work asap. (I'm not sure of the proper way to do this but this works for now)

Things that should be working:

* stylus, mouse, eraser, pad (top buttons)
* hotplug (turn it on anytime, no more logging out/in)
* all tablet features

I could use some feedback before updating the wiki, is this working for anyone?

[mesilliac]

I've got the custom .fdi file method of configuration working great. It seems that all tool types can now be configured in this way (stylus, eraser, etc).

Here's mine as an example (adjust to taste):

/etc/hal/fdi/policy/custom_wacom.fdi

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

<deviceinfo version="0.2">

  <device>
    <match key="input.x11_driver" contains="wacom">
      <match key="input.x11_options.Type" contains="stylus">
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TPCButton" type="string">on</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.KeepShape" type="string">on</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.Threshold" type="string">1</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.PressCurve" type="string">50,0,100,50</merge>
      </match>
    </match>
    <match key="input.x11_driver" contains="wacom">
      <match key="input.x11_options.Type" contains="eraser">
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TPCButton" type="string">on</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.KeepShape" type="string">on</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.Threshold" type="string">1</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.PressCurve" type="string">50,0,100,50</merge>
      </match>
    </match>
  </device>

</deviceinfo>

The option lines are the <merge> ones, and these may be modifed, added or removed.

I assume for the cursor and pad you can also set options if necessary.

wacomcpl doesn't work at all for me currently, but as mentioned above xsetwacom works if you use the name of the device as reported by "xinput list --short", for example:

xsetwacom set "Wacom Pen Tablet" RawSample "2"
xsetwacom set "Wacom Pen Tablet" ClickForce "1"
xsetwacom set "Wacom Pen Tablet" PressCurve "50 0 100 50"
xsetwacom set "Wacom Pen Tablet eraser" RawSample "2"
xsetwacom set "Wacom Pen Tablet eraser" ClickForce "1"
xsetwacom set "Wacom Pen Tablet eraser" PressCurve "50 0 100 50"
xsetwacom set "Wacom Pen Tablet" TPCButton "on"

NOTE: the xsetwacom commands and the <merge> options sometimes have different names... watch out

[Corvix]

Works like a charm, even the fdi config is quite convenient! Just turn off the tablet, change custom fdi, turn on again and changes take effect.
I only wonder how I can assign the two buttons on the graphire to zoom in and out in Gimp?

Thanks soo much Tommy!

[Clochard]

I upgraded to Jaunty and have confirmed that your driver and instructions work perfectly.

I haven't played with the fdi file yet and haven't set up the eraser or pad buttons as I've grown used to not using them. I'll report back once I get those changes in.

Thanks a bunch for making this completely awesome!