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I am a huge fan of Ubuntu. I love its simplicity. However, Ubuntu's Wacom configuration tool is too simple for me. I like the kde-config-tablet, but I am not comfortable with KDE platforms (i.e. Kubuntu, Mint KDE, etc.) as I am with Ubuntu.

So, is there a way to install and use kde-config-tablet in Ubuntu? I know the package is available in the Software Center, and I installed it, but I am unable to use it.

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  • Unable to use it? As in? What happens when you try?
    – Seth
    May 9, 2014 at 0:20
  • The package is installed but it doesn't run when I type the name in Terminal, and it doesn't show up in the Dash when I try looking for it
    – user300481
    May 9, 2014 at 6:47
  • Doesn't run? Do you get any errors?
    – Seth
    May 9, 2014 at 15:12
  • That would be because there's nothing to run in that package. The package only has 3 library files, a few doc files, some images, and translations. I'm guessing this package is meant for use within KDE's system settings and isn't a standalone application. May 9, 2014 at 16:05
  • I think you were right, saiarcot895. anyway, I decided to give Kubuntu another try.. let's see
    – user300481
    May 12, 2014 at 13:52

3 Answers 3

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In fact, I have not been able to use my Wacom Tablet with fancy KDE-settings (systemsettings) under an untouched Mint (tryed with Ubuntu based and Debian based), yet you can tweak it a bit and make it work and access happily to most of config in KDE-config and let it work.

To achive this I made a fresh Linux Mint 17 LTS Xfce install and installed not only systemsettings but also kwin (sudo apt-get install kde-window-manager) which is the composite window manager used by KDE. Might seem strange but you will get your original desktop (Xfce in my case, but might be MATE, Cinnamon, Unity, Gnome or whatever) with another window manager (that you'll see in window decorations, fancy bouncy icon of loading application beside the cursor and that kind of fancy KDE stuff, and also window capabilities provided by kwint, such as invert colors, transparency on the fly and others.

To switch to kwin you should execute:

kwin --replace

Wich can be done at startup. And to return to previous mode:

<your-previous-window-manager> --replace

In the case of Xfce:

xfwm4 --replace

But in any case expect some fails, reboots, requirement of KDE services ...

Update: Managed to have the fancy KDE wacom system settings.

After some research, I wonder if the kde tablet service was actually running or not, so, tried modifying some config after reading this https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=37365

In a terminal:

cd /usr/share/kde4/services/kded #where your kde dir might be
sudo cp wacomtablet.desktop wacomtablet.desktop.old #just in case I broke something
sudo gedit wacomtablet.desktop #can use nano, vi, or your favorite editor

changed this line in the file wacomtablet.desktop: X-KDE-Kded-phase=0 #was before 1 in my case.

Restart KDE services:

kded4

Done! Tell us if it works for you!

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  • That fixed it for my brother's Kubuntu once I also manually added a direct launcher for the KCM so he could access it. I'm assuming it has to do with his release of Kubuntu being some kind of KDE4/5 Frankenstein. (I'm staying on 14.04 LTS until things shake out a bit more.)
    – ssokolow
    Dec 28, 2016 at 18:45
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The package is probably a plugin of the main system settings program, which is called systemsettings(1) and come from the package with the same name:

sudo apt-get install systemsettings

Now you will have the settings for the tablet in the systemsettings menu:

enter image description here

...but I do not know how much good it can do for non-KDE applications. In my system (Ubuntu Gnome 14.40), if called I have:

enter image description here

so probably it will of no use outside a KDE environment(2).


Footnotes:

(1) I have it installed to control the appearance of KDE programs I use, like digiKam.

(2) Simplicity versus configurability... sometime I find myself too wanting to check again Kubuntu.

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  • I installed systemsettings... for some reason, input devices wasn't listed.. at the end, I tried to move to Kubuntu.. I tried it before, but I now have to start knowing it more :D... thank u very much
    – user300481
    May 12, 2014 at 13:50
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The solution is that kded (kded5 nowadays) is not running, so its wacomtablet module (that kde-config-tablet also provides) cannot be launched.

You can start it with systemctl start --user plasma-kded and then qdbus org.kde.kded5 /kded loadModule wacomtablet.
The latter should not be necessary, as kded auto-loads modules when something tries to use them. But this did not happen in my case (probably due to a missing kernel driver; see below).

In a KDE session, kded would be started automatically too. Obviously, you can add those commands to your own startup scripts as you please. (E.g. your graphical session manager's hooks or your desktop environment’s startup services facilities.) But the next step to correctly automate this, would be to look at the session starting scripts for a KDE session, find the thing that starts all the facilities KDE needs in the background, and add that to the Gnome session starting scripts too. That way you get both. Because contrary to what desktop environment makers want you to believe, all desktop environments are made of small parts that you can mix without conflicts (e.g. Compiz ran fine with KDE), as long as each software from a DE has its facilities provided. This belief is also probably, why this isn’t configured by default whenever you install more than one DE.

For what it matters, the config panel that I got from this was not able to detect my tablet at all (because there is no proper driver yet), so your mileage may vary with kernel support for your particular device. :)

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