This page describes how to install a version of the latest wacom driver newer than that available in the ubuntu repositories.
Using A Package Archive
The simplest way is to add the wacom-plus package archive by first holding down [Ctrl] and [Alt] and then pressing the letter [T] you will summon a terminal to type the following commands in preparation:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/wacom-plus sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Then, In order to install the updated kernel module for Bamboo Fun/Newer tablets:
sudo apt-get install wacom-dkms
Restart the computer for changes to take effect.
Compiling it yourself
Usually it is not necessary to compile the drivers, as they come pre-compiled. It is strongly discouraged to compile your own drivers and instead should seek a ppa with the updated driver from a trusted source. If one doesn't exist, then please ask.
To install, using the precompiled binaries:
Download the latest drivers from the Linux Wacom Project
- Extract the .tar.bz2 file to your desktop (you can safely delete these files later)
Open a terminal (Accessories > Terminal)
- type the following, entering your password when prompted and replacing "linuxwacom-0.8.1-6" with the name of the folder created when you extracted the .tar.bz2 file:
cd Desktop/linuxwacom-0.8.8-6/prebuilt sudo ./uninstall sudo ./install
Compiling the driver manually
Sometimes using the pre-built binaries is not possible, and the drivers must be compiled by hand. Using this method you are more likely to run into problems, so it's better if you know a little about compiling already, but not always essential.
Download the latest drivers from the Linux Wacom Project
- Extract the .tar.bz2 file to your desktop (you can safely delete these files later)
Open a terminal (Accessories > Terminal)
- type the following, entering your password when prompted and replacing "linuxwacom-0.8.1-6" with the name of the folder created when you extracted the .tar.bz2 file:
sudo apt-get install build-essential sudo apt-get build-dep wacom-tools cd Desktop/linuxwacom-0.8.8-6 ./configure --prefix=/usr make sudo make uninstall sudo make install
Note: wacom-tools is not available from 10.04, replace with xserver-xorg-input-wacom instead.
You should make sure that "./configure" and "make" aren't returning errors. If they are, you can try googling for the error text, or asking in the ubuntuforums support thread at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=967147
Note: if you have previously installed using the prebuilt drivers, you should clean these up before compiling:
cd Desktop/linuxwacom-0.8.8-6/prebuilt sudo ./uninstall
Note2: if you also want to install the wacom kernel module, you need to add --enable-wacom to the ./configure line. This usually isn't necessary unless you are using an older kernel which does not support your tablet. In this case the line would be:
./configure --enable-wacom --prefix=/usr
Reverting the driver to the Ubuntu version
If for any reason you wish to revert to the version of the drivers provided by Ubuntu, you can do so by typing the following command in a terminal:
sudo aptitude reinstall xserver-xorg-input-wacom wacom-tools
Note: wacom-tools is not available from 10.04 so you can omit this.