====== Aiptek USB Tablet ======

I picked up one of these free thanks to [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/roger/|RogerB]] who was getting rid of his.  The challenge then was to get it working under Gentoo GNU/Linux.  To be fair I didn't do anything for a good year or so, until I decided to have a clear out of crap.  I was going to get rid of this having never used it but thought I'd check out first whether I can actually get it working.  Turns out I can, and here's how.

This is basically my re-write of the [[http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Aiptek_Tablet|Gentoo Wiki: Aiptek Tablet]] article, you could basically read that and achieve the same thing.

===== Kernel Configuration =====

You will need kernel version ''>2.6.23'' when the driver was first incorporated.  Make the following selections under ''make menuconfig''

<code>
Device Drivers --->
    Input device support --->
        <*> Event interface
        [*] Tablets --->
             <M> Aiptek 6000U/8000U tablet support (USB)
</code>

===== Custom Udev Rules =====

You can optionally add the following ''udev'' rules to a custom configuration file ''/etc/udev/rules.d/85-tablet-driver.rules''

<code>
# for Aiptek (vendor: 08ca) tablets
BUS=="usb", KERNEL=="event[0-9]*", SYSFS{idVendor}=="08ca", SYMLINK+="input/aiptek_event", OWNER="root", MODE="0666"
BUS=="usb", KERNEL=="mouse[0-9]*", SYSFS{idVendor}=="08ca", SYMLINK+="input/aiptek_mouse", OWNER="root", MODE="0666" 
</code>

===== Xorg Drivers =====

You need the ''aiptek'' driver for Xorg.  To install this cleanly, simply add the ''USE=input_devices_aiptek'' to ''x11-base/xorg-server'' by adding the following line to ''/etc/portage/package.use'' and re-emerging ''x11-base/xorg-server''...

<code>
 echo 'x11-base/xorg-server input_devices_aiptek' >> /etc/portage/package.use
 emerge -uDNav x11-base/xorg-server
</code>


===== Xorg configuration =====

Ensure your ''/etc/X11/xorg.conf'' contains the following lines...

<code xorg_conf>
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "X.org Configured"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        InputDevice     "Mouse0"        "CorePointer"
        InputDevice     "pen"           "AlwaysCore"
        InputDevice     "cursor"        "AlwaysCore"
        InputDevice     "eraser"        "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

# From http://aiptektablet.sourceforge.net/xserver.html
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "pen"
        Driver          "aiptek"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/aiptek_event"
        Option          "Type"          "stylus"
        Option          "Mode"          "absolute"
        Option          "Cursor"        "stylus"
        Option          "USB"           "on"
        Option          "KeepShape"     "on"
        Option          "debuglevel"    "20"
        Option          "zMin"          "0"
        Option          "zMax"          "512"
        Option          "PressCurve"    "0,5,95,100"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "cursor"
        Driver          "aiptek"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/aiptek_event"
        Option          "Type"          "cursor"
        Option          "Mode"          "absolute"
        Option          "Cursor"        "puck"
        Option          "USB"           "on"
        Option          "KeepShape"     "on"
        Option          "debuglevel"    "20"
        Option          "zMin"          "0"
        Option          "zMax"          "511"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "eraser"
        Driver          "aiptek"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/aiptek_event"
        Option          "Type"          "eraser"
        Option          "Mode"          "absolute"
        Option          "Cursor"        "stylus"
        Option          "USB"           "on"
        Option          "KeepShape"     "on"
        Option          "debuglevel"    "20"
        Option          "zMin"          "0"
        Option          "zMax"          "511"
EndSection
</code>

===== Software Configuration =====

Its possible to use the tablet under X for everday work, but its not so practical.  The Pen/Tablet were designed for drawing work and fortunately the one application that you're most likely to use to do this under GNU/Linux, i.e. [[http://www.gimp.org/|The GIMP]], supports the device.

Under 

===== Troubleshooting =====

On first tying this I found that Xorg wasn't happy if I rebooted (or indeed restart Xorg) without the tablet plugged in, it gave the following errors...

<code>
</code>

It seemed that Xorg was waiting for udev/evdev to create a valid device node.  Since the tablet wasn't plugged in there was no node and Xorg crashed, which is unusual as it normally moves on quietly to the next thing.

===== Links =====

  * [[http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Aiptek_Tablet|Aiptek Tablet]] : Gentoo-specific article on installing and configuring from [[http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/|Gentoo Wiki]].
  * [[http://www.gnomeatlinux.de/index.php?n=Computer.Aiptek-en|Aiptek-en]] : Basic kernel and Xorg configuration.
  * [[http://aiptektablet.sourceforge.net/|Aiptek Tablet Driver]] : Home-page of Xorg driver.
  * [[http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=aiptektablet-users|Aiptek Mailing List Archives]]