wacom input devices enabled by default, why?

Bug #42553 reported by Alex
176
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
wacom-tools (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

My machine is Dell Inspiron 9400, with Nvidia's binary (OGL accelerated) drivers.

$ konsole
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
  Major opcode: 147
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
  Major opcode: 147
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device

WORKAROUND:

1) Backup your configuration: open a terminal and write:
sudo cp -a /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

2) Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf : open a terminal and write:
kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf

3) Comment out problematic entries. Replace:
        InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
with :
# InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"

4) Save the file and restart the computer.

5) If you encounter any problems (the graphical interface does not load) just restore the backup with:
sudo cp -a /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and restart the computer.

Revision history for this message
JS (j5) wrote :

Similar thing here:

$ kfmclient exec .
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
  Major opcode: 144
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
  Major opcode: 144
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device

$ kwrite
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
  Major opcode: 144
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
  Major opcode: 144
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
ScimInputContextPlugin()
~ScimInputContextPlugin()

This bug makes kfmclient much less useful compared to what it could be.

Please feel free to ask for more details about my environment if such information is needed. The system is a newly installed up-to-date Kubuntu.

Revision history for this message
Daniel Hahler (blueyed) wrote :

I'm also experiencing this problem. Also with the recent KDE 3.5.5 packages.

What is "input device 169"?

It does not seem to cause any trouble/failure really, but is annoying though.

I get "Major opcode: 147" and the error for "device 169" like the original poster.

My hwdb ID is a281b5d8451bb9e97c5d2c493bcc7a3b (http://hwdb.ubuntu.com/?xml=a281b5d8451bb9e97c5d2c493bcc7a3b)

Revision history for this message
Alex (gsasha) wrote : Re: [Bug 42553] Re: I'm getting the following error message each time I start a KDE program (and some other programs too...)

On Wednesday 11 October 2006 18:58, dAniel hAhler wrote:
> I'm also experiencing this problem. Also with the recent KDE 3.5.5
> packages.
>
> What is "input device 169"?
Good question. I think it has to do with some unnecessary touchpad sections
sitting there in xorg.conf. At least, removing them got rid of the error
message.
>
> It does not seem to cause any trouble/failure really, but is annoying
> though.
>
> I get "Major opcode: 147" and the error for "device 169" like the
> original poster.
>
> My hwdb ID is a281b5d8451bb9e97c5d2c493bcc7a3b
> (http://hwdb.ubuntu.com/?xml=a281b5d8451bb9e97c5d2c493bcc7a3b)

Revision history for this message
Daniel Hahler (blueyed) wrote : Re: I'm getting the following error message each time I start a KDE program (and some other programs too...)

YES!

I've commented out the entries
        InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
I have there and the errors, e.g. during startup of konqueror, are gone.

So, two (or one?) of those devices, where I don't have a clue what they are for, seem to cause an error.

Revision history for this message
Manuel López-Ibáñez (manuellopezibanez) wrote :

guess package

Revision history for this message
jetpeach (jetster) wrote : Re: X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device

See this thread in ubuntuforums.org
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1264009
Apparently these are for TabletPCs??
While this may just seem like a nuisance bug, it does affect amarok scripts- for me, I could not configure the popular amarok replaygain script until I fixed this error by making the changes to my xorg.conf. My guess is the script doesn't continue to run when it gets an X-error, making it unable for me to get past the initial kdialog box. There are other cases where similar problems occur because of this error, not to mention that there are 8 duplicates of this bug files and having this error generally causes havoc for people, especially beginners, trying to debug problems (since they don't know that it isn't [probably] the real culprit of whatever bug they are having...).

So my vote is this should be considered a higher priority bug since it affects so much (every X program!) and these wacom sections should simply be commented out or removed asap from the xorg.conf, how many people use tabletPCs with ubuntu anyway?

Revision history for this message
Sridhar Dhanapalan (sridhar) wrote :

I can confirm this bug on the same laptop as the reporter (Dell Inspiron 9400), using Nvidia drivers.

Changed in xorg:
status: Unconfirmed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Brijam (brian-opensourcery) wrote :

Also confirmed here on an HP zd7000 with Nvidia binaries and Edgy. I'll try commenting out those lines in xorg.conf and see if that does it, and report back.

