How to use pen in Motion Computing "Gateway" M1300?

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Jim2029
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How to use pen in Motion Computing "Gateway" M1300?

#1 Post by Jim2029 »

I was wondering how to go about getting this pen working on this tablet with the current Puppy...

I found a how to for version 4.2.... but that was from 2007, and I think it may be out dated and not work on the current Puppy?

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darkcity
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#2 Post by darkcity »

where did you find the instructions for 4.2?

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DanYHKim
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M1300 Pen and Puppy

#3 Post by DanYHKim »

I'd be happy to have any kind of coherent instructions on this subject. I don't need anything fancy, just make the pen work like a mouse. I'd even be OK if I had to use the hardware buttons to click the mouse! I'm desperate!

In 2010, I posted that I'm ignorant
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 393#440393

There, I listed some of what I think the M1300 is about, but I don't know if I'm off-base.

In 2010, 2lman2 posted that Puppy is great on his M1300 tablet, but gave no details:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 552#390552

In May, 2011, "iteration69" posted his xorg.conf edits that made Lucid work on a TC4200.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=68264
I'll have to try this out, but somehow I think this may not be enough.

I mean, I don't think you can just edit xorg.conf and reboot and it all is good. There's something else as well. There has always been some talk of going to Terminal and then typing the commands

depmod
modprobe wacom

or something like that. I think this is supposed to get Puppy to load a driver for the wacom tablet hardware, or something. If so, does this have to be invoked in the startup script (a file called rc.local or something?)?

Do I, in Lucid, need to tell it to use a serial mouse on "ttys0" instead of the USB mouse?

I've been picking at this for years. If I ever get it to run, I promise to write up a detailed procedure to make it work, but I really need some help. I mean, this forum is a great community, but too many things get lost across multiple posts and threads.

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DanYHKim
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Wacom driver? Modprobe? what?

#4 Post by DanYHKim »

OK, so at:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 146#491146

there is an implication that the Wacom tablet driver is already installed, or in some way present, in Puppy after version 4.1 or 4.2. I assume this is also true for Lucid Pup versions.

The Wacom driver is not loaded . . . or something . . . by default, and so the "modprobe" command is used to do this. Quoting charlie6, this looks like:

Code: Select all

#depmod                <<<< here push Enter  key
#modprobe wacom  <<<< here push Enter  key
#                            <<<< here you will maybe get
                               some comments  like 'deprecated
                             ...blablibla' do not take account of them 
You will also have to edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and add lines to help Puppy use the driver. This is where the stuff about "server layout" and "input device" seems to come in.

The xorg.conf file may not have a "server layout" section. This is confusing. Later, in this same thread, gopher says:
Update: I found that after running the xorg wizard a ServerLayout section will be added to xorg.conf. However, adding the lines hasn't solved my problem. The tablet still only functions like a mouse.
Wait . . . still functions like a mouse? That's all I really need! I mean, I don't need gestures or whatever other special stylus stuff. Just make the pointer work! I can't even get the stylus to make the pointer go!

BUT! gopher did put in two links to the Linux Wacom Project that describe what goes into the xorg.conf file. I'll have to read these carefully and test them on my M1300 to see if they work. I'll update this thread if I get any kind of action with my stylus, so stay tuned!

(By the way, if anyone else reading this thread has insights, please post a reply. I would like to have a definitive answer to the Puppy Linux/M1300 problem to write up. This has been a mystery for too long!)

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don570
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#5 Post by don570 »

I read through your link
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=68264

and there's some good advice there. Having an xorg.conf
file to follow helps enormously.

First he says it's lucid. So try the steps for lucid puppy
that I give here.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 649#506649

A note about drivers.....

Puppy includes a wacom driver but from my experience
it's not always useful. With Lucid Puppy it's not useful
which is why the wacom pet package has a new driver
(specially compiled) inside the package.

Tell us of your experiences on the wacom thread.

