Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

synthead · 2008-06-27 22:18:33

I'm trying to get the serial touchscreen on my Toughbook CF-M34 going. I've done a ton of googling, and apparently there are a few that have got it to work with the "gunzets" driver, but it's so old that it's not compatible with the latest kernel or xorg. I've been messing around with evtouch and evdev, but I haven't gotten the cursor to move yet. One thing I know is that the touchscreen is connected to /dev/ttyS2.

Any ideas on what I should try?

Last edited by synthead (2009-11-29 08:50:38)

synthead · 2008-06-30 07:12:10

Okay, so I found a problem. I downloaded the latest evtouch driver (0.8.7) from the author's website and extracted evtouch_drv.so to /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input. After I start X, /var/log/Xorg.0.log states that the driver evtouch doesn't exist. However, it's soooooo there.

From /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

(EE) No Input driver matching `evtouch'

ls of /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input:

[max@coppertop input]$ pwd && ls -l
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/input
total 256
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  20647 2008-06-21 11:17 evdev_drv.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 105366 2008-06-29 23:53 evtouch_drv.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  30213 2008-06-21 11:16 kbd_drv.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  48599 2007-10-16 06:17 mouse_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  41288 2008-01-27 01:25 synaptics_drv.so

/etc/X11/xorg.conf:

# File generated by xorgconfig.

#
# Copyright 2004 The X.Org Foundation
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
# copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
# to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
# the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
# and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
# Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
# 
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
# 
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
# The X.Org Foundation BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
# WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF
# OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
# SOFTWARE.
# 
# Except as contained in this notice, the name of The X.Org Foundation shall
# not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other
# dealings in this Software without prior written authorization from
# The X.Org Foundation.
#

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf(5) man page for details about the format of 
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

# **********************************************************************
# Module section -- this  section  is used to specify
# which dynamically loadable modules to load.
# **********************************************************************
#
Section "Module"

# This loads the DBE extension module.

    Load        "dbe"      # Double buffer extension

# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
    SubSection  "extmod"
      Option    "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension
    EndSubSection

# This loads the font modules
#    Load        "type1"
    Load        "freetype"
#    Load        "xtt"

# This loads the GLX module
#    Load       "glx"
# This loads the DRI module
#    Load       "dri"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Files section.  This allows default font and rgb paths to be set
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"

# The location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally
# no need to change the default.

#    RgbPath    "/usr/share/X11/rgb"

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (which are concatenated together),
# as well as specifying multiple comma-separated entries in one FontPath
# command (or a combination of both methods)
# 
# 

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
#    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/freefont/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"

# The module search path.  The default path is shown here.

#    ModulePath "/usr/lib/modules"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Server flags section.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"

# Uncomment this to cause a core dump at the spot where a signal is 
# received.  This may leave the console in an unusable state, but may
# provide a better stack trace in the core dump to aid in debugging

#    Option "NoTrapSignals"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Ctrl><Alt><Fn> VT switch sequence
# (where n is 1 through 12).  This allows clients to receive these key
# events.

#    Option "DontVTSwitch"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Ctrl><Alt><BS> server abort sequence
# This allows clients to receive this key event.

#    Option "DontZap"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> mode switching
# sequences.  This allows clients to receive these key events.

#    Option "Dont Zoom"

# Uncomment this to disable tuning with the xvidtune client. With
# it the client can still run and fetch card and monitor attributes,
# but it will not be allowed to change them. If it tries it will
# receive a protocol error.

#    Option "DisableVidModeExtension"

# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local xvidtune client. 

#    Option "AllowNonLocalXvidtune"

# Uncomment this to disable dynamically modifying the input device
# (mouse and keyboard) settings. 

#    Option "DisableModInDev"

# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local client to
# change the keyboard or mouse settings (currently only xset).

