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I'm trying to use my new Wacom (CTL-490DW-S (Intuos DRAW)) drawing tablet with Linux Mint.

I have an PC with a clean install (due to me messing up so many times already!) of Linux Mint:

  • Linux Mint 17.3
  • Cinnamon 2.8.6 32-bit
  • Kernel 3.19.0-32-generic

The PC is a:

  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33GHz x4

  • 3.8GiB Memory

  • 111.2GB SSD

I realise that I should really be running a 64bit OS, but that shouldn't effect things for now...should it?

So far

When I initially plug the tablet in it is recognised as a usb device , lsusb returns Bus 006 Device 003: ID 056a:033b Wacom Co., Ltd

But it is not picked up as an xinput device.

So I go over to the linuxwacom site and follow the steps to install the kernel drivers and Xdrivers. Now the device is picked up and the four main buttons on the tablet seems to do stuff. Good!

But, bring the pen to the pad and my PC freezes completely. Bad!

Some googling brought me to this chat about the usbhid and a deadlock situation relating to new tablets, which seems highly relevant to the problem at hand. By my crude understanding; the wacom drivers are asking too much too fast of the usbhid and it causes the lock-out.

The solution seems to be to add the patch to the usbhid core and then recompile the kernel (and or module, I don't know?) before re-installing.

I can locate the files and make the edit manually (its just two lines in one file, basically taking a line of code outside of the loop, as I understand) but the simple steps of "recompile and install" seem to flummox me every attempt I make. I have trouble with make oldconfig and then if that works make dep never works.

Could someone guide me through/ send me on to a guide for how I should do this. Online articles seem to disagree on the steps, I'll happy do another clean install, if it simplifies the problem.

As its Christmas (Newton-mas) I assume others will have similar issues with their new tablet toys that Santa brought them.

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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After various tests and installations with a Wacom Intuos draw CTL-490DW-S now everything works perfectly

1 - Install Linux-mint 17.3 64bit cinnamon

In the terminal :

2 - sudo apt-get update

3 - sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential

4 - download : http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxwacom/files/xf86-input-wacom/input-wacom/input-wacom-0.30.2.tar.bz2/download

5 - from synaptic install :

pkg-config make xutils-dev libtool xserver-xorg-dev-lts-vivid libx11-dev libxi-dev libxrandr-dev-lts-trusty libxrandr-dev libxandr2 libxinerama-dev libxinerama1 libudev-dev libudev1

now :

7 - tar xjvf input-wacom-0.30.2.tar.bz2

8 - cd input-wacom-0.30.2

9 - ./configure

10 - make

11 - sudo make install

12 - sudo modprobe -r wacom

13 - sudo modprobe -r wacom_w8001

14 - sudo modprobe wacom

15 - sudo modprobe wacom_w8001

et voilà now try to move the pen on the tablet !!!

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  • Works like a charm.
    – runDOSrun
    Mar 2, 2016 at 14:24
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I was in the same boat. Was able to get the tablet recognized on Arch linux by installing linux-headers, and input-wacom-dkms from AUR which did the patching of the kernel. I'm not sure if it will work on Debian-based distros (Ubuntu/Mint) but there's a python script for input-wacom-dkms here. From what I've read the Intuos line should be supported in the Linux 4.4 kernel which should be out in a few weeks but probably won't come to Mint for a while as they tend to prioritize stability over bleeding edge.

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  • Thanks, will give it a try this weekend and let you know how I get on.
    – Gavin Barnett
    Jan 6, 2016 at 8:20
  • I've decided to just move to Arch. Took a few hours for a first-timer like me to get it installed, but hopefully this makes the wacoom problem easier to fix.
    – Gavin Barnett
    Jan 8, 2016 at 0:24
  • Arch is rough for a newbie but worth it in the long run. Follow the wiki and don't be afraid to break everything a few times and you'll end up with the best system you've ever owned.
    – baochan
    Jan 8, 2016 at 1:22
  • Thanks. Managed to get the WiFi working and gnome installed. Have broken it multiple times already but getting there!
    – Gavin Barnett
    Jan 8, 2016 at 6:17
  • So getting there I think. But hit another problem using the input-wacom-dkms from AUR. I've downloaded it and and ran makepkg -sri which runs mostly ok except that it found a conflicting file during install. /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-input-wacom-dkms.conf and so failed to install
    – Gavin Barnett
    Jan 8, 2016 at 11:20

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