Revision history for this message
Brijam (brian-opensourcery) wrote :

That did take care of the errors for me.

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Alex (gsasha) wrote : Re: [Bug 42553] Re: X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device

That much I have figured out myself :).

Still, I think it's a bug that affects many users and it needs to be fixed.
(And it's not that harmless. It is creating a huge file in the user's home
directory, which may cause the drive to fill up.)

Regards,
Alex
>
> My machine is Dell Inspiron 9400, with Nvidia's binary (OGL accelerated)
> drivers.
>
> $ konsole
> X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
> Major opcode: 147
> Minor opcode: 3
> Resource id: 0x0
> Failed to open device
> X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
> Major opcode: 147
> Minor opcode: 3
> Resource id: 0x0
> Failed to open device
> +
> + WORKAROUND:
> +
> + 1) Backup your configuration: open a terminal and write:
> + sudo cp -a /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
> +
> + 2) Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf : open a terminal and write:
> + kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> +
> + 3) Comment out problematic entries. Replace:
> + InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
> + InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
> + InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
> + with :
> + # InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
> + # InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
> + # InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
> +
> + 4) Save the file and restart the computer.
> +
> + 5) If you encounter any problems (the graphical interface does not load)
> just restore the backup with: + sudo cp -a /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
> /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> +
> + and restart the computer.

Revision history for this message
Duncan Lithgow (duncan-lithgow) wrote : Re: X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device

This bug in an HP dv8220ea xorg.conf file.

Revision history for this message
Paul Dufresne (paulduf) wrote :

The xorg.conf script is done by a shell script: /usr/bin/dexconf
in the source: ~/xorg-7.2/debian/x11-common/usr/bin/dexconf

In it, it seems that all card are created with that ServerLayout section:
### SERVERLAYOUT

exec 4>"$DEXCONFTMPDIR/ServerLayout"
cat >&4 <<SECTION
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier "Default Layout"
        Screen "Default Screen"
        InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
        InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
SECTION

Maybe the 3 lines should be commented out there, unless more cards need it then that don't need it, which I seriously doubt.

Revision history for this message
Paul Dufresne (paulduf) wrote :

I took a look at duplicates, and only found the following worth mentioning.
Recopying an interesting comment from:
https://launchpad.net/~cevans at the end of bug #63862:
---
I am going to be a bit brave here and reject this, since it seems to be an intentional decision by the Xorg team. If the inclusion is causing a specific problem, then you should file a bug about the problem. Feel free to reopen this if I am incorrect in my reasoning.
Unfortunately, the underlying cause of all of this is that xorg.conf just doesn't work well with hotplugging, and the configuration system of Xorg will eventually need to be redone entirely, which will fix all problems of this sort.
---
That said, I have not found any clue of the existence of an Xorg team.
And if such a thing exist, it should probably be added to:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Teams

Maybe there is no (easy) way to detect these wacom devices, so that the only way is to make them appears in everyone xorg.conf. Is it the case?
It's seems the default xorg.conf file to be for RS-232 wacom's devices (opposed to USB one).

http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/testtablet suggest some way to detect the wacom devices:
On newer 2.6 systems, more /proc/bus/input/devices gives you
[jej@ayukawa wacom]$more /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0003 Vendor=056a Product=0042 Version=1.15
N: Name="Wacom Intuos2 6x8"
... where Vendor=056a indicates a Wacom device.

Some links:
http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/main
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Wacom_Serial_Tablet_PC_Stylushttp://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/inputdev

Revision history for this message
Alex (gsasha) wrote : Re: [Bug 42553] Re: X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device

I believe that these lines should not be there in the first place if I don't
have a stylus.
> The xorg.conf script is done by a shell script: /usr/bin/dexconf
> in the source: ~/xorg-7.2/debian/x11-common/usr/bin/dexconf
>
> In it, it seems that all card are created with that ServerLayout section:
> ### SERVERLAYOUT
>
> exec 4>"$DEXCONFTMPDIR/ServerLayout"
> cat >&4 <<SECTION
> Section "ServerLayout"
> Identifier "Default Layout"
> Screen "Default Screen"
> InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
> InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
> InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
> InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
> InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
> SECTION
>
> Maybe the 3 lines should be commented out there, unless more cards need
> it then that don't need it, which I seriously doubt.