#    Option "AllowNonLocalModInDev"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Input devices
# **********************************************************************

# **********************************************************************
# Core keyboard's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

Section "InputDevice"
     Identifier "touchscreen"
     Driver "evtouch"
     Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS2"
     Option "DeviceName" "touchscreen"
     Option "MinX" "250"
     Option "MinY" "280"
     Option "MaxX" "4000"
     Option "MaxY" "3850"
     Option "ReportingMode" "Raw"
     Option "Emulate3Buttons"
     Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
     Option "SendCoreEvents" "On"
#     Option "Calibrate" "1"
 EndSection


  Section "InputDevice"
  Driver      "synaptics"
  Identifier      "touchpad"
  Option     "Device"      "/dev/psaux"
  Option    "Protocol"    "auto-dev"
  Option    "LeftEdge"      "1700"
  Option    "RightEdge"     "5300"
  Option    "TopEdge"       "1700"
  Option    "BottomEdge"    "4200"
  Option    "FingerLow"    "25"
  Option    "FingerHigh"    "30"
  Option    "MaxTapTime"    "180"
  Option    "MaxTapMove"    "220"
  Option    "VertScrollDelta" "100"
  Option    "MinSpeed"    "0.06"
  Option    "MaxSpeed"    "0.12"
  Option    "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
  Option    "SHMConfig"    "on"
#  Option    "Repeater"    "/dev/ps2mouse"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier    "Keyboard1"
    Driver    "kbd"

    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
#    Option    "Xleds"      "1 2 3"

#    Option "LeftAlt"     "Meta"
#    Option "RightAlt"    "ModeShift"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
#    Option "XkbModel"    "pc105"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#    Option "XkbModel"    "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
#    Option "XkbLayout"   "de"
# or:
#    Option "XkbLayout"   "de"
#    Option "XkbVariant"  "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
#    Option "XkbOptions"  "ctrl:swapcaps"

# These are the default XKB settings for Xorg
#    Option "XkbRules"    "xorg"
#    Option "XkbModel"    "pc105"
#    Option "XkbLayout"   "us"
#    Option "XkbVariant"  ""
#    Option "XkbOptions"  ""

#    Option "XkbDisable"

    Option "XkbRules"    "xorg"
    Option "XkbModel"    "pc104"
    Option "XkbLayout"    "us"

EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Core Pointer's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

Section "InputDevice"

# Identifier and driver

    Identifier    "Mouse1"
    Driver    "mouse"
    Option "Protocol"    "Auto"    # Auto detect
    Option "Device"      "/dev/input/mice"

# Mouse-speed setting for PS/2 mouse.

#    Option "Resolution"    "256"

# Baudrate and SampleRate are only for some Logitech mice. In
# almost every case these lines should be omitted.

#    Option "BaudRate"    "9600"
#    Option "SampleRate"    "150"

# Mouse wheel mapping.  Default is to map vertical wheel to buttons 4 & 5,
# horizontal wheel to buttons 6 & 7.   Change if your mouse has more than
# 3 buttons and you need to map the wheel to different button ids to avoid
# conflicts.

    Option "ZAxisMapping"   "4 5 6 7"

# Emulate3Buttons is an option for 2-button mice
# Emulate3Timeout is the timeout in milliseconds (default is 50ms)

    Option "Emulate3Buttons"
#    Option "Emulate3Timeout"    "50"

# ChordMiddle is an option for some 3-button Logitech mice

#    Option "ChordMiddle"

EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Other input device sections 
# this is optional and is required only if you
# are using extended input devices.  This is for example only.  Refer
# to the xorg.conf man page for a description of the options.
# **********************************************************************
#
# Section "InputDevice" 
#    Identifier  "Mouse2"
#    Driver      "mouse"
#    Option      "Protocol"      "MouseMan"
#    Option      "Device"        "/dev/mouse2"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
#    Identifier "spaceball"
#    Driver     "magellan"
#    Option     "Device"        "/dev/cua0"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
#    Identifier "spaceball2"
#    Driver     "spaceorb"
#    Option     "Device"        "/dev/cua0"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
#    Identifier "touchscreen0"
#    Driver     "microtouch"
#    Option     "Device"        "/dev/ttyS0"
#    Option     "MinX"          "1412"
#    Option     "MaxX"          "15184"
#    Option     "MinY"          "15372"
#    Option     "MaxY"          "1230"
#    Option     "ScreenNumber"  "0"
#    Option     "ReportingMode" "Scaled"
#    Option     "ButtonNumber"  "1"
#    Option     "SendCoreEvents"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
#    Identifier "touchscreen1"
#    Driver     "elo2300"
#    Option     "Device"        "/dev/ttyS0"
#    Option     "MinX"          "231"
#    Option     "MaxX"          "3868"
#    Option     "MinY"          "3858"
#    Option     "MaxY"          "272"
#    Option     "ScreenNumber"  "0"
#    Option     "ReportingMode" "Scaled"
#    Option     "ButtonThreshold"       "17"
#    Option     "ButtonNumber"  "1"
#    Option     "SendCoreEvents"
# EndSection