__________________________________________

____________________________________________

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DanYHKim
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Wow! Thanks for the reply

#6 Post by DanYHKim »

OK, one of my problems is that I sometimes get confused when reading about using a "tablet". At times, a post is really talking about a PC that is equipped with a stylus or touch-activated screen in which a stylus moves the mouse cursor around. This is what I am interested in. At other times, a post is talking about using a graphics tablet, which is a peripheral device that one writes on or uses kind of like a mouse. This is a source of about half of my confusion.

So, the "modprobe wacom" command line gives me some responses, but I don't know if that means I am loading a driver for a touch/stylus-activated screen, or a peripheral drawing tablet. Or, does it matter?

Let's say that I want to run Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 on the M1300. Should I find a Wacom driver .pet file?

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don570
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#7 Post by don570 »

Use the pet package I suggest in the link.

http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/so ... 6.30.5.pet

______________________________________

There is two drivers inside the pet package, 'wacom' and
'wacom_w8001' . I'm not sure what 'wacom_w8001' does???.

Maybe it's for a special type of tablet computer.

To load it I assume you would type in console app

Code: Select all

depmod 
modprobe wacom_w8001
but I'm just guessing, and who knows what it will do to
your computer.

Either it works or it doesn't. You'll see quick movement
or you won't.

If there's slow movement or no movement at all then
the driver hasn't properly loaded into RAM at startup.

______________________________________
Last edited by don570 on Tue 24 Jan 2012, 19:05, edited 1 time in total.

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DanYHKim
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Wow! don570 is my HERO!

#8 Post by DanYHKim »

Thanks, don570. It works.
I don't know what kind of pen functions other people want, but I am happy just to have the stylus work like a mouse.

The mouse cursor moves with the stylus movement whenever the stylus is within an inch or so of the screen. The little clicker-button on the side of the stylus acts as a right-click. I downloaded the xvkbd 3.2 virtual keyboard .pet, and it works too.

I am sooo happy that I don't have to bang away at this anymore!

OK, so this is what I have:

M1300 tablet computer. Pentium M, "1000 MHz"
512 Mb RAM

I replaced the hard drive with a 2 GB SD card in a SD to IDE adapter, for power savings, resistance to physical shock, and just because.

1. Booted to USB with Lucid Puppy 5.2.5

2. Used the "Universal Installer" to install Puppy to the SD-IDE drive. This was a bit of a reach, because I had to do some odd things with . . . hmmm . . . I forget. Something about the way Puppy formatted the disk. In any case, it's not really important for making the tablet part work.

3. Now, I boot to the SD-IDE drive with a USB wireless keyboard attached.

4. Installed the wacom-0.8.5-10-k2.6.30.5.pet package that was linked by don570 above.

5. Re-boot, just to be safe. Probably not necessary.

6. Opened terminal window and did the "depmod" and "modprobe wacom_w8001" thing, as don570 described.

7. Edit the xorg.conf file per iteration69's description, adding the three "Input Device" sections pertaining to wacom and the two "Server Layout" lines for "stylus" and "eraser".

8. Re-start the X-server

9. Now it works!

I didn't have to modify my rc.local file or tell Puppy that I was using a serial mouse or anything else, as far as I can remember. It is just working.

So, whoever else is looking to make their M1300 stylus work like a mouse, this seems to be the way.

Any comments or additions?

[EDIT Jan 25] I can now confirm that this works from a "clean" install of Lucid Pup 5.2.5
Last edited by DanYHKim on Wed 25 Jan 2012, 15:58, edited 1 time in total.

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don570
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#9 Post by don570 »

That's great news!! :lol:

I've posted a link in the regular Murga wacom thread
so people with tablet Computers will come here and read.

Some tips: Make a copy of your Pupsave file in a safe place
and keep a copy of your xorg.conf file on a USB stick.

..and write down

Code: Select all

depmod 
modprobe wacom_w8001 
somewhere so it's handy.