Revision history for this message
NuPagadi (nupagadi) wrote : Re: X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device

I also can confirm this bug on a PC with Nvidia drivers.

First of all, thanks for your workaround, Alex! :-)

In my opinion after nearly one year this bug should be fixed, shouldn't it?

IMHO the trouble is that "the comment out workaround" works as long as there is no update for xorg.conf, because of this:
"# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg"

Or am I making a mountain out of a molehill and "xorg.conf" won't be updated at all?

Revision history for this message
Alex (gsasha) wrote : Re: [Bug 42553] Re: X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device

It's not a mountain out of a molehill. Other than being annoying (and it is. I
believe Linux deserves better cleanup of such stuff at its current maturity
level), it is plainly bad. It is even a kind of DOS vulnerability: all the X
error messages are collected in a file in your home directory, and that file
can grow exceedingly large, up to actually eating up your disk free space.

Revision history for this message
NuPagadi (nupagadi) wrote : Re: X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device

I am shocked ... I installed kubuntu this morning and now the file ".xsession-errors" is 1.6 MB big, that's far bigger than I've expected. :-(
On my other computer (SuSE 10.0) this file is only 1.7 kB big. This got me thinking ....

Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :

Paul, XSwat is listed on the Teams page.

No, I don't have an answer either as to why the wacom-devices are enabled by default on every installation..

Revision history for this message
Paul Dufresne (paulduf) wrote :

>Paul, XSwat is listed on the Teams page.
Thanks, was scanning for Xorg, but you are right, there is an XSwat team.
However, the 'Here is a list of us' is empty:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XSwat/Team
Guess you should add yourself there, as you seems quite active on Xorg package.

Revision history for this message
vonHalenbach (lustik) wrote :

I can confirm this bug is very annoying and might make it into the Feisty Fawn release, because i have seen this output on a pre release daily snapshot from 22.march 07

Revision history for this message
jhutchins (hutchins-opus1) wrote :

An additional problem with these unnecessary config lines is that they generate errors which unfamiliar users report when trying to diagnose bugs with other programs, often obscuring the real problem and preventing easy resolution.

Nice to have support for tablets and track pads, bad to have it enabled by default.

This )is( an xorg problem, it is a problem in Gentoo as well, where dependencies on the wacom support modules cause unnecessary packages to be installed.

Revision history for this message
Constantine Evans (cevans) wrote :

As I believe I noted earlier, these lines *do not* enable support for tablets by default. They only add support for a few tablet PCs.

Tablets aren't supported by Ubuntu by default, and getting them working is actually rather annoying.

Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :

There is a new wacom-tools in feisty now, and the device paths have been changed to /dev/input/wacom. This should make tablets work out-of-the box, but the dexconf trick is still needed, since when installing/configuring X you don't necessarily have the device connected so probing doesn't work.

Revision history for this message
Kyromaster (kyromaster) wrote :

If you have a tablet PC it's always connected.
And IMHO the best solution would be "plug'n play" as the rest of linux does with hotplug. Device adding/removal shold be detected and the config file should be adjusted. This is also good for people who attach the tablet after installing. Its not very good if the X config is detected one time and never changes if the user changes the hardware.

Revision history for this message
Ilya Minkov (i-minkov) wrote :

Wacom devices are not just Tablet PC overlays, there are also "cheap" standalone tablets. I think it is bearable to check whether a tablet is connected to RS232 port at startup once, and if it is there, then add to the file.

For native USB devices and USB->RS232 adapters, some sort of hotplugging will need to be implemented.

For now, i think at least the response of the driver has to be filtered, as not to output more than, say, one error every minute or so. The .xsession-errors file reached 7 gigabyes within 4 days on my kubuntu machine, and everything slowed down to a crawl.

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Making the dexconf conditional on the presence of /dev/input/wacom is actually pretty simple (see attached patch).

However, as others point out in this and other wacom threads, this obviously would break things for wacom users who did not have their wacom attached when they boot the system, so this patch would exchange warnings for a bug. Not good.

In any case, the patch works for me to remove the wacom entries from xorg.conf, in case anyone finds it of use.

