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ropers | 4 May 2011 23:06
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Graphics tablet use with OpenBSD?

Hiya,
I'm considering whether to try to get a graphics/pen tablet for
GIMP/graphics design and stuff.

Are there any OpenBSD users out there who currently use a graphics
tablet with OpenBSD?

These days, does support for these require custom drivers at all? Are
they basically just pointing devices? Are they supported by uhid(4)?
I've never owned a graphics tablet before, but I gather some Wacom or
other brand tablets/pens have eraser buttons -- which I suspect would
require a special driver, wouldn't it?

I thus far only run i386 OpenBSD, and I've only checked
http://openbsd.org/i386.html#hardware , which doesn't mention graphics
tablets specifically. If they're not presently supported (anymore),
then that would also be good to know -- I'm just asking whether anyone
knows more.

Grepping the archives, I found this: http://mongers.org/openbsd/graphire4
However, it dates back to 2005 and refers to the usbtablet(4) driver
which disappeared between OpenBSD 4.3 and 4.4:
http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=usbtablet&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=OpenBSD+4.3&arch=i386&format=html
http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=usbtablet&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=OpenBSD+4.4&arch=i386&format=html

I also found this info
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/symmetricalism/2269700653/>, but
apparently it pertains to a specific laptop, so I'm not sure how much
of that is generalizable, or where to find further info.
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Stuart Henderson | 5 May 2011 11:37
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Re: Graphics tablet use with OpenBSD?

On 2011-05-04, ropers <ropers <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm considering whether to try to get a graphics/pen tablet for
> GIMP/graphics design and stuff.
>
> Are there any OpenBSD users out there who currently use a graphics
> tablet with OpenBSD?

Yes, daily as my main pointing device, works fine and much better for
my wrists than a mouse (or trackball which was a complete disaster!).

> Grepping the archives, I found this: http://mongers.org/openbsd/graphire4
> However, it dates back to 2005 and refers to the usbtablet(4) driver
> which disappeared between OpenBSD 4.3 and 4.4:
> http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=usbtablet&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=OpenBSD+4.3&arch=i386&format=html
> http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=usbtablet&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=OpenBSD+4.4&arch=i386&format=html

Using that as a reference, xterm(1) also disappeared ;-)

> If on the other hand someone did know how to currently get graphics
> tablets to work, and maybe even could recommend a (preferably very)
> inexpensive (but not shite) device that works well with OpenBSD, that
> would be super grand.

I'm using an old wacom cte-430, think the marketing name was graphire3.
It's only small but perfectly ok for my needs. If you have to make a
choice between small+good or large+cheaper, unless you absolutely
need the large size (e.g. tracing plans), compromise on size rather
than quality.

Wacoms are good (and no battery in the stylus) but if you use one
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Amit Kulkarni | 5 May 2011 15:11
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Re: Graphics tablet use with OpenBSD?

> I'm using an old wacom cte-430, think the marketing name was graphire3.
> It's only small but perfectly ok for my needs. If you have to make a
> choice between small+good or large+cheaper, unless you absolutely
> need the large size (e.g. tracing plans), compromise on size rather
> than quality.
>
> Wacoms are good (and no battery in the stylus) but if you use one
> regularly, get a spare stylus, they don't break often but when they
> do it's usually at the most annoying time.
>
> Here are relevant looking sections from my xorg.conf:-
>
> Section "InputDevice"
>    Identifier "w_stylus"
>    Driver "usbtablet"
>    Option "Type" "stylus"
>    Option "Device" "/dev/uhid0"
>    Option "Mode" "Absolute"
>    Option "Threshold" "10"
> EndSection
>
> Section "InputDevice"
>    Identifier "w_eraser"
>    Driver "usbtablet"
>    Option "Type" "eraser"
>    Option "Device" "/dev/uhid0"
>    Option "Mode" "Absolute"
> EndSection
>
> Section "ServerFlags"
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Bryan | 5 May 2011 16:35
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Re: Graphics tablet use with OpenBSD?

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 08:11, Amit Kulkarni <amitkulz <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm using an old wacom cte-430, think the marketing name was graphire3.
>> It's only small but perfectly ok for my needs. If you have to make a
>> choice between small+good or large+cheaper, unless you absolutely
>> need the large size (e.g. tracing plans), compromise on size rather
>> than quality.
>>

I was thinking along the same lines, but I didn't want to have to lug
around a tablet...

After seeing the port of 'xournal' a few days ago I wanted to be able
to annotate and write inside the PDFs using
xournal, and I began looking into USB pens.

Kind of the reverse of the wacom tablet, and smaller more portable.

Has anyone had experience with a USB optical pen, similiar to the one below?

http://www.amazon.com/I-Pen-Digital-Writer-Optical-Device/dp/B0000AC88K

or a pen like mouse?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/tech-data/B001FWKA7A
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Peter Kay | 5 May 2011 12:05
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Re: Graphics tablet use with OpenBSD?

If 'cheap but ok' is the overriding factor, you might want to investigate a
serial based tablet off ebay. It may be a hassle to get it to work in
Windows or OS X, but *nix usually has less problems.

Checking this out is left as an exercise for the reader, however.

On 04/05/2011, ropers <ropers <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> Hiya,
> I'm considering whether to try to get a graphics/pen tablet for
> GIMP/graphics design and stuff.
>
> Are there any OpenBSD users out there who currently use a graphics
> tablet with OpenBSD?
>
> These days, does support for these require custom drivers at all? Are
> they basically just pointing devices? Are they supported by uhid(4)?
> I've never owned a graphics tablet before, but I gather some Wacom or
> other brand tablets/pens have eraser buttons -- which I suspect would
> require a special driver, wouldn't it?
>
> I thus far only run i386 OpenBSD, and I've only checked
> http://openbsd.org/i386.html#hardware , which doesn't mention graphics
> tablets specifically. If they're not presently supported (anymore),
> then that would also be good to know -- I'm just asking whether anyone
> knows more.
>
> Grepping the archives, I found this: http://mongers.org/openbsd/graphire4
> However, it dates back to 2005 and refers to the usbtablet(4) driver
> which disappeared between OpenBSD 4.3 and 4.4:
> http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=usbtablet&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=OpenBSD+4.3&arch=i386&format=html
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