Get Wacom Bamboo Pen Working in Ubuntu Lucid

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The new Wacom Bamboo Pen (CTL-460) doesn't work in Ubuntu Lucid out-of-the-box. You need a newer kernel module than the one that comes with Lucid by default. It's pretty easy to get it working though, you just need to know how.

Update

It seems that since I published this post four months ago, it helped a lot of people. At that time I couldn't find a DKMS script that would automatically compile and install the newer module after every kernel upgrade. Also, I didn't have the time to do it myself. Well, things have changed. After Brett Alton posted his update to my post. Martin Owens replied to his post with a link to a PPA that contains the newer module with a DKMS script. So please, use this PPA and save yourself a lot of trouble! The instructions are really simple, just run this in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/wacom-plus
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wacom-dkms

Don't forget to register your tablet at the Wacom website, because you can specify Linux as your operating system. We might get even better support if a lot of people do this.

Old post:

First, install some compiling tools and header files:
sudo apt-get install build-essential libx11-dev libxi-dev x11proto-input-dev xserver-xorg-dev tk8.4-dev tcl8.4-dev libncurses5-dev

Next, download the latest linuxwacom driver (0.8.6 at the moment of writing):
wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/linuxwacom/linuxwacom-0.8.6.tar.bz2

Now unpack, configure compile and install it:
tar -xf linuxwacom-0.8.6.tar.bz2
cd linuxwacom-0.8.6
./configure --enable-wacom
cd src/2.6.30/ # I know this is the wrong version, but it's the highest available and it works
make
sudo cp wacom.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/input/tablet/
sudo rmmod wacom
sudo modprobe wacom

The tablet should work now. You can also add the module name to /etc/modules to automatically load it on boot. There still one issue left for me. In Mac OS X I can use the whole tablet, i.e. the right corner is the right screen corner. In Lucid however the grey lines indicate the screen borders, so the right corner of the gray lines is the right screen corner. This means part of the tablet is not used and this can be quite annoying if you're used to the previous behavior.

Don't forget to register your tablet at the Wacom website, because you can specify Linux as your operating system. We might get even better support if a lot of people do this.

135 thoughts on “Get Wacom Bamboo Pen Working in Ubuntu Lucid”

  1. I apologize for the error in a letter - use the electronic translator. Thank you so much!! Used the Wacom-DKMS - tablet works fine, the force is determined by pressing all the buttons work! Thank you again! "

  3. I am running ubuntu 10.10 (Mavrick) I just got a Bamboo Wacom ctl-460 tablet. any help with that? because I'm looking at your miracle solutions for everyone else but they just aren't working for me. any help would be much appreciated as I've seen rumors that the tablet stuff doesn't work for Mavrick for what ever reason. Until then I'm gonna downgrade to 10.04 and see if that fixes it. and I will continue to downgrade my system through the stages of ubuntu until I find one that works. and if I can't get any to work I will downgrade further through the stages of Mac and as a complete last resort, I will convert to Windows *shudder*

  4. Pingback: Tablette Wacom Bamboo Pen (CTL460) sous (K)Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Merkat « [Titre en Attente]

  5. I'm still running Lucid on both my computers because Maverick gives various problems with them (unable to suspend, network problems, synaptics touchpad problems). This means I can't test it for you on Maverick, sorry.

  6. @Robert, my updated instructions work just fine in Maverick. I just upgraded my laptop and fixed all my Maverick problems. After that, I ran the three commands and my tablet is working fine. Did you even try it?

  7. I cannot get my Bamboo CTL-460 working in Ubuntu 10.10 (64-bit) either. It was working perfectly fine in Lucid however.

    I've tried compiling from source, as well as doctormo's ppa and ripps818's ppa, but none of them work.

  8. Hi ( Hoi),

    I would to buy the bamboo fun pen and touch cth661.
    Do you have any idea if this one will work out of the box under linux ubuntu 10.04?

    thanks for your time,

    Joop

  9. Hi Joop,

    None of the Bamboo's work out of the box, but as you can read in my post it's rather easy to get working (at least the pen part, I don't know about the touch part because mine doesn't have touch).

    Frank

  10. While the instructions work and my tablet is mostly working, there isn't any pressure sensitivity even though my tablet works fine on my Windows machine. Do you know why that could be?

  11. Did you configure your program (Gimp?) to use the device as "extended device"? Without that it won't work.

  12. Wow. That was easy. With the three little commands I've got my CTH-661 running under Lucid Lynx. I already played a little in Gimp. I don't know yet how to use different tools by turning the stylus around, but the other buttons do also work. The 1. and the 4. open the "start menu" (I hope may use that windows term). And the 3. opens the context menu of the "start button". But I also don't know how to make the pen in gimp force sensitive. At the moment all lines are drawn with the same strength.

