Parblo Tablet

Parblo tablets does not have an official support for Linux by
Parblo
. Even with no community support as well, there is a workaround to make it works on Arch Linux.
Configuration
Identifying
The Arch Linux must be able to recognize the tablet inputs with no problems, but the preset buttons should be in an odd configuration and should not be able to be modified. Some of them should be even with no functionality.
With the tablet connected, the first step must be identify your tablet using the command
lsusb
. The output should be something like
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0483:a640 STMicroelectronics Parblo A640 V2(F1)
(In this example we have a Parblo A640 V2 tablet. Make sure to match the output with your tablet.) It is important to grab the Vendor ID, which is found in the output in
ID vendor:product
, so in this example is
0483
.
After identifying the Vendor ID, you must find the most generic
modalias
that match with your tablet. To get this information, you should run in terminal the following command:
# find /sys -name *modalias | xargs grep -i
vendor_id
The output should display something like:
# find /sys -name *modalias | xargs grep -i
0483
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.0/0003:0483:A640.000C/input/input40/modalias:input:b0003v0483pA640e0100-e0,1,4,14,k71,72,73,74,75,77,79,7A,7B,7C,7D,7E,7F,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,8A,8C,8E,96,98,9E,9F,A1,A3,A4,A5,A6,AD,B0,B1,B2,B3,B4,B7,B8,B9,BA,BB,BC,BD,BE,BF,C0,C1,C2,F0,ram4,lsfw
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.0/0003:0483:A640.000C/input/input39/modalias:input:b0003v0483pA640e0100-e0,1,2,3,4,k110,111,112,113,114,14A,r0,1,6,8,B,C,a0,1,18,m4,lsfw
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.0/0003:0483:A640.000C/modalias:hid:b0003g0001v00000483p0000A640
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.0/modalias:usb:v0483pA640d0000dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc01ip03in00
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.1/0003:0483:A640.000D/input/input41/modalias:input:b0003v0483pA640e0100-e0,1,3,4,k140,14A,14B,14C,ra0,1,18,1A,1B,m4,lsfw
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.1/0003:0483:A640.000D/modalias:hid:b0003g0001v00000483p0000A640
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.1/modalias:usb:v0483pA640d0000dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc01ip02in01
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.2/0003:0483:A640.000E/modalias:hid:b0003g0001v00000483p0000A640
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.2/modalias:usb:v0483pA640d0000dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00in02
You must find the most generic term that correspond to all of
/input/input*/modalias:input:
you found. In this example the most generic term is
b0003v0483pA640e0100
.
Creating a hwdb rule
In order to create a hwdb rule to set your tablet, you must identify the input file associated to the buttons you want remap. You should install
evtest
, run the command
cat /proc/bus/input/devices
:
$ cat /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0003 Vendor=0483 Product=a640 Version=0100
N: Name="  Parblo A640 V2(F1) Mouse"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:12.0-1.1.1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1.1/1-1.1.1:1.0/0003:0483:A640.000F/input/input45
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event5 mouse0 
B: PROP=2
B: EV=1f
B: KEY=400 1f0000 0 0 0 0
B: REL=1943
B: ABS=1000003
B: MSC=10
Now look for your tablet and then run the command
evtest /dev/input/eventX
, where you have to replace
eventX
to the corresponding events associated with your tablet, then press your tablet buttons trying to find what event is associated with each button.
$ evtest /dev/input/event5
Event: time 1512706221.107613, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1512708889.737079, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 331 (MSC_SCAN), value d0045
When you found the buttons you wanna remap, take note of their values. In this case we had a
d0045
as an entry value.
After identifying the
modalias
and the key
values
, you must create a
hwdb
rule.
Create a file called
10-parblo-tablet.hwdb
in
/etc/udev/hwdb.d
with the following content, replacing
[modalias]
with your corresponding
modalias
and
[value]
with your corresponding key
value
:
evdev:input:
[modalias]
*
 KEYBOARD_KEY_
[value]
=332
You can insert more
KEYBOARD_KEY_X
below, if you need.
In this example we are changing the key code to an arbitrary number
332
and it may not work with you. But you can check the full key code list in
/usr/include/linux/input-event-codes.h
.
Remapping keys
After remapping your keys to something your OS can recognize, you can edit manually the
/etc/udev/hwdb.d/10-parblo-tablet.hwdb
file to remap the keys to what you need. Else, you can download
input-remapper-git
AUR
and use a graphical interface to easily manage your keys.
See also
Arch Linux Wacom Wiki
List of applications/Documents#Stylus note-taking
input-wacom Wiki
xf86-input-wacom Wiki
(out of date)
GIMP Talk - Community - Install Guide: Getting Wacom Drawing Tablets To Work In Gimp
Ubuntu Help: Wacom
Ubuntu Forums - Install a LinuxWacom Kernel Driver for Tablet PC's
Wacom-GUI