Editing xorg.conf to support a Wacom tablet, and permissions

[Dave M G]

Ubuntu Users,

	1. Situation
	I've just recently installed Ubuntu, and I would like to use my Wacom
tablet as my primary and only pointing device.

	2. Problem
	The Ubuntu installer detected the Wacom, but it is not working
perfectly. It is stuck in "absolute" mode, when I want it to be in
"relative" mode.
	Recently, before installing Ubuntu, I had experimented with Fedora and
CentOS Linux distributions. In both cases, to get the tablet to work, I
had to edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, as instructed on the following
web site:
http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/

	3. Questions
	First, I'm a little confused about the permissions situation in Ubuntu.
When installing, it never asked me to specify a password for a super
user account. Now that I am trying to edit the xorg.conf file, I need
root level permissions. When I type "su -" into the command line, it
asks for a password and I don't know what I should offer.
	Second, I can read the xorg.conf file in read-only mode, and it's
apparent that it is different from the xorg.conf I had in the Red Hat
distributions I was using before. For one, the default installation has
specifically named my video card correctly, so that's one thing it has
done more successfully than other Linux distributions. Because it seems
to be set up very accurately for most things, I'm hesitant to edit it
and risk losing what it's already done well.
	I have included the xorg.conf file below that I used on previous
builds. I'm wondering if it's safe to take the Wacom related parts and
insert them into my Ubuntu xorg.conf.

	4. Reference
	My computer specifications: Pentium 4, dual boots Windows NE (Necessary
Evil), and Ubuntu Linux 5.1
	My specifications: I've used Irix a million years ago at work, but only
recently have I started using Linux at home. Somewhat familiar with Unix
concepts, but I've forgotten almost all commands. Basically a newbie.

	Here is the xorg.conf file that I was using before with Fedora and
CentOS:

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
     Identifier    "single head configuration"
    Screen        0    "Screen0" 0 0
#    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
#     InputDevice    "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
     InputDevice    "stylus" "CorePointer"
     InputDevice    "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
     InputDevice    "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name 
of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally
# no need to change the default.

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.

    RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
    FontPath     "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "fbdevhw"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "record"
    Load  "freetype"
    Load  "type1"
    Load  "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
#    Option    "Xleds"        "1 2 3"

# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
#    Option    "XkbDisable"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
#    Option    "XkbModel"    "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#    Option    "XkbModel"    "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
#    Option    "XkbLayout"    "de"
# or:
#    Option    "XkbLayout"    "de"
#    Option    "XkbVariant"    "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
#    Option    "XkbOptions"    "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
#    Option    "XkbOptions"    "ctrl:nocaps"
#
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "kbd"
    Option        "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option        "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

#Section "InputDevice"
#    Identifier  "Mouse0"
#    Driver      "mouse"
#    Option        "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
#    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mouse1"
#    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
#    Option        "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
#EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver        "wacom"
  Identifier    "cursor"
  Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
  Option        "Type"          "cursor"
  Option        "Mode"          "relative"
  Option        "Speed"         "2.0"
  Option    "DoubleSpeed"    "100"
  Option        "USB"           "on"
  Option        "Threshold"     "10"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver        "wacom"
  Identifier    "stylus"
  Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
  Option        "Type"          "stylus"
  Option        "Mode"          "Relative"
  Option        "USB"           "on"
  Option        "Tilt"          "on"
  Option        "Threshold"     "10"
  Option    "DebugLevel"    "10"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver        "wacom"
  Identifier    "eraser"
  Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
  Option        "Type"          "eraser"
  Option        "Mode"          "Relative"
  Option        "USB"           "on"
  Option        "Tilt"          "on"
  Option        "Threshold"     "10"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
    ModelName    "Dell P1110"
    DisplaySize  400    300
    HorizSync    30.0 - 121.0
    VertRefresh  48.0 - 160.0
    Option        "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Videocard0"
    Driver      "nv"
    VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
    BoardName   "RIVA TNT2"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Videocard0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth     24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
        Modes    "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1152x768" "1024x768" "800x600" 
"640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Group        0
    Mode         0666
EndSection

--
Dave M G