Wacom Intuos pen & Touch Small
This post is to share how I program my Wacom drawing tablet on a computer running Ubuntu. Even without the following adjustments the Wacom works perfectly on my computer and in the art program Gimp -- I am able to draw, move and manipulate images with minimal set up. My issue was that I was unable to set any of the buttons on the face of the tablet or on the pen. If I were running Apple or Windows the set up apparently would be easy and there would be nothing to write about. This information may not be helpful to most and I cannot say whether these steps will work for you when you take into account the wide range of Wacom products. Regardless-- read through slowly, it isn't as hard as it may look.
Overview
The pen has a pressure sensitive tip an "eraser" and two buttons. The face of the tablet has four buttons at the top. You connect the tablet to your computer via USB. You move the cursor by hovering the pen over the face of the tablet, and by pressing down you can click and drag, plus use your fingers to zoom in and zoom out, etc. A small button at the top allows you to turn off the touch feature, so you can rest your hand on it while using the pen.
On most computers when you set up your tablet you click a bunch of buttons and your settings are saved and everything is easy. Unfortunately I can only input the tablet's pressure sensitivity and a few options for the pen buttons.
On most computers when you set up your tablet you click a bunch of buttons and your settings are saved and everything is easy. Unfortunately I can only input the tablet's pressure sensitivity and a few options for the pen buttons.
Instructions
1. Turn on computer and plug in tablet.
2. ctrl+alt+T opens Terminal. This is where you will be entering code. If you have never used Terminal do not be afraid. Even if you enter the codes all crazy and your tablet isn't working, in MY experience all I had to do was unplug it and everything was reset. This is not actually changing or rewriting anything. I am not an expert, but all we are doing here is "unlocking" the settings my tablet already comes with, and which aren't accessible due to my operating system. Funnily, if I weren't running Ubuntu I would not be able to input codes this way, sooo things all worked out?
2. ctrl+alt+T opens Terminal. This is where you will be entering code. If you have never used Terminal do not be afraid. Even if you enter the codes all crazy and your tablet isn't working, in MY experience all I had to do was unplug it and everything was reset. This is not actually changing or rewriting anything. I am not an expert, but all we are doing here is "unlocking" the settings my tablet already comes with, and which aren't accessible due to my operating system. Funnily, if I weren't running Ubuntu I would not be able to input codes this way, sooo things all worked out?
Each button on the tablet has an assigned number. Above is the illustration showing how mine is configured. I assume yours is the same way so let's continue using mine as the template. As the photo at the top shows, I want button 1 to be "select all" 3 is "undo" 9 is "copy" and 8 is "paste". When you program these buttons, they are called Pad. I also want the lower pen button, "2" in my illustration, to work as a Delete key. There is an X for the upper button because that I was able to designate as a "right click" function going through system settings. (That is the one key that I don't have to program every time I set up the tablet.) So I actually never bothered finding out it's number code to re-program it.
HERE IS WHERE THINGS GET ANNOYING-- due to some kind of security protocols in the Wacom software, the number assigned to PAD, TOUCH, STYLUS, and ERASER change every time you plug your tablet in. Thus, on to step three...
3. In Terminal, type xsetwacom --list devices then hit "Enter"
HERE IS WHERE THINGS GET ANNOYING-- due to some kind of security protocols in the Wacom software, the number assigned to PAD, TOUCH, STYLUS, and ERASER change every time you plug your tablet in. Thus, on to step three...
3. In Terminal, type xsetwacom --list devices then hit "Enter"
So now we can see the two values I need, Pad and Stylus, are listed as 17 and 18 respectively. The numbers are not wildly randomized, they simply re-arrange 16-19 (Update Dec 30, now the number values are 13, 14, 18 and 19. No idea why, but this method still works.) The pixelized area is just the name of my computer, it will be different for you.
SIDE NOTE: Typing in terminal requires specific key strokes in a specific order or the computer does not understand. So the command we just typed, should be exactly xsetwacom, then a space, then two dashes, no space in front of list, space, devices. If you typed it xsetwacom-- list devices it will not register as a proper command because the space is in the wrong location.
GUESS WHAT? I do not feel like typing each command individually every time I set my tablet up. If you were to type in the following commands and save them in a regular office document, it would not work when pasted into Terminal because of the invisibles. If you are running Ubuntu (or any Linux system, I assume) you have gedit. Without going into more long explanations, that is where I have my commands saved, because you can type code then paste it into Terminal without any of the crap.
SIDE NOTE: Typing in terminal requires specific key strokes in a specific order or the computer does not understand. So the command we just typed, should be exactly xsetwacom, then a space, then two dashes, no space in front of list, space, devices. If you typed it xsetwacom-- list devices it will not register as a proper command because the space is in the wrong location.
GUESS WHAT? I do not feel like typing each command individually every time I set my tablet up. If you were to type in the following commands and save them in a regular office document, it would not work when pasted into Terminal because of the invisibles. If you are running Ubuntu (or any Linux system, I assume) you have gedit. Without going into more long explanations, that is where I have my commands saved, because you can type code then paste it into Terminal without any of the crap.
Above is what I have saved in gedit, and below I have input the ID number for the button I am changing.
4. Type the ID in for the buttons you are programming.
5. Paste into Terminal and hit Enter
5. Paste into Terminal and hit Enter
There will not be anything that says "Success!" or tells you that it worked. If you entered information incorrectly, Terminal will show "command not found" so if it doesn't say that, chances are you did it properly. In Terminal type exit and hit enter, this will close the session. And now the final step is to open your drawing program and see if your keys work! For me, as long as I stay plugged in, even if I close my laptop, my settings are not lost. I unplug and put everything away at the end of the day, so the next time I set up to do some art I have to open Terminal, get the ID numbers, then paste my information. It takes me less than a minute.