Hello there…
I have a Bamboo tablet (CTL-470) that I’m trying to use in MATE 16.04…
The drivers are all there (Synaptic lists them as present and installed), and when I plug the tablet, it does work…
My problem, is that there is no Tablet panel in the “general system preferences” (should be right next to the Mouse panel), meaning that it works, but I can’t personalize my settings, because I have no user interface for that…
Any ideas on how to solve this?..
Thank you in advance! 
Cheers!
Hi @Nunud,
on Askubuntu, there is a report of a bug plus some workarounds which might help you?:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/850707/ubuntu-16-04-doesnt-see-wacom-intuos 
Thanks but i don’t know how to compile stuff from scratch! 
Unfortunately, there’s no GUI available to manage a Wacom tablet on Ubuntu MATE. If the tablet isn’t properly recognized, you can try to create a profile for libwacom, though it’ll only be a configuration file saying how many buttons there are on the device, that kind of things. To configure it with the command line, you can try xsetwacom but I think you’ll have to manually add the needed commands at session start.
Apart from that, you can configure some options in specific softwares like GIMP.
If you really need a GUI to manage it, I’m afraid you’ll have to use another desktop environment. There’s one in GNOME 3 and also in Unity (but the DE has been discontinued). Maybe KDE and/or Cinnamon too but I’m not sure.
Thanks… That’s too bad, I like MATE, but I really need to be able to use my Bamboo without too much hassle…
Do you guys know of any other ‘tablet maker’ that provides good drivers that would work on MATE?
The issue is not really the tablet driver/support but the lack of GUI to configure it. There’s nothing on MATE and only for Wacom on other DEs, AFAIK.
If you try your tablet with GIMP, MyPaint, Krita and so on, do you have specific issues like stylus pressure not working or buttons not recognized?
No I’m trying to use it with Blender 3D, and I would like to change the behavior of the second button actually… 
Ok. I don’t think there are tablet settings in Blender, so unless you’re trying to setup an option for which you can click on a button to associate it, I guess you’ll have to do it through xsetwacom.
What are you trying to do exactly?
BTW, can you give the output of libwacom-list-local-devices to check if your tablet is properly recognized and its buttons can be used at all?
Hey Terzag… I have no idea how I would show you that output… I only chose MATE because I heard it wouldn’t require much terminal use, as I know nothing about it!
Well, it doesn’t for everyday use but in special cases when you need to get technical info, it can happen. 
Open a terminal, run the command I gave and copy/paste the output. If you prefer, you can also run the command that way:
libwacom-list-local-devices > ~/wacom_list.txt
It’ll redirect the output to a file named “wacom_list.txt” in your home folder. You can then open it easily with Pluma (the system text editor).
OK thanks!
Here’s what the terminal says (the tablet wasn’t plugged in, should it be when I run the command?)
[Device]
Name=Wacom Serial Tablet WACf004
DeviceMatch=serial:0000:0000;
Class=ISDV4
Width=0
Height=0
IntegratedIn=Display;System;
Styli=0xfffff;0xffffe;
[Features]
Reversible=false
Stylus=true
Ring=false
Ring2=false
Touch=false
TouchSwitch=false
StatusLEDs=
NumStrips=0
Buttons=0
OK so I did the exact same thing with the tablet plugged in, and the message is different, here it is:
[Device]
Name=Wacom Bamboo Connect
DeviceMatch=usb:056a:00dd;
Class=Bamboo
Width=6
Height=4
IntegratedIn=
Styli=0xfffff;0xffffe;
[Features]
Reversible=true
Stylus=true
Ring=false
Ring2=false
Touch=false
TouchSwitch=false
StatusLEDs=
NumStrips=0
Buttons=0
(Yes, you were supposed to run the command with the tablet plugged, as it’s supposed to detect the device, so has to access it. )
Ok, it seems to be properly recognized, though from what I can find online, it doesn’t have buttons on the tablet itself, right? It’s a basic tablet with a stylus?
What would you like to configure exactly?
Well, I wanted the second button on the stylus to act as a combination of several keys, because I’m trying to follow a tutorial that requires it… But now I can’t seem to find the exact place where the tutor tells about those keystrokes… I have to browse a playlist of 140 videos!
This is all your fault Terzag, aaaaall your fault! 
Just kidding, I’ll be back as soon as I find it!
While you’re at it, also give the output of the following command:
xsetwacom listHey!
Here’s the answer of the terminal:
Wacom Bamboo Connect Pen stylus id: 14 type: STYLUS
Wacom Bamboo Connect Pen eraser id: 15 type: ERASER
Wacom Bamboo Connect Pad pad id: 16 type: PAD
Still haven’t found the video in question, but I guess it doesn’t matter for now, the procedure must be the same, whatever the keystrokes are… I’ll adapt your answer once I get my hands on that tutorial!
For reference, here is a documentation about xsetwacom: https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux/man/1-xsetwacom/ (it’s just the man on a convenient webpage).
On the stylus, you should have several buttons but I’m not sure how to get their number so you might have to try things. I think they’re in order, button 1 being the tip and so on.
We’ll start with a simple example. Let’s say that you want your stylus button #2 to press the keys “a” then “b”, you’d run the following command:
xsetwacom set 14 Button 2 "key +a +b"
14 is the id of your Stylus (note that ids can change if you unplug/plug the tablet). At the end is the combination of keys you want to simulate ("+" before a key meaning pressing it and “-” meaning releasing it).
To get the code to use for a specific key, you can check the file /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h (it’s a text file, you can open it with Pluma: pluma /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h ; never make changes in it of course, but as long as you don’t run pluma with sudo, you can’t anyway as it’s a system file) or use the xev command and look at the keysim value in its output when you press and release keys (close the small window it opened to quit xev).
So, another example a bit more complex: let’s say that you want the keystroke for you button to be “ctrl shift v”. The left control key has key code 0xffe3 and left shift has key code 0xffe1. The command would be:
xsetwacom set 14 Button 2 "key +0xffe3 +0xffe1 +v"
You can also use the key name (next to the code in the xev output) rather than the number, e.g. left ctrl is Control_L and left shift is Shift_L so the last command can also be:
xsetwacom set 14 Button 2 "key +Control_L +Shift_L +v"
All keys don’t have a name like this so you might have to use the key code anyway for some.
You can reset the button to its original function by setting it again without a keys combination, like this:
xsetwacom set 14 Button 2
Now, you can make some tests (don’t hesitate to ask for more help) and if you succeed in getting the behaviour you want, I’ll explain how to run the commands you need at session start so that you don’t have to retype them every time.
I know this looks a bit complicated but I don’t know another way for MATE to manage a Wacom tablet than using xsetwacom.