Longer term, input hotplugging will be added to xserver itself, and once the wacom driver supports hotplugging, then we can safely drop this entirely.

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Dropping priority from Med to Low since it seems to merely be cosmetic.
The fix for this will depend on xserver 1.4's input hotplugging, plus support added to xorg-server-input-wacom.

Changed in xorg:
importance: Medium → Low
status: Confirmed → In Progress
Revision history for this message
kiev1 (sys-sys-admin) wrote :

Thank You
I comment
        InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
all work is OK
ubuntu gutsy

Revision history for this message
TheCrook (bernhard-heidemann) wrote :

Great WorkAround!

Works well for me. The error popped up with all sorts of applications. My system is KUBUNTU 7.04.

Revision history for this message
Ralph Corderoy (ralph-inputplus) wrote :

Bryce: it isn't merely cosmetic. There are many users who are having problems and when it's suggested they do something like "gksu ..." they report back that they got errors and it's purely down to these incorrect lines. The amount of wasted *volunteer* effort and disgruntled new users is not cosmetic either.

The proper fix may be awkward, needing input hotplugging, but some workaround is needed in the meantime. Having a user edit xorg.conf stops it being updated in future. It's unacceptable that a novice user should have to be put in this position.

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Ralph, do you have a proposal for a workaround?

Revision history for this message
Ralph Corderoy (ralph-inputplus) wrote :

Bryce, no sorry, I don't have any good workarounds, just kludges that are all fairly obvious. This isn't an area I know much about but I do feel that the lowering of the priority from medium to low will lessen the effort other more knowledgeable people put in to come up with a good workaround. When's xserver 1.4 due to be in Ubuntu?

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Hard to say, Xorg hasn't announced a release date. I had hoped to see some release candidates of it from them by now.

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

I've gone ahead and committed a change to disable the loading of wacom input devices by default for Gutsy. Closing.

Changed in wacom-tools:
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
fuggum (fuggum) wrote : RE: [Bug 42553] Re: wacom input devices enabled by default, why?

excellent :) thanks much

> From: <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:04:41 +0000
> Subject: [Bug 42553] Re: wacom input devices enabled by default, why?
>
> I've gone ahead and committed a change to disable the loading of wacom
> input devices by default for Gutsy. Closing.
>
> ** Changed in: wacom-tools (Ubuntu)
> Status: In Progress => Fix Released
>
> --
> wacom input devices enabled by default, why?
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/42553
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.

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Revision history for this message
Vincenzo Ciancia (vincenzo-ml) wrote :

See bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wacom-tools/+bug/188787 and please take a decision in one release or so :)

Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

I believe in Ubuntu we undertook a large degree of effort to make Tablets work out of the box, and in the case that they weren't plugged in on install, make it easier for somebody to see what to uncomment.

Perhaps it would be better to either (a) add the pen sections commented, or (b) find some other solution to fix the problem at source.

Revision history for this message
dmex (dmex04) wrote :

Only a very small majority of users actually need this fuction, It should be disabled by default with a package to enable it for the users who need it.

Revision history for this message
Justin Dugger (jldugger) wrote :

There is a package to install to enable it (wacom-tools). It doesn't munge xorg.conf though, which some users need.

The options I've seen are:
* Require users to write to xorg.conf themselves. Judging from the bugs, this is somewhere between annoying and outright unacceptable for wacom users, but does satisfy KDE developers / users.
* Place a pen section commented. This satisfies KDE, but somewhat annoying to wacom users and obsessive compulsive Xorg developers who'd like to see the end of xorg.conf in Ubuntu.
* Write a script to rewrite xorg.conf on wacom-postinst. Getting closer, but requires an xorg restart and annoys the people most likely to write the fix. This is the approach Vincenzo appears to be promoting with dexconf, despite a vague recommendation that "dexconf is depricated and old" from #ubuntu-x.
* Proper input hotplugging and wacom autodetection. No more xorg.conf, no more KDE excrement on bogus xorg.conf entries, no tricky xorg.conf parsers, and no angry wacom users.

I humbly submit the last one is where the future lies if we intend to ever fix bug #1. At that point perhaps wacom could be installed by default, or at least suggested by whatever we call the driver manager today. I should point out there's a new version of wacom in Debian and upstream.

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