  14. Just a response to the person asking about using the wacom with the left hand and needing to turn the tablet around so that the left palm doesn't rest on the buttons.

    First you need to run:

    xinput --list

    This will display the names of the various xinput devices. The name is needed in setting the "rotate" option to "HALF". In my case I set the following:

    xsetwacom set "Wacom BambooFun 2FG 4x5 Pen" rotate HALF
    xsetwacom set "Wacom BambooFun 2FG 4x5 Finger" rotate HALF
    xsetwacom set "Wacom BambooFun 2FG 4x5 Pen eraser" rotate HALF
    xsetwacom set "Wacom BambooFun 2FG 4x5 Finger pad" rotate HALF

    Note: as yet I haven't worked out how to make this change permanent. It should be possible by editing /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-wacom.conf and setting various options in the section identified with "Wacom class".

    Anyway, hope this helps.

  15. Thank you! You saved our holiday with this easy "get the right kernel and do all the hooplah that is just a bit beyond the parental units". Now Kai is getting a tablet for x-mas and will be able to use it on his laptop the same day.
    Verder wensen wij u nog prettige feestdagen en een voorspoedig nieuwjaar.

  16. Hello,

    I try to use my bamboo fun, i have followed this tutorial ( with maverick ) and after


    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/wacom-plus
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install wacom-dkms

    Don't happen in my operating system...

    lsusb:


    Bus 002 Device 002: ID 056a:00d7 Wacom Co., Ltd


    root@ubuntu:~# lsmod | grep wacom
    wacom 29670 0

    Don't forget to register your tablet at the Wacom website, because you can specify Linux as your operating system. We might get even better support if a lot of people do this.

    It's really important, i think too.
    I do that:
    http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5558

    Thanks,
    Nicolas

  17. Did you reload the wacom module? It won't work with the old module still loaded.

  18. Hey thanks! I could never get my laptop to work with my tablet until now so I need windows but not anymore! Thanks :)

  19. Hi Frank
    I had my bamboo pen working fine after using your settings and suddenly the cursor does only follow until I hit the bamboo surface then it doesn't move any further, until I go out over the tablet and come back with the pen over the tablet and so on. Also the side switch doesn't work anymore at all?
    Do you have any idea what the problem is?

  20. Sorry forgot the Information about OS Ubuntu 10.4 and GIMP, but the problem also occures in other programs. I had before the problem that the stylus was working fine only when opening a new file the cursor didn't react on the pop up window at all I had to change to mouse.

  21. Hi there,

    I've enjoyed the convenience of your script a lot, so let me first thank you for this!!

    This morning I received an update of it and after restart my Bamboo Pen doesn't work anymore. During update it threw up an error message, something about a post-installation script returning error value 10. I'd greatly appreciate any help. (BTW, I'm running Ubuntu 10.10)

  22. not sure if this is any help, but here is some information from make.log:
    DKMS make.log for wacom-0.8.10 for kernel 2.6.35-27-generic (i686)
    Mi 9. Mär 13:52:56 CET 2011
    Building linuxwacom drivers for 2.6 kernel.
    make -C /lib/modules/2.6.32-25-generic/build M=/var/lib/dkms/wacom/0.8.10/build/src/2.6.30
    make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.32-25-generic/build: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden. Schluss.
    make: *** [all] Fehler 2

  23. I am using ubuntu 10.04; there was a recent upgrade of the kernel, making the wacom bamboo fun no longer working as with the older kernel. Yesterday, 2011.03.10, there was a new release of the wacom-dkms package; I tried to upgrade to this new release after I removed the older release, but got the following error message:

    root@io4:/home/io/hda12/# apt-get install wacom-dkms
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done
    wacom-dkms is already the newest version.
    0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
    1 not fully installed or removed.
    After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
    Setting up wacom-dkms (0.8.10.1-1ubuntu1) ...
    Removing old wacom-0.8.10.1 DKMS files...

    ------------------------------
    Deleting module version: 0.8.10.1
    completely from the DKMS tree.
    ------------------------------
    Done.
    Loading new wacom-0.8.10.1 DKMS files...
    First Installation: checking all kernels...
    Building only for 2.6.32-29-generic
    Building for architecture i686
    Building initial module for 2.6.32-29-generic

    Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 2.6.32-29-generic (i686)
    Consult the make.log in the build directory
    /var/lib/dkms/wacom/0.8.10.1/build/ for more information.
    dpkg: error processing wacom-dkms (--configure):
    subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 10
    Errors were encountered while processing:
    wacom-dkms
    E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
    root@io4:/home/io/hda12/#

    I appreciate any help.

