Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

Arondite · 2013-09-05 23:17:04

Hey all, I've done a bit of research and testing since I bought the helix and there isn't much information out there on successful installs. Although this may not be the right place to post this, I'm going to explain how I have this convertible laptop working in all modalities.

Firstly, I'm not going into how to install the base system. There are plenty of guides and info out there so reference those and then come here. I will be discussing how I have setup the wacom tablet with stylus/touch in both laptop and tablet modalities.

As far as testing, I've fully installed and played around with all of the major distributions. All of them including Arch linux do not, by default, configure the wacom feature. this is due to the digitizer; the helix uses the Atmel Atmel maXTouch Digitizer. although this isn't a wacom digitizer it does work with the wacom drivers, you just have to tell it to.

Here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-wacom.conf:

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Wacom class"
MatchProduct "Wacom|WACOM|Hanwang|PTK-540WL|Atmel"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "wacom"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Wacom serial class"
MatchProduct "Serial Wacom Tablet"
Driver "wacom"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Wacom serial class identifiers"
        MatchProduct "WACf|FUJ02e5|FUJ02e7|FUJ02e9"
        Driver "wacom"
EndSection

# Waltop tablets
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Waltop class"
MatchProduct "WALTOP"
MatchIsTablet "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "wacom"
EndSection

# N-Trig Duosense Electromagnetic Digitizer
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Wacom N-Trig class"
MatchProduct "HID 1b96:0001|N-Trig Pen"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Button2" "3"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "USB" "on"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "Threshold" "5"
    Option        "Mode"         "Relative"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Driver        "wacom"
    Identifier    "eraser"
Option "USB" "on"
    Option        "Device"       "/dev/input/wacom"  
    Option        "Type"         "eraser"
    Option        "Mode"         "Relative"
    Option        "Threshold"    "5"  
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Driver        "wacom"
    Identifier    "cursor"
    Option "USB" "on"
    Option        "Device"       "/dev/input/wacom"  
    Option        "Type"         "cursor"
    Option        "Mode"         "Relative"
EndSection

Notice that I added Atmel to the MatchProduct entry in the first section.
Also notice the three input devices at the bottom stylus, eraser, and cursor. These are needed for rotate mode.

After a reboot if listing wacom devices comes up empty, refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wa … nual_setup to manual confugure. Upon rebooting I had a soft link to the proper input in /dev/input/ if setting up manually make sure your device option in the above config points to the proper event.

To list wacom devices run:

xsetwacom --list devices

Once you have that set up and your devices are being listed you should have full wacom functionality including pressure sensitivty. I tested this with xournal for note taking, and mypaint or gimp.

The next issue was how to rotate the screen when in tablet modes. Well there are two ways to do this, the first is Magick Rotate. I didn't like it personally, however it does setup automatic rotation based on events and detaching the screen triggered the rotation. I however decided to use one of the side buttons that wasn't doing anything. I'm using the 'lock' button to run a toggle script

#!/bin/sh

#Gets the current mode of the screen
mode="$(xrandr -q --verbose | grep 'connected' | egrep -o '\) (normal|left|inverted|right) \(' | egrep -o '(normal|left|inverted|right)')"

case "$mode" in
  normal)
  #toggle rotate to the left
  xrandr -o left
  xsetwacom set "Atmel Atmel maXTouch Digitizer touch" Rotate ccw
  xsetwacom set "Wacom ISDv4 EC Pen stylus" Rotate ccw
  xsetwacom set "Wacom ISDv4 EC Pen eraser" Rotate ccw
  ;;
  left)
  #toggle rotate to normal
  xrandr -o normal
  xsetwacom set "Atmel Atmel maXTouch Digitizer touch" Rotate none
  xsetwacom set "Wacom ISDv4 EC Pen stylus" Rotate none
  xsetwacom set "Wacom ISDv4 EC Pen eraser" Rotate none
  ;;
esac

I have this script executing each time the lock button is pressed. first it grabs the current rotation, and will then toggle the state between left and normal states. Feel free to add to this for inverted or right rotations as well. Also be sure to change the device name in the xsetwacom commands to match your devices as well.

From here, it's up to you to customize your machine to your liking. I use mine to code professionally and for class as well as taking notes during lectures.

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-05 23:28:51

This should go in the wiki… not in the forums where it is likely to get lost in all the noise.

Arondite · 2013-09-05 23:31:18

Alright, I'll get it moved over

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-05 23:32:23

Maybe you shoudl createa Thinkpad Helix page if there isn't one already.

Arondite · 2013-09-06 00:35:18

Sweet, I created the thinkpad helix page. Thanks for the suggestion, hopefully someone somewhere will find it useful

WonderWoofy · 2013-09-06 01:19:36

Nice, that is a simple and to the point article.

Kabouik · 2015-01-08 17:26:46

Hi there,

I'm sorry to up this old thread but I guess it's the best place to ask my question: I am running Linux Mint 16 x64 Cinnamon on my Thinkpad Helix, and I wanted to properly install the digitizer as shown in the first post, but apparently I have no /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory. I guess my distribution no longer use this, but I don't know where/what is the file I should edit to try the settings in the first post. The digitizer kind of works because the cursor is detected when I use the stylus, and I can draw or click on things. However, no pressure sensitivity and no right click.

Somewhat related: I can't get multitouch to work, nor right click to be triggered with a long-press. Are there any solutions to that? It seems the Archlinux community is the one which managed to get the best results with the Helix/Linux combination.

Last edited by Kabouik (2015-01-08 17:28:11)

jasonwryan · 2015-01-08 17:54:02

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … pport_ONLY

Closing

Arch Linux

#1 2013-09-05 23:17:04

Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

#2 2013-09-05 23:28:51

Re: Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

#3 2013-09-05 23:31:18

Re: Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

#4 2013-09-05 23:32:23

Re: Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

#5 2013-09-06 00:35:18

Re: Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

#6 2013-09-06 01:19:36

Re: Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

#7 2015-01-08 17:26:46

Re: Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

#8 2015-01-08 17:54:02

Re: Thinkpad Helix - Post installation, setting up wacom and rotation

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