10-19-2007, 10:33 AM | #1 |
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iLiad as a wireless Wacom tablet for my desktop
Based on the info from postings on the iRex forums, I was able to get my iLiad to act as a tablet for my desktop PC. I used the socat tool on the iLiad and stopped the built in X server (otherwise it would sometimes shut down the tablet):
Code:
killall Xfbdev socat TCP-LISTEN:2998 /dev/ttyS0 Code:
sudo socat PTY,link=/dev/wacom,raw,echo=0 TCP:10.0.0.200:2998 Code:
--- /tmp/xorg.conf.orig 2007-10-19 10:31:14.000000000 -0400 +++ xorg.conf 2007-10-19 10:11:28.000000000 -0400 @@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" + InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents" + InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents" + InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents" EndSection Section "Files" @@ -56,3 +59,40 @@ Modes "1280x1024" EndSubSection EndSection + + + Section "InputDevice" + Driver "wacom" + Identifier "stylus" + Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # SERIAL ONLY + Option "Type" "stylus" + Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY + EndSection + + Section "InputDevice" + Driver "wacom" + Identifier "eraser" + Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # SERIAL ONLY + Option "Type" "eraser" + Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY + EndSection + + Section "InputDevice" + Driver "wacom" + Identifier "cursor" + Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # SERIAL ONLY + Option "Type" "cursor" + Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY + EndSection + + # This section is for Intuos3, Cintiq 21UX, Graphire4, or Bamboo +# Section "InputDevice" +# Driver "wacom" +# Identifier "pad" +# Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0" # SERIAL ONLY +# Option "Device" "/dev/input/event0" # USB ONLY +# Option "Type" "pad" +# Option "USB" "on" # USB ONLY +# EndSection + + Code:
sudo wacdump -v -f tpc /dev/wacom It seems a good next step would be a helper application for the iLiad that displays a toolbox palette on the far side of the screen and maybe even a small preview of the screen. Sort of like CAD applications that use digitizer tablets, but for graphics. |
10-19-2007, 11:15 AM | #2 |
fruminous edugeek
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Very interesting, especially that you are able to get the pressure sensitivity from the iLiad's screen. I'd been wondering if that was somehow unimplemented, like the problems that turned up with the tilt data during the calibration project.
So you don't see what you're drawing on the iLiad, it just shows up on the PC? It looks like you're running some kind of linux on the PC -- any particular flavor? |
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10-19-2007, 11:56 AM | #3 | |||
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Quote:
Code:
#define TABLETPC_CAPS (WACOMVALID(TOOLTYPE)|WACOMVALID(SERIAL)| \ WACOMVALID(PROXIMITY)|WACOMVALID(BUTTONS)|WACOMVALID(POSITION_X)| \ WACOMVALID(POSITION_Y)|WACOMVALID(PRESSURE)) Quote:
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10-19-2007, 12:33 PM | #4 |
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Can you post your binaries and scripts (I've deleted mine).
It seems like I was really close on this... It looks like the only thing you did different was change the port, and commented out the pad area. I guess I gave up too soon. Good work! |
10-19-2007, 01:44 PM | #5 |
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As I understand it, someone at Wacom actually confirmed that the configuration used on the iLiad wouldn't render any meaningful tilt data, but I may have that mixed up. It's buried somewhere in the community developer threads at iRex.
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10-19-2007, 01:49 PM | #6 |
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Wow, congratulations! Really nice work! I remember Adam giving it a try and having trouble, I'm impressed that you got it all figured out. Very, very useful ability. Also, it points out how the iLiad is really a very capable multi-purpose tool.
Re: pressure data: The pressure data is definitely available. I don't know whether pressure got written into the new community-developed iLiad touchpad driver or not. That is, the question is whether the driver passes along pressure data to other applications. If I get a chance I'll look in the source code and see. In any case, the second half is, even if the data is available from the driver, you still have to change the user programs to take advantage of the pressure data. As far as I know, no one has tried to do this yet. Re: tilt data: The iLiad's Wacom tablet definitely does not provide tilt data. It's not even tilt-capable. We don't know exactly what the hardware is, but it responds to the TabletPC protocol so it's probably similar. I actually corresponded with a Wacom VP of Engineering, who confirmed that the TabletPC Linux driver is a pretty complete implementation. He also confirmed that the iLiad's Wacom tablet doesn't do tilt. Here's the thread nekokami mentioned. It dates back to when we were working on the "calibrate" utility and the new iLiad tablet driver. It pretty much covers the tilt topic from every angle, and the conclusion is that it's just not possible. Sad, too, I really wanted tilt. Last edited by jharker; 10-19-2007 at 01:54 PM. |
10-19-2007, 02:04 PM | #7 | |
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Attached is a directory of the arm and i386 binaries and scripts. The binaries may not work for anyone else since the libraries that they are linked against are old.
Quote:
The port is arbitrary, but socat doesn't set the SO_REUSEADDR flag. This makes it frustrating to restart for another test -- I had to keep changing to different port numbers since socat exits when the connection is dropped. The X server doesn't like the /dev/wacom device going away, either. I suspect that the best approach would be a connectionless (UDP multicast?) approach that would have a persistant file descriptor on the desktop side and a server that runs constantly on the iLiad. The desktop client would also handle the initialization of the port so that we have the tablet in a known state. |
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10-19-2007, 02:24 PM | #8 |
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So if the pressure data is available, what's a light-weight drawing program that could use it? The GIMP is obviously too huge for this. I like ArtRage a lot, but it's not available for Linux.
When I was showing off my iLiad at a conference last week, one question I did get several times was whether there was a better drawing program available -- something that would let you move elements, like boxes on a flowchart or org chart. Anyone know of something like that in the open source space? |
10-20-2007, 06:57 AM | #9 | |
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Quote:
http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/ But it doesn't use (nor need, IMHO) pressure data. |
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10-20-2007, 07:49 AM | #10 |
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Just to be curious, how does the price of the iLiad compares to a wacom tablet of the same size with and without incorporated screen? No need to be wireless.
I guess that now that the iLiad is stable on a table, it can be competitive. |
10-20-2007, 10:01 AM | #11 | ||
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10-20-2007, 04:03 PM | #12 |
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I know pressure sensitivity wouldn't be needed for a basic draw program to handle flowcharts and the like. They are two separate functional needs that I'd like to see met. Even if they are in two different applications, like Dia and wetdream.
I think if the iLiad could display while it provides input to another system, it really could compete with the Cintiq, which is overkill for most folks. The Graphire is ok, but I really like being able to look down at what I'm drawing, rather than drawing in one place and looking in another. (I can do that while I type, but I'm not good enough at drawing to get away with it!) |
10-22-2007, 11:30 AM | #13 | |
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10-22-2007, 02:18 PM | #14 |
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If you consider that you get the functionality of the Sony Reader PLUS the Wacom Graphire, that would be $350+$200 = $550. That's what hudson's app gives us at this point. If you add in the ability to add open-source linux apps to do things like browse the web over wifi, that probably covers the remaining $200, but only for people who want/need those functions, obviously.
It's really quite a tool. I'm not sure iRex truly understands what they've got on their hands. |
10-22-2007, 05:39 PM | #15 |
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