{"id":487,"date":"2008-11-03T00:54:30","date_gmt":"2008-11-03T07:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/?p=487"},"modified":"2008-11-03T00:54:30","modified_gmt":"2008-11-03T07:54:30","slug":"ubuntu-810-intrepid-ibex-and-tablets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/archives\/487","title":{"rendered":"Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and Tablets"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just had to mention this: The latest version of Ubuntu finally<\/em> supports input hotplugging. What this means is that you can plug in your tablet at any point and start taking advantage of its pressure sensitivity, etc. Previously, it would only work correctly if Ubuntu (the X server part of it) started with the tablet plugged in. Let me just say: OMG<\/strong>, I’ve been waiting for this for years<\/em>! Seriously. I hadn’t been keeping up with every detail on the release (and I’m surprised I hadn’t seen mention of this yet), but I always plug in my USB tablet and run a quick test with new releases. This time, it actually worked! My test turned into a quick (and random) doodle:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How to Test<\/h3>\n

Plug in your tablet.<\/p>\n

Run GIMP<\/a> (included with Ubuntu by default).
\nApplications > Graphics > GIMP Image Editor<\/code><\/p>\n

Enable Extended Input devices in GIMP.
\nEdit > Preferences > Input Devices > Configure Extended Input Devices<\/code>
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Find your tablet under the Device dropdown (mine is a Wacom Graphire) and select Screen<\/code> or Window<\/code> for the Mode<\/code>. (It defaults to disabled.)
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Create a new image, select the paintbrush tool and start drawing. To play with the features of your tablet, expand the Brush Dynamics<\/code> section in the paintbrush options window (should be below the toolbox, where you selected the paintbrush). Here you can adjust things that pressure of your pen will control, like size and opacity. Fun stuff!
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s not perfect<\/a> (only works with the stylus – eraser doesn’t work without configuring), but it’s a HUGE<\/em> step!! \ud83d\ude00 And the fact that this also includes the latest version of GIMP (2.6) makes this upgrade an absolute no-brainer for linux graphic-philes. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I found the new UI in GIMP a little strange at first, because I became so accustomed to the old one, but it is much better. <\/p>\n

Upgrade Problems<\/h3>\n

Related to the upgrade, I lost wireless connectivity with my laptop upon doing it because the hostap_cs<\/code> driver is used. I forgot about this issue that I had with previous releases and my super-cheap 1000yen wireless card. Blacklisting the hostap_cs<\/code> driver and forcing the orinoco_cs<\/code> driver fixed my problem again. The lesson: the upgrade wasn’t perfect and it should never be assumed that they will be – please backup your stuff! But do<\/em> do the upgrade! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just had to mention this: The latest version of Ubuntu finally supports input hotplugging. What this means is that you can plug in your tablet at any point and start taking advantage of its pressure sensitivity, etc. Previously, it would only work correctly if Ubuntu (the X server part of it) started with the… Continue reading Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and Tablets<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[246,154,42,198,4,29,96,199,30,200],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-geek","tag-art","tag-gimp","tag-how-to","tag-intrepid-ibex","tag-linux","tag-screenshots","tag-sketches","tag-tablets","tag-ubuntu","tag-wireless","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4jEMb-7R","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevenbrown.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}