XpPen Artist Pro 27 Gen2 - review on GNU/Linux

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Video:

This article accompanies my video review of the XpPen Artist Pro 27 (gen2), a large-sized 27" display drawing tablet. The video provides my in-depth look at the device's hardware. This blog post, on the other hand, focuses on the information and technical aspects of installing and configuring the device on a GNU/Linux operating system.

Official page/store: https://www.xp-pen.com/store/buy/artist-pro-27-gen2.html

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Out of the box situation

What features are available out of the box? Basically, all primary functions are operational. In the absence of a dedicated driver, the drawing tablet will emulate a standard "Microsoft Pen tablet" devices.

Modern versions of GNOME and KDE, running under Wayland, will accurately offer you in the settings a way to customize most of the stylus features (coordinates/screen aspect ratio).

The limitation of this emulation will affect the second button of both stylus: they will be mapped (hardcoded) to an eraser mode, and tilt will work but be a bit limited (no tilt compensation).

That's why you'll need a driver if you want to customise the second button (top) on the barrel (eg. putting a right-click button instead of an 'eraser mode').

The Free Libre and Open Source driver

On GNU/Linux, all drivers are usually built into the Linux kernel, but this tablet don't have it yet, and forcing users to wait for the next kernel release to get their hardware supported would be madness. To address this issue, projects such as udev-hid-bpf provides a solution by allowing users to load HID drivers (Human Interface Device) in the already installed kernel.

That's where the development of new Free Libre and Open Source tablet drivers takes place before joining the official kernel.

This 27" tablet has now a FLOSS driver. It is the first one I coded myself! You'll find the source in the merge request 243. But my merits here are very limited, as the 14, 16 and 19 inch models already were coded, and all I had to do was plugging the spec of the 27 in the existing code... But that was my first baby steps in the code, and sending a proper MR to a freedesktop.org project and I'm super happy it was merged!

Install

First, in any case, we need to install udev-hid-bpf as a CLI tool in any case. If your distro packages the latest version, use that. If not, get it manually via the precompiled udev-hid-bpf release. (unpack-it and install-it with executing the included ./install.sh bash script).

Unfortunately, the code for the 27" is too fresh for being part of the "latest release" as I write these lines. You'll need a better version than the current (2.3.0-20260703). If your OS already provide that, or if it is available and you installed it, your udev-hid-bpf already contain the rule for the 27".

Note: To load udev-hid-bpf, you'll need a kernel built for allowing BPF. Nowadays almost all GNU/Linux distro have that. Debian 12 and Debian 13 being the exception (use the Liqorix kernel if it is your case).

Attaching the compiled bpf to the tablet:

If you have udev-hid-bpf 2.3.0-20260703 or older, go to https://www.peppercarrot.com/extras/?dir=resources/bpf and download 0040-XPPen__ArtistPro16Gen2.bpf.o.

Then use udev-hid-bpf CLI tool to install the bpf.o file this way: 

$ sudo udev-hid-bpf install /path/to/your/0040-XPPen__ArtistPro16Gen2.bpf.o

If everything went well, unplug and replug your tablet (the USB-C cable) or restart your computer. You can then check with this command line if the driver is attached (the driver is still named after the 16 model)

$ sudo tree /sys/fs/bpf/hid//sys/fs/bpf/hid/

└── 0003_28BD_097A_0016
    └── 0030-XPPen__ArtistPro16Gen2_bpf
        └── xppen_artist_pro_16

3 directories, 1 file

Also, the best confirmation: the second button on the stylus is not anymore an "eraser mode" after that, but a mouse right-click.

Customization

Once the udev-hid-bpf installed, the Plasma KDE "system settings" will be able to configure your tablet. If you use another desktop environment, it will depend as now on Wayland, each DE have their own implementation about it. I'm checking on my guide only on recent KDE Plasma Wayland.

The proprietary driver

I'm not using or testing the Linux proprietary driver provided by XP-Pen, for ethical reasons. However, I am aware that many users may find its existence convenient and may choose to make an exception and use this binary blob on their OS. Just know that it's a user-space driver, and so might conflict with deeper layer of your operating system or desktop environment. I have plenty of feedback very contrasted about this driver: some say it works great, some says it's super buggy. Link: https://www.xp-pen.com/download

End notes

That's all, this guide might evolve and receive updates. You can send me your tips via comments or via email.


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License: "XpPen Artist Pro 27 Gen2 - review on GNU/Linux" by David Revoy − CC-BY 4.0
Tags:  #hardware   | Download: Markdown
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