Review of a new tablet soon!
Published on
XP-Pen sent me their new Artist Pro 16 (Gen2): they were curious if I could get it to work under Gnu/Linux without their proprietary driver.
Result: after a long evening of trial and error, tweaking Digimend/X11/xsetwacom, almost everything works now. 🎉
Of course, the deal is that if it works, I have to document it like I did with the Artist 24 Pro. So expect it soon™.
Btw, this one will stay on my desk: I had a serious crush on it while testing: super low latency & low parallax. 😍
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51 comments
halla@fosstodon.org
It also looks like it's just the right size!
davidrevoy
@halla Yes, it is. And I'm super impressed with it. Easily the best tablet I ever had. But I spent so far only 3h drawing with it. :blobwhistle: So maybe the ugly things will come later.
It's thin like an Intuos Pro Large, same size, and with a QuadHD 16:10 (so 2560x1600px). And the colorspace is large. This thing easily display real AdobeRGB. I feel they really listened to many reviews before doing this one. So many things "done right" at a first impression.
9 ★halla@fosstodon.org
I might be ordering one... Even though I have a huge and very capable cintiq. (Which colonizes my painting table, which is not good...)
★jimmac@mastodon.social
Wow, you're way more hardcore tweaker than I ever managed :)
davidrevoy
@jimmac 😆 😆 😆 Haha, I realise that too. I'm taking a dangerous path. If I continue on the same path, you'll find me in a couple of years proposing MR for the kernel and libinput.😅
18 ★silmathoron@floss.social
@jimmac speaking of MRs to the kernel, are there people who could do that, such that XP-Pen devices are supported out-of-the-box? How does Wacom do it (is it them or other people)?
I wonder how complicated it would be to get it done by building up on work like yours or kurikaesu's repo https://github.com/kurikaesu/userspace-tablet-driver-daemon
Do you know or know people who could answer that?
davidrevoy
@silmathoron Yes, for kernel patch, see this type of patch https://git.sr.ht/~redstrate/linux/commit/51d402c5f0d6d80eecb556ffd3bca4d1b93d7de5
About Wacom; afaik, they open spec and (them, or Vfx/animation/3D studios) sponsor Red Hat to get the spec done in GNU/Linux.
Kurikaesu made a userspace driver (the repo you share); similar in a way to what the XPpen proprietary driver does technically afaik. I tested it, but it was long time ago (2 years?) I'll recheck it. A new visit of his work sounds good.
@jimmac
★jimmac@mastodon.social
I've sold my xp-pen because the driver situation is so sub-par. Even on the mac.
★odoben@meow.social
★On a related note: Wayland colour management is coming to KDE Plasma!
https://pointieststick.com/2023/10/27/these-past-2-weeks-in-kde-wayland-color-management-the-desktop-cube-returns-and-optional-shadows-in-spectacle/
davidrevoy
@odoben Oh yes, I'm following that commit after commit and each step on the review. :blobaww: I'm like super excited to get a Wayland workflow that works, and at the same time their is still a many area where I have no idea how −for example− I could make a tablet like this one functional under Wayland. No more xsetwacom/X11 for the input but only libinput; it feels I have to relearn how to make things from scratch, and I'm not even sure it is possible without compiling and coding.
8 ★raghukamath@mastodon.art
@odoben it is really coming up nicely. Hope the momentum stays the same. Right now there is no support for gamuts outside of sRGB though. So this tablet will not be used optimally on Wayland yet.
★davidrevoy
@raghukamath @odoben Oh yes, I think it will take years before getting a correct canvas pass-through for creative apps and images viewers...
2 ★breadbin@bitbang.social
@raghukamath @odoben I can’t help but think that Krita is a bit of a flagship product for KDE, so it would be very nice to get things like tablets to run smooth “out of the box” so to speak.
I don’t know anything about the architecture, but it sounds like there’s a fair bit of work needed. Hopefully it can get done.
(I’m no artists, but I’m very happy Krita exists. Use it on multiple platforms.)
★davidrevoy
@breadbin I totally agree. But I also have a big bias about digital painting. 😉
@raghukamath @odoben
2 ★breadbin@bitbang.social
@raghukamath @odoben You certainly do:) But that’s ok because of all the work you do!
I’ve heard that KDELive isn’t bad either. I think it would make sense to focus on creative. Including being able to hook things up such as cameras etc.
★ulfi@troet.cafe
@odoben
What distro do you use. To have wacom properly working, #KDE should be on the latest version (5.29.9).
Proberly @carlschwan any idea who can help David?
davidrevoy
@ulfi Hey, I don't use any distro specific tool: I mainly set my tablet with xsetwacom bash script; the GUI are often incomplete on any O.S. My distro is Fedora 38 KDE, and since 36.
Unfortunately, the architecture of Wayland moved all X11/xsetwacom tools to libinput; and I have no idea if it is possible to setup a tablet via command line on Wayland.
So, the problem of setting tablets become D.E. specific problems. And after 15 years of trouble, not the best idea imo.
@odoben @carlschwan
★ulfi@troet.cafe
Ok, I don't use any distro specific tools on my #openSUSEtumbleweed KDE as well.
I only configured it with KDE system settings Setup page.
It works Ok with X11 but only in single screen mode. With multi monitor it works only on Wayland correctly.
davidrevoy
@ulfi Yes, that's why I'm not using the GUI in system settings. This and because it rarely contains all options I need. (but I have to admit, the X11 system settings of KDE exposed a lot of option; area, filter of events, deletion of event, shortcuts for any buttons, profiles, etc).
★carlschwan@floss.social
@ulfi I have no ideas about input devices, that's not my area of expertise. @redstrate or @AleixPol are more familiar with this.