# **nux********************************************************************
# Monitor section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier  "monitor"

#    DisplaySize 269 201

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

    HorizSync   31.5 - 82.0

#    HorizSync    30-64         # multisync
#    HorizSync    31.5, 35.2    # multiple fixed sync frequencies
#    HorizSync    15-25, 30-50  # multiple ranges of sync frequencies

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

    VertRefresh 40-150

EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

# Standard VGA Device:

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Standard VGA"
    VendorName    "Unknown"
    BoardName    "Unknown"

# The chipset line is optional in most cases.  It can be used to override
# the driver's chipset detection, and should not normally be specified.

#    Chipset    "generic"

# The Driver line must be present.  When using run-time loadable driver
# modules, this line instructs the server to load the specified driver
# module.  Even when not using loadable driver modules, this line
# indicates which driver should interpret the information in this section.

    Driver     "vga"
# The BusID line is used to specify which of possibly multiple devices
# this section is intended for.  When this line isn't present, a device
# section can only match up with the primary video device.  For PCI
# devices a line like the following could be used.  This line should not
# normally be included unless there is more than one video device
# intalled.

#    BusID      "PCI:0:10:0"

#    VideoRam    256

#    Clocks    25.2 28.3

EndSection

# Device configured by xorgconfig:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "vidcard"
    Driver      "i810"
    #VideoRam    262144
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of screen sections may be present.  Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen.  A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device      "vidcard"
    Monitor     "monitor"
    DefaultDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# ServerLayout sections.
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of ServerLayout sections may be present.  Each describes
# the way multiple screens are organised.  A specific ServerLayout
# section may be specified from the X server command line with the
# "-layout" option.  In the absence of this, the first section is used.
# When now ServerLayout section is present, the first Screen section
# is used alone.

Section "ServerLayout"

# The Identifier line must be present
    Identifier  "Simple Layout"

# Each Screen line specifies a Screen section name, and optionally
# the relative position of other screens.  The four names after
# primary screen name are the screens to the top, bottom, left and right
# of the primary screen.  In this example, screen 2 is located to the
# right of screen 1.

    Screen "Screen 1"

# Each InputDevice line specifies an InputDevice section name and
# optionally some options to specify the way the device is to be
# used.  Those options include "CorePointer", "CoreKeyboard" and
# "SendCoreEvents".

    InputDevice "touchpad" "SendCoreEvents"
    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "touchscreen" "SendCoreEvents"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

# Section "DRI"
#    Mode 0666
# EndSection

What's wrong?

synthead · 2008-07-15 23:59:13

Any idea? Do I have to do more than throwing the .so file into the input folder?

nobles · 2009-04-13 01:08:02

Did you ever get this working? I have the same problem on a Panasonic CF-28 Toughbook and the log file you mention shows the evtouch driver is not loading. The touchscreen is active (even though this driver is not loading) as I can touch the screen and the pointer moves around but without evtouch it seems you cannot calibrate it or get it in the right mode (absolute) to make it work well enough to be useful.

synthead · 2009-11-23 06:32:22

No, I haven't gotten it working yet. Apparently, Xubuntu autoconfigures the touchscreen out-of-the-box, so I'm trying to get it running temporarily on my machine to see what modules and configs it's using to pull this off.

synthead · 2009-11-25 19:21:45

Okay, here's what I've been reading about! Apparently, the xorg.conf file has been almost entirely phased out. All of X's hardware probing and autoconfiguration capabilities utilizes HAL for the most part. So, if I want to make this work, it should be as simple as writing a HAL policy (fdi file in /etc/hal/fdi/policy) that links COM2, a.k.a. ttyS2, to the evdev driver. But I haven't messed with HAL too much and have only been following guides online to do little things, so I need your guys' help!

