Classic tablet Wacom CTL-470 on Manjaro 21.1.2 Gnome / Wayland

Support
,
1

Hello,
I’ve researched this problem but found no conclusive information that would solve my case. I’ve connected a Wacom CTL-470 to a Dell XPS 9310 running Manjaro 21.1.2 under Gnome 40.4 using Wayland. I get the two-pointer problem others have described: a USB mouse and the internal trackpad get a unified mouse pointer, but the tablet when connected spawns a secondary pointer that has lower priority, i.e. it cannot interact with all UI elements because focus seems to remain on the first pointer. The “primary” pointer doesn’t even disappear when disconnecting external input devices and disabling the trackpad. With the wacom tablet connected, I always have two pointers.

I know this is “intended” behavior of Wayland; however, I’d very much like to have a unified mouse pointer and use the Wacom as a sole input device. My approach was to somehow try to group all mouse pointer input devices in one input group in libinput, but I fail at that.

What is a straightforward way to tell Wayland to use all mouse pointer devices as one input group with a unified pointer?

When I run libinput debug-gui, I can see that the interaction with pen and pad works perfectly, I can use two buttons on the stylus and the area of the tablet maps the screen.

System Info:
Kernel: 5.13.15-1
libwacom: 1.12-1
xf86-input-wacom: 0.40.0-1

libwacom-list-local-devices                                                                            ✔ 
devices:
- name: 'Wacom Bamboo Connect'
  bus: 'usb'
  vid: '0x056a'
  pid: '0x00dd'
  nodes: 
  - /dev/input/event19
  - /dev/input/event6

libinput list-devices                                                                                                                       2 ✘ 
event19 - Wacom Bamboo Connect Pad: libinput bug: missing tablet capabilities: pen resolution. Ignoring this device.

Device:           Wacom Bamboo Connect Pen
Kernel:           /dev/input/event6
Group:            5
Seat:             seat0, default
Size:             147x92mm
Capabilities:     tablet 
Tap-to-click:     n/a
Tap-and-drag:     n/a
Tap drag lock:    n/a
Left-handed:      disabled
Nat.scrolling:    n/a
Middle emulation: n/a
Calibration:      n/a
Scroll methods:   none
Click methods:    none
Disable-w-typing: n/a
Accel profiles:   none
Rotation:         n/a

Device:           Wacom HID 4941 Finger
Kernel:           /dev/input/event7
Group:            6
Seat:             seat0, default
Size:             288x180mm
Capabilities:     touch 
Tap-to-click:     n/a
Tap-and-drag:     n/a
Tap drag lock:    n/a
Left-handed:      n/a
Nat.scrolling:    n/a
Middle emulation: n/a
Calibration:      identity matrix
Scroll methods:   none
Click methods:    none
Disable-w-typing: n/a
Accel profiles:   n/a
Rotation:         n/a

Device:           DLL0945:00 06CB:CDE6 Mouse
Kernel:           /dev/input/event8
Group:            7
Seat:             seat0, default
Capabilities:     pointer 
Tap-to-click:     n/a
Tap-and-drag:     n/a
Tap drag lock:    n/a
Left-handed:      disabled
Nat.scrolling:    disabled
Middle emulation: n/a
Calibration:      n/a
Scroll methods:   *button
Click methods:    none
Disable-w-typing: n/a
Accel profiles:   flat *adaptive
Rotation:         n/a

Device:           DLL0945:00 06CB:CDE6 Touchpad
Kernel:           /dev/input/event9
Group:            7
Seat:             seat0, default
Size:             108x60mm
Capabilities:     pointer gesture
Tap-to-click:     disabled
Tap-and-drag:     enabled
Tap drag lock:    disabled
Left-handed:      disabled
Nat.scrolling:    disabled
Middle emulation: disabled
Calibration:      n/a
Scroll methods:   *two-finger edge 
Click methods:    *button-areas clickfinger 
Disable-w-typing: enabled
Accel profiles:   flat *adaptive
Rotation:         n/a

bamboo-16fg-s-p.tablet:
# Wacom
# Bamboo Connect
# CTL-470
#
# third generation BambooPT
#
# stylus with one button and no eraser (LP170G)
# Pen active area: 5.8 x 3.62in

[Device]
Name=Wacom Bamboo Connect
ModelName=CTL-470
DeviceMatch=usb:056a:00dd
Class=Bamboo
Width=6
Height=4
# No pad buttons, so no layout
IntegratedIn=

[Features]
Stylus=true
Reversible=true
Touch=false
Buttons=0
EvdevCodes=0x110;0x115;0x116;0x111
2

Hello and welcome.

If you look at this bug report from 2017 Bug 784840 – In Wayland sessions, 2 cursors appear when Wacom devices exist, and it has strange behaviors and lack of functionality
First, you will realize that have passed years and the situation is the same today. Second, while reading the comments, there is a hint:

Third, was closed as invalid bug report.

As a tablet owner and heavy user of it i looked into this and it put me on hold regarding wayland. On KDE Plasma the tablet isn’t even working on wayland, so at least in Gnome you can try things with wayland while using it.
It doesn’t quite bother me to see two cursors, but it feels unnatural and yet i find no way to change that.
My recommendation, stick to X11.

Anyway, if you find something helpful, let us know. Will also investigate more once i get some time.

3

Hey,

thanks for your quick response! Yes, I’ve taken note that these issues were reported a while ago and nothing much has happened - in other places, I also read that at least some tablet problems under Wayland result from apps not fully supporting it yet.

Personally, I cannot use my tablet under Wayland as not all the functionality is there: the tablet pointer changes in relation to the “original” pointer, sometimes taking on the shape of a crosshair, or window resize pointer, when that is not appropriate. Sometimes it becomes invisible and has to be made visible again by placing the cursor on a window that supports Wayland. Most annoying of all is that the tablet pointer cannot interact with all GUI elements properly and the stylus cannot perform click and hold, i.e. drag.

I thought the issue could be resolved by simple telling Wayland to group input devices and assign one pointer, but apparently there is more, the translation of input to apps that don’t fully support Wayland yet - Krita, for example.

You’re right in pointing out the obvious: X11 is a working daily driver, at least for the time being. Using a mouse or touchpad only, Wayland works perfectly, but I’m really used to working with the Wacom tablet…

Thanks for your response!

1 Like
4

If you still experience some issues also on X11 with some apps, that the pointer is not interacting with them, add this line to your ~/.bash_profile

export QT_XCB_TABLET_LEGACY_COORDINATES=1

A log out and back in is required at least.
Always glad to meet artist working on Manjaro.

5

Hey again,
no, under X11, everything is working well with the tablet! I’ve had this one for a long time and it always worked out of the box under Linux because of the existing .tablet file in libwacom etc., but this is my first Wayland install…

Best wishes!
Jakob