slow tablet pointer motion in karmic AMD64

[Vu Ngoc San]

Binary package hint: wacom-tools

This might be a duplicate of Bug #365997 but I'm not a sure about this.

On my toshiba portege M750, which is a tablet-pc, the pointer moves ok when I move the stylus close to the screen without touching. But as soon as I touch the screen, the pointer suddenly becomes slow. It 'lags behing' the pen noticeably, making it almost impossible to write or draw decently. So I think this is a very important issue.

Strange thing is that there is no problem with the i386 version of karmic. The bug appears only with the amd64 version.
You can test is already with live-CDs.

The problem does not show up for the "touch" device, ie when you touch the screen with something other than the stylus.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Oct 24 09:18:21 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
LiveMediaBuild: Kubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release Candidate i386 (20091020.2)
MachineType: TOSHIBA PORTEGE M750
Package: xserver-xorg-input-wacom 1:0.8.4.1-0ubuntu4 [modified: usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wacom_drv.so usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/10-linuxwacom.fdi]
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=d673054f-14f0-4324-9bca-35ea0eb9c7ea ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
SourcePackage: wacom-tools
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64
XorgConf: Error: [Errno 2] Aucun fichier ou dossier de ce type: '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'
dmi.bios.date: 09/09/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.bios.version: Version 1.30
dmi.board.asset.tag: 0000000000
dmi.board.name: Portable PC
dmi.board.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.board.version: Version A0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0000000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.chassis.version: Version 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnTOSHIBA:bvrVersion1.30:bd09/09/2008:svnTOSHIBA:pnPORTEGEM750:pvrPPM75E-00L00DFR:rvnTOSHIBA:rnPortablePC:rvrVersionA0:cvnTOSHIBA:ct10:cvrVersion1.0:
dmi.product.name: PORTEGE M750
dmi.product.version: PPM75E-00L00DFR
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: x86_64kernel: 2.6.31-14-generic

[Michel Biezunski (mb)]

I am using a Thinkpad X61T. There is a delay between the stylus movement and the line drawn with Xournal for example. It makes it difficult to draw something decently too.

[X-Kent (x-kent)]

I confirm this bug, toshiba m750.
Stylus is extremely slow and lags after the actual movement, writing is close to impossible.
My tablet worked fine with Jaunty and xorg.conf configuration method.
Hope it gets fixed soon.

[erzhong (gnulinuxfun)]

I have the same problem with my laptop, ThinkPad X61 tablet.
Writing in xournal is very difficult with this lag. The xorg.conf is the default one.

[Matthias Kersten (matthias-kersten)]

This affects me too, with a Thinkpad X200T. I hope some work is done on this, as it makes tablet functionality almost unusable.

[Christopher Best (sirctseb+launchpad)]

Hey you guys,
I'm experiencing this problem on a Lenovo x61 tablet.
BUT, I've noticed that the lag depends on the pressure of the pen. If you pen down on an icon on the desktop and drag it around, it goes really slow right? But if you apply the minimum amount of pressure for the pen to be recognized, it goes fast like it should. You can test that in xournal too; if you don't press hard, you can draw lines fast like normal.
Does anyone know where to start looking for the source of this problem? Is it in the linux wacom project source?

[aliencam (cameronk)]

#6, I can confirm that at really light pressure xournal works as it should. I tried disabling and enabling pressure sensitivity, and adjusting settings in the wacomcpl. These do not change the bad effect when pressing with "normal" pressure.

[Bernhard Weller (bernhardweller)]

I can also confirm that pressure influences the amount of lag. This also happens if you don't touch the panel with the pen at all but hover over the tablet and press with your hand on the tablet. The lag then increases dramatically.
Disabling the touch device via wacomcpl does not help. As stated above the touch device alone works completely lagfree.
So the problem is only there if the stylus is used and pressure is applied to the tablet.

[Lothar Gesslein (lgesslein)]

I've done an early upgrade to lucid and this issue is gone for me, fortunately. So for everybody suffering, just wait it out.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

Hi Vu,

This bug was reported against an earlier version of Ubuntu, can you
test if it still occurs on Lucid?

Please note we also provide technical support for older versions of
Ubuntu, but not in the bug tracker. Instead, to raise the issue through
normal support channels, please see:

    http://www.ubuntu.com/support

If you are the original reporter and can still reproduce the issue on
Lucid, please run the following command to refresh the report:

  apport-collect 459612

If you are not the original reporter, please file a new bug report, so
we can work with you as the original reporter instead (you can reference
bug 459612 in your report if you think it may be related):

  ubuntu-bug xorg

If by chance you can no longer reproduce the issue on Lucid or if you
feel it is no longer relevant, please mark the bug report 'Fix Released'
or 'Invalid' as appropriate, at the following URL:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/459612

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.