★ulfi@troet.cafe
Thanks Carl
at @redstrate @AleixPol do you think you can help to use his graphic tablet properly?
redstrate@mastodon.art
I would like to, but I'm currently awaiting news on funding this work 🙂 there's nothing stopping someone from implementing this stuff in KWin though, it doesn't have to be us
AleixPol@fosstodon.org
@carlschwan @ulfi @redstrate I've looked into this topic in the past and even worked on it with David. It needs some time and care. Help with polish and prioritization would be useful, otherwise it's just work piling up and it's hard to get it done. https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/3218
★redstrate@mastodon.art
@carlschwan @ulfi @AleixPol Oh neat, I've been pushing some lingering tablet stuff, and I somehow missed this. Will add it to the pile :)
★cliffp@mastodon.social
@odoben
There is currently no tool that I know of to configure my little Wacom under Wayland on Ubuntu. I used to use xsetwacom of course, so I asked the Debian developer of xsetwacom, but he knew of no such program under Wayland. So I switched back to XOrg. Programming it myself is not possible!
davidrevoy
@cliffp True. The Wayland architecture decision to put all the responsability of device configuration in the hand of each D.E. is , from my POV a big mistake. At least, xsetwacom was D.E. agnostic...
@odoben
odoben@meow.social
@cliffp
They're going the exact opposite route compared to Xorg, where one display server had to support every possible use case, which made it difficult to maintain. I do agree that they overdid the minimalism with Wayland but from a protocol developer's point of view it makes sense.
davidrevoy
@odoben True. I know I'll intensify my report and beta-test to give feedback about what is missing on Wayland (tablet side, KDE Plasma) before Wayland become the main solution on Fedora 40. I'm really motivated to be able to use it; it's interesting on a technology point of view and security point of view.
@cliffp
★Zveryok@octodon.social
Sounds interesting to read in a blog post soon :)
★me_the_fl00f@cybre.club
@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org So, as they now know that it works using Linux ... they should donate some to the Fedi community. Cheaper promotion they can´t get. And maybe some BSD people (like me) would look at it and try it ;-)
★Ray_Of_Sunlight@mastodon.social
Lucky you
★cjammet@mastodon.online
nicely done!
★TadayoshiFirefox@meow.social
now I am curious to see how this worked out.
★Especially what does not work after the long evening. Did you test it with the drivers too?
davidrevoy
@TadayoshiFirefox I didn't test their driver, I have a clear idea of what and how it should work without it.
The things not working are:
- customisation of the top button of the stylus: it's a switch to "eraser device" as for AES stylus (Lenovo) or Ms Surface. I have a workaround, but it's not super elegant.
- Some buttons of the wireless numpad device are also requiring a bit of adaptation and constrained to not be customisable to all the keys possible.
So, it's minor. 🙂
trianderror@kanoa.de
★Looking forward to your documentation.
As a sidenote: Grant Abbitt is recommending the XP Pen Artist 16 as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNSs9nBodik
davidrevoy
@trianderror Thanks for the link! I decided I'll not watch any review before finishing mine. It's way more fun to look at what other covered or not after. This way I'm not tempted to mimic their way to present or influenced by their observations. ☺️
2 ★davidak@chaos.social
nice to see wacom having some competition.
davidrevoy
@davidak Yes, first time I see the competition outrun them in terms of quality and perf.I hope XpPen will not dramatically increase their pricing if they keep up with this quality.
★euneuber@graz.social
you should put up an affiliate link to buy it. I'm always looking for such devices that work with Linux!
davidrevoy
@euneuber Thanks, I'll ask them if they have a coupon or promo code when I'll release the blog post + video. If it can save a little 5 or 10% 🙂
2 ★jkbecker@infosec.exchange
what is this 👀👀👀
🖼️ ee45b0055ca2fa63.pngdavidrevoy
@jkbecker It's part of the tablet packaging: it's a wireless remote. It has its own USB dongle, but can connect via bluetooth too.
It's more like a numeric keypad. evtest catches it, so it's possible to customise it with a /etc/udev/hwdb.d/ rule as I described in https://www.davidrevoy.com/article989/how-to-customise-a-usb-numeric-keypad-under-gnulinux .
But it is a gadget; a good access to a full keyboard or a real numeric keypad customised might bring more possibilities of keys. I was describing the default layout an hour ago:
fluffy@social.handholding.io
i could use something like that for my current workflow
can you but the device on its own somewhere?
davidrevoy
@fluffy @jkbecker Yes, on XpPen website:
★Product description: https://www.xp-pen.com/product/ack05-wireless-shortcut-remote.html
Shopping page: https://www.xp-pen.com/store/buy/ack05-shortcut-remote.html
tursiae@meow.social
Seeing companies actively trying to encourage OSS support like this is fantastic.
★davidrevoy
@tursiae I agree! 👍
mhunt@socel.net
Have fun!
★InsaneAwesomeTony@mastodon.gamedev.place
cat! 😻
★sb@mas.to
well that was great timing… I was about to buy an external USB C monitor. But one that I can also use as a tablet for $100 more? Can’t pass that up. Thanks!
★jigmedatse@social.jigmedatse.com
Awesome... I'll admit that my Wacom setup wasn't exactly seamless, but not a huge amount of problems. Just an Intuos Pro Small (I don't really have the desk space for larger). I was reluctant to try some of the popular tablets at the time, as I wasn't sure how easy they'd be to setup. I've probably grown more willing to try "likely to be a pain" things for my systems since.
★rwdmiha@mastodon.social
You ought to put up a link for affiliates to buy it. Any such devices that are compatible with Linux are always welcome in my home!
https://phrazle.co
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