Aiptek Tablet

Introduction
This HOWTO is going to explain how to make your USB Aiptek tablet work, including pressure sensitivity.

The two main tablet manufacturers are Aiptek and Wacom, of which Aiptek is the cheaper one. Most Aiptek tablets are rebranded by local distributors, so when you buy a cheap tablet from your local discounter, it'll probably be an Aiptek. lsusb should tell you the manufacturer if you want to be sure.

Installing the kernel driver
The Aiptek kernel driver is included in the main kernel tree since 2.6.23, so no additional packages are needed. In addition to your usual USB drivers, you'll need the following:

Exit menuconfig and make the kernel.

Normally everyone has Event interface support compiled in so all you need is the Aiptek driver itself.

Try modprobing the module:

If you see errors (check with ), install your new kernel and to apply the changes.

You may also want to add the following into your udev rules:

X11 drivers
This hasn't been verified, but you'll probably need. Presently (29Nov08), this needs a little unmasking. Autounmask is recommended for this.

and then

xorg.conf (static configuration)
If you're using a static X11 configuration, edit.

does not include sanity checking on, and will clip pressure sensitivity to -1 if this is not set.

may or may not be a valid parameter.

with HAL (dynamic configuration)
If you're using HALD for automatic configuring your devices, you need to set some parameters in a FDI-file in.

Here, too, you must not forget the "zMin" and "zMax" options. To be sure, restart both and  to be sure the correct configuration is loaded.

Applications
The tablet is configured under and in the same way: under, and , and under , , ,  and. In the menu =,  =. =, =  and  = :  and.

There was a tablet manager called the Gaiptek Tablet Manager. This is no longer maintained and is not easy to install.

The tabled just keeps blinking
If the tablet is not working, check the battery in the pen. Always a good idea!

No move events
Sometimes the Kernel-driver selects a wrong "communication delay". In these cases the file (replace '*' with the correct UBS bus path) shows "Error: receiving relative reports", if the tablet was set to "absolute".

You need to set a delay more suiting your specific device (the actually needed value might vary from device to device). Usual values are 50 and 400ms. You can try any value this way:

After changing anything, you must write something to, otherwise the changes are not applied.

After you found a working value ( says "No errors." after moving the stylus around the tablet), you should tell modprobe to automatically set it when loading the module:

Don't forget to run afterwards!

Links
http://aiptektablet.sourceforge.net/ - The driver project with lots of information.

The original of this article is here