wacom and linux...

[showdownmetal]

i just installed xubuntu 7.10 gutsy gibbons on my computer and i was wondering if theres anyone else out there who uses linux and would know how to install the drivers for a graphire3... thanks.

[Tina Russell]

I use Ubuntu 7.10 on my tablet compy... all versions of Ubuntu should come with the Wacom drivers pre-installed, but you may have to edit xorg.conf to get it to work (I know, argh). Are you familiar with xorg.conf? If not, that's okay... I'll write more, later, just write here and let me know where you're at... thanks!

[showdownmetal]

i kind of know a lil about xorg.conf but i just started using linux literally a week ago... the only reason i decided to try it was because i liked the compiz fusion look. it wasnt until later that i found out that its a pain to try to install anything on linux.

ok so where im at. i plugged in my wacom after installing xubuntu, and i opened gimp and (another problem being i dont know anything about gimp) i started noticeing two things. 1 no pressure sensitivity, and 2 the "screen" area of my graphire didnt match up with my actual screen, basically my pen couldnt reach all areas of the screen.

i tryed looking up what to do but im new to linux and impatient. i didnt like the looks of all the code and didnt want to mess something up i wouldnt remember how to fix later.

thanks in advance.

[Tina Russell]

Hey! Sorry I was gone for a bit.

Ergh, I don't think I can help with the discrepancy in screen size thing. (Can anybody help out?) But I know what you mean about weirdness in GIMP and it not recognizing pressure sensitivity. This should do the trick:

In GIMP, go to File > Preferences. In the left column should be "Input Devices." Click that (but not its subset, "Input Controllers"). A big horizontal button at the top should say "Configure Extended Input Devices." Click that, and you'll get a weird, slightly minimalist window with two pull-down menus: "device" and "mode."

The first device, I think, will usually be "Configured Mouse." Ignore that. You also might see something about a touchpad if you use a laptop; ignore that, too (GIMP will waay screw up if you tell it to use a touchpad as an input device; I've seen it). But, if xorg.conf is configured correctly, and it should be, then you should see three more devices: "stylus," "eraser," and "cursor." (If you see fewer than that... I don't think you will, but if you do, it's fine. I'm using a tablet compy with a serial rather than a USB digitizer, so small things might be different but I doubt it will be a problem...)

(Oh, and of course, "stylus" is the important one...)

One by one, select them in "device" and, each time, set "mode" from "disabled" to "screen." (You may want to try "window" sometime, actually... I don't know how well it works, or, errr, how it works at all, but maybe it'd be useful.) Now, click "save," and go about editing your picture. Pressure sensitivity should work, now; for instance, the brush's default behavior is to become more clear with less pressure, but you can change that in the tool settings (have it change weird things like size, color, etc.).

I hope that helps. Let me know if it doesn't. By the way... in Ubuntu it's normally much easier than this to download new programs and such, since you can use the package manager (which is excellent). But, yes, it's big weakness is stuff like this, having to mess with arcane settings to get certain pieces of hardware working. That, and I wish more Linux developers were the kinds of artsy types who would buy tablets, yarrrr. Anyway...

[showdownmetal]

ummmm... i went to file > preferences > input devices and clicked on the top button, and it said no input devices to configure. which im guessing means that either my wacom isnt installed correctly or its not picking it up. was there a specific way i was suposed to install my wacom?