If I put an .fdi file in /etc/hal/fdi/policy, would HAL read it and use it unconditionally, or only if it finds the device? My screen is a "dumb" HID, meaning that if I probe the COM ports, it won't read any hardware IDs off it, or even know that it's connected (I'm pretty sure). I wrote an .fdi file for it, but lshal doesn't show any usage of it. Here is my config:

/etc/hal/fdi/policy/touchscreen.fdi

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.mouse">
<merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">evdev</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.MinX" type="integer">1000</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.MaxX" type="integer">0</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.MinY" type="integer">900</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.MaxY" type="integer">0</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.AlwaysCore" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.device.set" type="string">/dev/ttyS2</merge>
<merge key="tty.serial.baud_base" type="integer">9600</merge>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>

Also, would I use input.mouse here? How do I make HAL use this rule? Is touchscreen.fdi an acceptable filename?

synthead · 2009-11-29 09:03:42

Still working on it. I've decided to put the HAL stuff on a shelf and try messing with xorg.conf and xorg drivers. When using the evtouch driver, my cursor doesn't respond to touching the screen at all, BUT, if I move the cursor around with a mouse and rapidly touch the screen, I can see the cursor jitter to the rhythm of my finger. So something is going on here.

I dug up a wiki about the CF-M34 on an Italian Slackware site, and it says that I can just copy the precompiled gunze_drv.o to xorg's input modules folder, but X reports that the driver "gunze" doesn't exist (after I created a valid xorg.conf, of course). Not too sure what's going on here.

I'm still thinking that if I can link the touchscreen in a way that it natively shows up in /dev/input, it'll just come to life, but I'm not sure how to do it ... *hint hint*

synthead · 2009-12-01 00:18:52

Any thoughts?

synthead · 2009-12-04 08:31:35

I think I'm going to focus on the evtouch driver, since it's regularly updated and actually seems to be doing something ... but I have a few questions (as it still doesn't work):

If I'm going to be using the evtouch driver, do I need to set it to a /dev/input/eventx device, or can I get away with just using /dev/ttyS2?

Do you think there is a possibility that HAL is capturing the serial interface in a way that evtouch cannot actually access it?

If I configure my touchscreen through HAL's policy files instead of xorg.conf (which seems to be the most forward-thinking way to do this), I can just plop an .fdi file in /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy and it'll read and use it on every start of HAL, right?

Last edited by synthead (2009-12-04 08:34:29)

synthead · 2009-12-17 07:58:37

bump

synthead · 2010-01-30 21:08:51

New discovery - when the computer's screen turns off, touching the screen wakes it up! So hal must know that it's an input device somewhere along the line. What should I do from here to experiment with this?

synthead · 2010-03-12 00:07:04

Any ideas?

synthead · 2010-05-24 02:40:47

bump

synthead · 2010-05-30 21:51:32

Okay, a little more accomplished, but it's not working yet. I was actually trying to get a serial trackball going on another machine so I can play the arcade version of centipede through sdlmame. I got it working through inputattach. I usually play the game on my Atari with joystick controllers, so this was soooooo badass. But that got me thinking, 'if it was that easy to get the serial trackball going, can I do the same with my Panasonic touchscreen?'

However, I tried all the protocols, and nothing worked. Watching the gpm cursor in the console, some protocols don't do anything at all, some "wake up" the cursor and that's it (no movement), and some make the thing totally wig out. I'm thinking of experimenting with my small knowledge of programming and writing a patch that supports this damn thing once and for all. I can post the output from the -dump option if any of you guys have some experience and/or interest in this.

brb1179 · 2010-06-04 21:21:34

This coincides with a little mod I am doing on another model. CF-29.
We have done a little work on getting Linux to run on CF-29s.
I am not sure if it will help but take a look at http://forum.notebookreview.com/panason … linux.html. I am very familiar with this mish-mash of information as this is my thread. Check out 9nine9's info on page 2 etc. To be clear this information did not work on my Mark4 (hardware issues) but I am running it on two Mark 3 CF-29s.
As far as the serial input goes I thought of trying lshal | grep serial and see what hal is seeing. Then back engineer from that.
Evtouch is the creature of choice these days. Also note the conflict with /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
This thread is basically a journal of my new career messing with Linux.
Good luck to you now.
brb

Arch Linux

#1 2008-06-27 22:18:33

Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#2 2008-06-30 07:12:10

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#3 2008-07-15 23:59:13

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#4 2009-04-13 01:08:02

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#5 2009-11-23 06:32:22

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#6 2009-11-25 19:21:45

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#7 2009-11-29 09:03:42

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#8 2009-12-01 00:18:52

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#9 2009-12-04 08:31:35

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#10 2009-12-17 07:58:37

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#11 2010-01-30 21:08:51

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#12 2010-03-12 00:07:04

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#13 2010-05-24 02:40:47

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#14 2010-05-30 21:51:32

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

#15 2010-06-04 21:21:34

Re: Resistive serial touchscreen on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34

Board footer