wacom tablets and SDL problem fixing

[juanchor]

Well, well, just as I write this, I've read that the 10.1 Community edition of Mandrake is out... so I know this is now deprecated, but they're the most annoying problems I've found on Mandrake 10.0 and finally managed to fix.

 

These tips apply to Mandrake 10.0 Official

 

About wacom tablets working

 

I found a big trouble with Mandrake 10.0 Official and my graphire 2 USB tablet getting to work under kernel 2.6.3-7. During installation it worked fine (no wheel support on mouse, the only glitch), but when I rebooted I noticed the cursor goes to the left side of the screen and only moving up and down responding to left and right move on the tablet.

 

This is because the usbmouse module conflicts with the wacom one. The best solution is going to /etc/hotplug as root and adding usbmouse to the blacklist file (remember to sudo root before)(thanks x4nder).

 

Next time you reboot, your tablet will be quite usable, but the mouse moves in absolute coordinates and worst of all, if you fire up GIMP you'll notice there is no pressure sensitivity support. Well, I found the solution to this easiest, and you won't have to compile ANYTHING!

 

Just go to Linux wacom project and download the most recent stable package (I used ver 0.6.4). Untar the archive, then go to linuxwacom-x.y.z/prebuilt, sudo root, copy the driver for XWindow that suits your system (for me is wacom_drv.o_4.3k2.6) to /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/input/, then switch it with the original like this:

 

>mv wacom_drv.o wacom_drv.old (or whatever you want to rename it to)

>mv wacom_drv.o_4.xk2.y wacom_drv.o.

 

I don't remember how the stock /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 was exactly, I think it was ok, but if you have more InputDevices thant the usual cursor, eraser ans stylus, then comment with # or delete the line Mouse1 in ServerLayout. Also set your cursor device as "CorePointer" in this section and you're done.

Then, restart X by issueing telinit 3, then telinit 5 as root, or, if you like brute force, press CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to kill the X server, then at the console type startx.

You should have your tablet fully working right now. See your mouse move on relative coordinates and your mouse wheel works? Alright. Pressure Sentivity should work too. Test it in GIMP. Set the stylus and eraser input mode as "screen" in File>Dialogs>Input Devices if you haven't already, then draw some lines. BTW, the jitter effect I saw in GIMP 1.2.3 under mandrake 9.0 is gone. It draws crystal clear right now!

 

NOTE: Tested with out-of-the-box kernel 2.6.3-7, XFree86 4.3-30 and GIMP 1.2.5. Haven't done it with GIMP 2.0 but I will do it sometime soon :lol:

 

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SDL Floating Point Exception Issue

 

Well, if you try to run some SDL applications that autodetect joysticks or gamepads (like i.e. ZSNES, VisualBoy Advance or Tux Racer) and you have an USB one plugged in (like in my case), you'll see that the program drops down to the console and shows a message like this:

 

Floating Point Exception (SDL Parachute Deployed)

 

It's a bug in the SDL version that ships with Mandrake 10.0 (and other distros as I have seen)(1.2.7-2). I've just downloaded and installed the SDL 1.2.7-7 rpm (libSDL1.2-1.2.7-7mdk.i586.rpm) from the cooker/10.1 version and the problem is gone . This one depends on libgg, libggi and libdirectfb, that 1.2.7-2 didn't, so install them if you don't have them installed already (The ones in 10.0 work fine).

 

Hope you did find this helpful

Edited September 17, 2004 by juanchor

[VeeDubb]

The problem with the Wacom Tablet is actualy a well known and easily fixed problem, and in fact, your suggestion is NOT the best solution.

 

all you need to do is update your kernel. The latest kernel on the update mirors for mandrake 10.0 is 2.6.3-16, while the one you have the problem with is 2.6.3-7

 

There were the better part of a dozen threads o the topic right after mandrake came out, including at least two where I posted this, proper, solution. For the record, My WACOM Graphire2 works just ducky with the current kernel.

 

Enjoy.

 

Oh, don't know anything about the SDL, never had an SDL problem, though if it's fixed in cooker, I'd imagiune that simply doing all your updates would solve the problem, and avoid beta software.

[juanchor]

The problem with the Wacom Tablet is actualy a well known and easily fixed problem, and in fact, your suggestion is NOT the best solution.

I know it may not be the BEST solution, in fact I didn't claim that. I find mine is just easy and I wanted it to work out-of-the-box. Upgrading the kernel hasn't helped me a single bit. Keep reading

 

all you need to do is update your kernel.  The latest kernel on the update mirors for mandrake 10.0 is 2.6.3-16, while the one you have the problem with is 2.6.3-7

I upgraded to 2.6.3-14 and my tablet worked the same as in 2.6.3-7. Then I tried to download the 2.6.3-14 kernel-source to compile the nVIDIA drivers and rmpdrake told me: package not found. I updated RPM sources and found the 2.6.3-15 kernel was out... ok it may be stupid, but for once I decided to not upgrade the kernel anymore, as I saw it wouldn't help me but making me lose time instead. Maybe I'm downloading the 2.6.3-16 kernel and sources as I'm sticking to 10.0 until the 10.2 Official comes out, though.

 

There were the better part of a dozen threads o the topic right after mandrake came out, including at least two where I posted this, proper, solution.  For the record, My WACOM Graphire2 works just ducky with the current kernel.

I searched all these forums long and wide for topics related to "wacom" and "mandrake 10.0" Yes, there were a few, but I didn't find a solution that actually worked for me, maybe I didn't search well . BTW, weren't you who stated that the Official 2.6.3-7 kernel worked fine for your tablet?

You've got just the same tablet as I and it works for you. Well then, I'm glad :)

 

Enjoy.

 

 

Oh, don't know anything about the SDL, never had an SDL problem, though if it's fixed in cooker, I'd imagiune that simply doing all your updates would solve the problem, and avoid beta software.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, you're right to this one... except the package I downloaded was from 10.1 Community... bah, it's beta software after all, till the Official one comes ;).

[SpikeyKlitske]

BTW, did anyone get the wacom tablet working on mdk 10.1 CE?

 

I have a wacom graphire 3 and use mdk 10.1CE, the tablet is reckognised and the syslog files show activity except i dont see anything hapening. I am going to try your solution but if anyone was successful i can save the trouble :P

[SpikeyKlitske]

:woops: i still havent gotten into trying this, has someone else don it in the meantime and if so dit it work?

[devries]

I needed to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf. All entries pointed to /dev/input/event1 and the stylus, eraser etc actually were /dev/input/event3 (Check with cat /dev/input/event0/1/2/3 etc etc what works for you).

 

Anyway, it still isn't working correctly with the Gimp. I can change the settings and everything is lised but sometimes I have to draw with the eraser and the stylus is selecting everything etc etc. Still is pretty buggy

[Guest Skail]

The problem with the Wacom Tablet is actualy a well known and easily fixed problem, and in fact, your suggestion is NOT the best solution.

 

all you need to do is update your kernel.  The latest kernel on the update mirors for mandrake 10.0 is 2.6.3-16, while the one you have the problem with is 2.6.3-7

 

Well, I'm glad you two have gotten your tablets working, but I have just tried both the 'improper' solution and the kernel update (which broke a few other things, btw). No Joy whatsoever.

 

Cursor still zips to the left of the screen and moves only vertically.