some X11 programs don't start if wacom input devices are in ServerLayout

[Michael Helmling]

I installed dapper beta today on a Thinkpad z60t. I wondered why konqueror won't start, tried it from a console and got weird errors, something like:
X input error: Baddevice opcode 160 (don't remember the exact text).
I looked at xorg.conf and removed all the unneccesary input devices (I think they were all wacom drivers) from ServerLayout, and then it worked. Many programs were affected, konqueror in KDE didn't start, firefox gave me the same error but did start, gnome-power-manager also had the error.

[Laszlo Pandy (laszlok)]

I can confirm this using Dapper Beta. Whenever I open a GUI program from the konsole, it gives this message:
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 147
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device

I solved the problem by removing the three input devices with the driver "wacom" in my xorg.conf

The problem here I think is that the (k)ubuntu-desktop meta package depends on xserver-xorg-input-all which depends on xserver-xorg-input-wacom, even though I don't have any wacom devices on my system.

[John Dong (jdong)]

I can also confirm this here... Some programs sit out the error but continue, while others will die due to it. Shouldn't we be detecting devices like wacoms instead of assuming everyone has one? Everytime recent dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg runs, it'll add in wacom sections.

[Sven Herzberg (herzi)]

Ca you guys please create a backtrace of this error? I guess this is a QT/KDE bug because my GNOME just runs fine.

[Matti Lindell (mlind)]

There's some discussion about on Ubuntu forums
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=169921

after reconfiguring X using dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg,
wacom entries appear even if I don't have a TabletPC.

[Someone (s4910321931-deactivatedaccount)]

Even if I purge xserver-xorg-input-wacom package the entries for wacom tablets still appear in on "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg"

[Loïc Martin (loic-martin3)]

Michael, do you still have the problem of programs failing to start if wacom entries are in ServerLayout in Dapper 6.06 LTS with latest updates?

The console errors appears on every system, but shouldn't be a bother (I've been using Firefox and Konqueror fine under Dapper, Edgy and Feisty even without plugging in a Wacom device.

Unfortunately, the present situation in Ubuntu means these entries have to be in xorg.conf for Wacom users to be supported out of the box. On the other hand, they don't seem to cause any problem wether you are a wacom user or not.

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg *should* recreate the entries. That's its purpose (among others) so you end up with a default configuration.

[Loïc Martin (loic-martin3)]

Actually, the bug isn't related to wacom-tools (wacom-tools isn't installed by default in Dapper yet, and isn't responsible for xorg.conf :)

I'll close the bug if there's no input in a few days, since the programs seem to start (problems occurred in Dapper Beta)

[Michael Helmling (supermihi)]

Hi,

I've never had that problems again, but that's not worth too much, since I usually remove the wacom-entries from xorg.conf whenever i install ubuntu anywhere. ;)
However I think it's ok to close this bug, since - if related to the wacom entries at all - the behavior as absolutely not reproducable, and I don't remember very well what exactly happend. Probablay just an incidental cooccurence without related cause.

[Loïc Martin (loic-martin3)]

Just closing then. You can reopen it if it ever happen again (just keep the email)

Thanks