    Some web site said that the new linux kernel, with the new release of X11, no longer works for linuxwacom; it is advised to use xf86-input-wacom instead.

  24. I just noticed that I still had wacom-dkms installed, so I removed it, and reinstalled again, still the same problem.

    Remove wacom-dkms:

    root@io4:/home/io/hda12/# apt-get remove wacom-dkms
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done
    The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
    dkms
    Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
    The following packages will be REMOVED:
    wacom-dkms
    0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
    1 not fully installed or removed.
    After this operation, 2,277kB disk space will be freed.
    Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
    (Reading database ... 265496 files and directories currently installed.)
    Removing wacom-dkms ...

    ------------------------------
    Deleting module version: 0.8.10.1
    completely from the DKMS tree.
    ------------------------------
    Done.
    Processing triggers for man-db ...
    root@io4:/home/io/hda12/#

    Reinstall wacom-dkms:

    root@io4:/home/io/hda12/# apt-get install wacom-dkms
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done
    The following NEW packages will be installed:
    wacom-dkms
    0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
    Need to get 0B/504kB of archives.
    After this operation, 2,277kB of additional disk space will be used.
    Selecting previously deselected package wacom-dkms.
    (Reading database ... 265432 files and directories currently installed.)
    Unpacking wacom-dkms (from .../wacom-dkms_0.8.10.1-1ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
    Processing triggers for man-db ...
    Setting up wacom-dkms (0.8.10.1-1ubuntu1) ...
    Loading new wacom-0.8.10.1 DKMS files...
    First Installation: checking all kernels...
    Building only for 2.6.32-29-generic
    Building for architecture i686
    Building initial module for 2.6.32-29-generic

    Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 2.6.32-29-generic (i686)
    Consult the make.log in the build directory
    /var/lib/dkms/wacom/0.8.10.1/build/ for more information.
    dpkg: error processing wacom-dkms (--configure):
    subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 10
    Errors were encountered while processing:
    wacom-dkms
    E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
    root@io4:/home/io/hda12/#

    I appreciate any help.

  25. I ran the commands and now the touch function works to move the pointer around, but the pen will not work. Is there something I can do?

  28. Pingback: Get Wacom Bamboo Pen Working in Ubuntu | TurboLinux Blog

  29. Hey,

    I tried this on a clean install of ubuntu 11.04

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/wacom-plus
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install wacom-dkms

    but it didn't work. The pad light is on but i doesn't react and when I approach the pen to pad the light gets red.

    Then I tried what you suggest on your old post, but when I get to "make" I got this error.

    hectorbernal@hectorbernal-Studio-1558:~/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30$ make
    Building linuxwacom drivers for 2.6 kernel.
    ***Note: Drivers not enabled as modules in your kernel config but requested through configure are NOT built
    make -C /lib/modules/2.6.38-11-generic-pae/build M=/home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30
    make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.38-11-generic-pae'
    CC [M] /home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.o
    /home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.c: In function ‘wacom_bpt_finger_in’:
    /home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.c:209:17: error: ‘struct input_dev’ has no member named ‘abs’
    /home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.c:212:18: error: ‘struct input_dev’ has no member named ‘abs’
    /home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.c: In function ‘wacom_tpc_finger_in’:
    /home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.c:860:17: error: ‘struct input_dev’ has no member named ‘abs’
    /home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.c:863:17: error: ‘struct input_dev’ has no member named ‘abs’
    make[2]: *** [/home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30/wacom_wac.o] Error 1
    make[1]: *** [_module_/home/hectorbernal/linuxwacom-0.9.0/src/2.6.30] Error 2
    make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.38-11-generic-pae'
    make: *** [all] Error 2

    I hope you can help me. I've tried different methods from several blogs but it doesn't work.

  30. After I ran those three lines about two months ago my tablet worked. I also ran

    > xsetwacom set "Wacom Bamboo 4×5 Pen" Mode Relative

    to set relative mode. After the next kernal update relative mode was off again and the above command doesn't work. I get

    > X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
    > Major opcode of failed request: 140 (XInputExtension)
    > Minor opcode of failed request: 5 (X_SetDeviceMode)
    > Serial number of failed request: 15
    > Current serial number in output stream: 15

    > xsetwacom list devices
    gives no output.

    If anybody has an idea what else I could try to make it usable under Ubuntu again, I'd appreciate a response.

  31. The third line "...install wacom-dkms" does not work for me. Package not found.
    I tried the old version and the file at: prdownloads.sourceforge.net could not be found either. (404 error).
    Where else can I find them?

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