______________________________________________

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DanYHKim
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OK, so how about rotating the screen in my M1300

#10 Post by DanYHKim »

My M1300 displays Puppy desktop in landscape, which is fine, but I'd like to see if I can rotate the screen. The 'screen rotation' thread says to use a command-line command called 'xrandr', as in:

Code: Select all

xrandr -o right
which rotates the screen 90 degrees right. This is fine.

But now my stylus doesn't track! Stylus movement makes the mouse arrow move, um, 90 degrees rotated.

So, does anyone have some advice on how to make this work? I'd like Puppy (Lucid 5.2.8 - 4) to start up in the 'portrait' rotation with my stylus working properly. I'd really appreciate any help on this.

Thanks

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don570
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#11 Post by don570 »

If you look inside the wacom pet package that you installed
(using the command pet2tgz pet_package)

Code: Select all

pet2tgz pet_package
Do you see an application from wacom inside?
I have never used that app but I understood that
it controlled orientation.

I'm sorry but I don't know the command to use.
________________________________________________

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don570
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#12 Post by don570 »

I've looked it up and it's called 'xsetwacom'
I think it's launched by typing 'xsetwacom' in the console

Here is what the wacom site says
Run-Time Configuration
Our driver includes the command-line driven xsetwacom utility which is capable of modifying the configuration of your tablet on-the-fly. This can be useful for allowing per-user settings, temporarily adjusting the current settings, or gaining an understanding of how particular options affect the tablet's operation.
For example, suppose you wish to have the ExpressKeys perform certain keyboard actions to make image manipulation in GIMP easier. Your particular preference for ExpressKey behavior may not be the same as another user using the same workstation. By calling xsetwacom in a login script, you can customize the system-wide defaults to your own liking. As another example, suppose that you feel GIMP's paintbrush needs a more-firm feel and the airbrush a less-firm feel. By using xsetwacom, you can change the PressureCurve property of your stylus on-the-fly as you swap back and forth between paintbrush and airbrush.

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don570
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#13 Post by don570 »

Wacom describes rotation here
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/l ... e=Rotation

Here's an interesting remark by wacom
Tip: Prior to xf86-input-wacom-0.11.0 rotation was tool-specific. It was necessary to rotate each input tool separately as the following examples show. For the new Rotate parameter simply chose the one input tool you prefer to rotate.

This sounds like a good reason to update to the latest xf86-input !!!
_________________________________________________

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DanYHKim
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M1300 Screen Rotation and Pen Rotation

#14 Post by DanYHKim »

Thanks for all the help. I finally got around to trying it out.

So, from the Terminal, I can type in:

Code: Select all

xrandr -o right
and the screen will rotate 90 degrees clockwise, but my pen does not also follow the rotation. Instead, the mouse cursor moves up/down when I move the pen left/right.

Looked at the linked page from don570. It says:
The four valid settings are:

none: the tablet is not rotated in software and uses its natural rotation.
half: the tablet is rotated by 180 degrees (upside-down)
cw: the tablet is rotated 90 degrees clockwise
ccw: the tablet is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise

Note that rotation is a tablet-wide option. If you rotate one input tool all other tools associated with the same tablet are rotated to the same orientation.
There are also examples, including this line:
xsetwacom set "Wacom BambooFun 2FG 4x5 Pen stylus" rotate half
My previous modifications to xorg.conf named the input device as "stylus", and the command

Code: Select all

xsetwacom list
returns the names "stylus" and "eraser", so I figure that "stylus" is the device name to use.

From Terminal, I wrote:

Code: Select all

xsetwacom set stylus rotate cw
to rotate the stylus behavior clockwise. This worked! Now the pen and mouse cursor move as expected!

So, I guess I'll have to learn how to make up a script to rotate the screen and also rotate the stylus, and create a desktop icon to launch it. Maybe also another one to rotate everything back to landscape mode.

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