Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:52:19 -0800 From: "Kevin Oberman" <oberman@es.net> To: "Daniel O'Connor" <doconnor@gsoft.com.au> Cc: Chuck Robey <chuckr@chuckr.org>, freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: how to design a tablet driver? Message-ID: <20080306185219.1B27B45048@ptavv.es.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:09:50 %2B1030." <200803061909.58538.doconnor@gsoft.com.au>
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--==_Exmh_1204829539_26551P Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline > From: "Daniel O'Connor" <doconnor@gsoft.com.au> > Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 19:09:50 +1030 > Sender: owner-freebsd-current@freebsd.org > > On Thu, 6 Mar 2008, Chuck Robey wrote: > > My current project is making a usb driver for my "Superpen" WP8060 > > Tablet. It's a cheaper version of the better known Wacom Tablet, > > which i couldn't afford for my use in Gimp. I figure, I better ask > > myu questions here, because they don't really bear so much on usb as > > they bear upon the basic architecture of a mouselike drvice that must > > be absolute, not relative, in approach. > > I would say that you should report the physical size of the tablet, and > then report movement in terms of real physical units. You could do all > this in fixed point 32 bit ints and then have an enum which says what > units it's reporting in (tenths of a millimetre, or whatever). > > After that it's up to the client to do the right thing. Passing screen > size to the display drive seems like a gross hack liable to much > breakage. > > All this said I suspect that this problem has already been solved by > other tablet drivers so I'd look there. Not to mention that there > should already be a protocol for tablets that goes between the kernel > and X (or from an X driver that opens ugen and speaks to the rest of X) > > > OK, that means that I have to know the graphic point size (is there a > > Well, if it does, then it also means that I need to find the > > absoluite point size of whatever screen you're playing with, no > > matter if I'm talking about an X11 screen or a screen from a vty. I > > mean, vty's use mice now, isn't it possible for use a tablet on a > > vtyt also? OR, extra possibility, maybe if we're in a non-X11 > > environment, fall back to a relative use, and only go to absolute > > when you go to X11. If I have too much trouble getting and keeping > > an idea of the screen size oout of X11, I could do that. > > Personally, I'd forget about vty's unless you want to do mouse emulation > stuff there.. I imagine it would be a pretty major rearchitecting of > sysmouse, moused etc etc.. Too hard to for too little reward :) > > > I'm suggesting this because I'm very, very confused as to how I would > > figure out what the screen size is for a vty. If I gotta do a > > absolute gig on a bty, then I gotta find some way to ask the size of > > the cry, and get me driver in the list of those to be notified if the > > size of a vty changes. > > As above - basically "don't bother". > > > Please, if you have any comment, feel free to interrupt all over me, > > sir! The sooner I get some of this, the sooner that really cheap > > (~$60) 8"X6" tablet is ours, especially for Gimp. > > Wow, pretty nice :) > I might see if I can grab one.. $49.99 at ThinkGeek. http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/5ede/ or http://www.amazon.com/ThinkGeek-SuperPen-Graphics-Tablet/dp/B0002198L4 They are both ThinkGeek, but you might already be set up to order through Amazon. I' prefer ordering through ThinkGeek, since I see no reason for Amazon to get a cut. (If you own Amazon stock, your opinion may differ.) -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4 EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751 --==_Exmh_1204829539_26551P Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (FreeBSD) Comment: Exmh version 2.5 06/03/2002 iD8DBQFH0D1jkn3rs5h7N1ERArFPAKCWXqJuo2Ab2tY1g7Xsru+G+NkhTACgjS1E MaIsvTIA8Obbm7VsfOqutEE= =sE/o -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --==_Exmh_1204829539_26551P--
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