<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Dave M G wrote: <blockquote cite="mid1129431587.10613.20.camel@localhost.localdomain" type="cite"> <pre wrap="">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: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/">http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/</a> 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 </pre> </blockquote> First things first, if you are worried about borking your xorg configuration, I'd make a copy and put it in your user's home directory before you make any changes. <tt>cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf ~ </tt>cp being the command to copy, /etc/X11/xorg.conf being your configuration file, and the tilde (~) being a 'shortcut' for your home directory. The reason you were never asked to give a superuser password is because most of the work is done with 'sudo' instead of using 'su' or a root account. sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf will allow you to edit xorg as root, and if you have your tablet under the pointing devices section, I'd just add the line Option "Mode" "relative" to the "InputDevice" for your wacom tablet. If your xorg.conf doesn't work after any of the edits, just copy the original back with sudo. <tt>sudo cp ~/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf </tt>Good Luck! -Mark </body> </html>