Disable touch of the tablet in Ubuntu Unity 14.04

Question

I've searched beforehand and the only suggestion I've found is this one but it doesn't work, at least not on my system (Ubuntu Unity 14.04 x64).

I need to disable the touch on my WACOM Bamboo Manga CTH-470 tablet so only the pen tip and eraser are recognized and not my hand when I accidentally touch it.

I know of this temporary solution:

xsetwacom --list

to list the output of the tablet (example)

inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$ xsetwacom --list Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Pen stylus id: 11 type: STYLUS Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Finger touch id: 12 type: TOUCH Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Pen eraser id: 16 type: ERASER Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Finger pad id: 17 type: PAD

then

xsetwacom --set # touch off

Using

inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$ xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -d ' ' -f 8 TOUCH inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$

has shown only the "TOUCH" word exactly as above.

I need to make it permanent, so I don't have to insert the command every time I want to work with my tablet.

That's a no go, since when the tablet is plugged out and plugged back in it changes numerical values for the touch option, for instance at first the identifier for touch can be 11, after re-plugging it it can be 13. — SNH, Jun 25 '14 at 07:34
Could you maybe provide a sample of the output of xsetwacom --list? — hal7df, Jun 25 '14 at 20:05
@hal7df sure, see below:
xsetwacom --list Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Finger touch id: 10type: TOUCH Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Finger pad id: 11 type: PAD Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Pen stylus id: 12 type: STYLUS Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Pen eraser id: 16 type: ERASER — SNH, Jun 26 '14 at 04:17
Apologies for the formatting, but couldn't get it aligned. The numbers for the values vary each time the tablet is being plugged in. — SNH, Jun 26 '14 at 04:25
FYI - when you provide something like output, you should edit your question so that you don't run into formatting issues. — hal7df, Jun 26 '14 at 15:58
Okay, so if you run xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -d ' ' -f 8 that should get you the id of the touch input. If you give that as an argument to your set command, it should always disable the touch. — hal7df, Jun 26 '14 at 16:06

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 28 '14 at 09:12

6

in my case worked this:

xsetwacom -v --set 'Wacom Intuos Pro M (WL) Finger touch' gesture off

test

xsetwacom -v --set 'Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Finger touch' gesture off

edited Nov 28 '14 at 09:12

αғsнιη

35,660

answered Nov 28 '14 at 07:23

doiar

76

2

If you, like me, experience that while this command disables gesture but not tapping (i.e. finger 'clicks'), run the command again but then replace 'gesture' with 'touch'. So in my case: xsetwacom -v --set 'Wacom Intuos PT S Finger touch' touch off – iGadget Sep 30 '15 at 14:23
I edited this older thread to show how to use the scripts on the tablet's buttons: http://askubuntu.com/a/118466/53256 . In this case, having a one-line command for toggling makes sense. – Maxweel Dec 29 '16 at 21:24

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '15 at 19:02

6

Rather than rely on fixed character positions and cut, you could use sed instead, like this:

xsetwacom --set `xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | sed -r "s/.*id: *([0-9]*).*/\1/"` touch off

answered May 13 '15 at 19:02

user2154526

61
1
1

Not really. The by me marked solution works like a charm and, most importantly, it is memorable. Your suggested method might work, but can easily be forgotten or mistyped. The working method can be applied by just creating a launcher and triggered each time the tablet is used. Thanks for the effort though. – SNH Jun 05 '15 at 17:34
@Patrik This solution can be pasted into a script just as easily, and is generic, so it will work for other wacom tablets that have a 'TOUCH' device. – Timtro Feb 16 '16 at 17:31

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 27 '14 at 13:40

1

First off, you still need to add the new command to your autostart configuration so that it's disabled to start with:

xsetwacom --set `xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -c 40-42` touch off

Then try putting the following into a new file: /etc/pm/power.d/99_touchdisable:

#!/bin/bash

ac_power ()
{
    xsetwacom --set `xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -c 40-42` touch off
}

battery_power ()
{
    xsetwacom --set `xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -c 40-42` touch off
}

Then run sudo chmod 755 /etc/pm/power.d/99_touchdisable

Restart your tablet and try unplugging/plugging in your tablet.

If it doesn't work, check to see if you have different power profiles enabled. If it still isn't working, run sudo apt-get install pm-utils and try running sudo pm-powersave <true/false> to get it to run the script.

edited Jul 27 '14 at 13:40

SNH

963

answered Jun 26 '14 at 16:30

hal7df

656
4
14

Followed your instructions, restarted the computer, re-plugged the tablet but still it enables the touch by default. – SNH Jun 27 '14 at 13:25
1

I doubt it'll do much but try removing the exec keyword (I'm not exactly the world's best scripter...) – hal7df Jul 02 '14 at 18:37
Also, did it disable touch at startup, at least? – hal7df Jul 02 '14 at 18:38
nope, nothing changed. – SNH Jul 02 '14 at 19:07
I changed my answer...try it now. – hal7df Jul 02 '14 at 19:35
Didn't work, tried everything you suggested. As a side effect it removed transparency from the my-weather-indicator applet on the desktop. – SNH Jul 05 '14 at 11:10
Hmm...if you run the command in between the ```` signs, do you get the ID of the device back? – hal7df Jul 05 '14 at 13:54
I only get the TOUCH word displayed, no numerical ID. – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 08:55
Okay. Could you please edit your question with the proper formatting of the example output I asked for earlier? – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 14:15
Edited, please check. – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 17:57
Try changing the '8’ after the -f flag to a 6. – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:01
Nope, doesn't work. – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:08
What is the output you get? – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:09
inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$ xsetwacom --set xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -d ' ' -f 6 touch off Cannot find device 'touch'. – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:10
What about just the command to get the device ID? What does that output? – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:12
inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$ xsetwacom --list Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Finger touch id: 11 type: TOUCH Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Finger pad id: 12 type: PAD Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Pen stylus id: 16 type: STYLUS Wacom Bamboo 16FG 4x5 Pen eraser id: 17 type: ERASER – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:13
Sorry...the one including the grep and cut commands... – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:13
inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$ xsetwacom --set xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -d ' ' -f 6 touch off Cannot find device 'touch'. inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$ – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:14
Okay... change the 6 to a 7? – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:17
Still not working. Output is: Unknown parameter name 'type:'. – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:21
1

Okay, new command. See if this command gets the ID number by itself: xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -c 41,42 – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:30
The output is only "1", see: inoki@innerdistance-Satellite-L650:~$ xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -c 41,42 1 – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:31
Okay...change the 41,42 to 42,43 – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:34
The output is only "t". – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:34
xsetwacom --list | grep TOUCH | cut -c 41-42? – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:35
Nope, that was the 42,43, the 41,42 showed only "1". – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:36
No, sorry, I wanted to go back to 41 and 42, changing the comma to a dash. – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:37
Still the output is only "1". – SNH Jul 07 '14 at 18:37
Let us continue this discussion in chat. – hal7df Jul 07 '14 at 18:38

Disable touch of the tablet in Ubuntu Unity 14.04

3 Answers3