Tablet Hardware Buttons

2013-01-04T17:19:35Z

Eternallinux: Add section on using xbindkeys to bind the tablet buttons.

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===Tablet Hardware Buttons===
The Thinkpad tablets includes hardware buttons located on the
LCD screen bezel. They are designed to be used when the ThinkPad is
converted to the tablet configuration (though they are still
accessible when in the laptop configuration).
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==Buttons==
The X41 Tablet hardware buttons include:
*Power (with sliding lock)
*Cltr-Alt-Del [sic]
*Page up
*Page down
*Enter
*Escape
*Screen Rotation
*Tablet shortcut menu

X61 Tablet: [http://www.tabletpcreview.com/picture.asp?f=3104 picture] from [http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=896 here].

X200 Tablet: see below.

==Linux Support==
The hardware buttons (except power) are recognized by the standard atkbd kernel driver which emits the following scancodes:

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
! Key !! X41 Scancode || {{X60t}} Scancode || {{X61_Tablet}} Scancode || {{X200_Tablet}} Scancode || {{X201_Tablet}} Scancode
|-
| Page up || 0x6D || NA || NA || NA || NA
|-
| Page down || 0x6E || NA || NA || NA || NA
|-
| Enter || 0x69 || 0x69 || 0x69 || NA || NA
|-
| Esc || 0x6B || 0x6B || 0x6b || NA || NA
|-
| Toolbox || 0x68 || 0x68 || 0x68 || 0x66 || 0x68
|-
| Rotate || 0x6C || 0x6c || 0x6c || 0x6b || 0x6c
|-
| (Unlabeled) || 0x67 || NA || 0x67 || 0xe0 0x12 || 0x67
|-
| Padlock || NA || NA || NA || (nothing?) || 0x66
|-
| Right || NA || 0x6D || 0x6d || NA || NA
|-
| Left || NA || 0x6E || 0x6e || NA || NA
|-
| Up || NA || 0x71 || 0x71 || NA || NA
|-
| Down || NA || 0x6F || 0x6f || NA || NA
|-

|}

Notes:
* X200 Tablet
*: Layout: power (with sliding lock); clockwise-arrow (formerly unlabeled); rotate (two boxes and an arrow); Toolbox (the icon is now a menu); padlock.
*: The padlock button seems to do nothing. It generates no scancode, and has no effect on the other buttons.
*: The clockwise-arrow button returns a scancode pair. So you say {{cmduser|setkeycodes e012 ''whatever''}}.
* X201 Tablet
*: Layout: as X200 Tablet
The utility setkeycodes can be used to map these scancodes to keycodes. Read {{cmduser|man setkeycodes}} for usage.
For example, the following command will map the page up and page down buttons to their respective keys:

{{cmdroot|setkeycodes 6e 109 6d 104}}

==Models featuring this Device==
* {{X41_Tablet}}, {{X60t}}, {{X61_Tablet}}, {{X200_Tablet}}, {{X201_Tablet}}

==Configuration with xbindkeys==
The <tt>xbindkeys</tt> utility can be used to bind actions to the buttons once they have key codes (which they have by default in Debian). This example is for an {{X200_Tablet}} running Debian Wheezy, but should be applicable to other models and distributions.

First create a default {{path|~/.xbindkeysrc}} file with this command:

{{cmduser|xbindkeys --defaults > ~/.xbindkeysrc}}

This file will contain the key bindings for each key, and the commands associated with them. More information on the file can be found on [https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xbindkeys ArchWiki's Xbindkeys page].

Next, use the {{cmduser|xbindkeys -k}} command to generate the bindings to add to it. When the command is run, a window with a white background will appear. Select it and press the key you wish to bind. It will close and the binding will be printed to the terminal. For example (for the {{ibmkey|Tablet rotate|#494949}} button):

"(Scheme function)"
m:0x0 + c:161
NoSymbol

Copy and paste this into your {{path|~/.xbindkeysrc}} file, replacing <tt>"(Scheme function)"</tt> with the command you wish to execute when the button is pressed.

A {{path|~/.xbindkeysrc}} for an {{X200_Tablet}} might look like this:

# (Automatically generated documentation)
# ...

#Tablet Rotate button (run rotate script)
"~/scripts/rotate.sh"
# Replace the line above with the path to the script
m:0x0 + c:161
NoSymbol

#Tablet Toolbox button (show cellwriter)
"cellwriter --show-window"
m:0x0 + c:149
NoSymbol

This file binds the {{ibmkey|Tablet rotate|#494949}} button to a bash script that rotates the display (see below), and the {{ibmkey|Tablet shortcut|#494949}} button to the [http://www.risujin.org/cellwriter/ cellwriter input panel].

The bindings will only work while {{cmduser|xbindkeys}} is running, however. Most desktop environments have a GUI to run commands at login. In Gnome 3, this is the Startup Applications app.

===Screen rotation script===

The example {{path|~/.xbindkeysrc}} file above references a bash script that performs screen rotation. This is listed below:

#!/bin/bash
tablet="Serial Wacom Tablet stylus"

# Get the current orientation of the tablet
rotate=$(xsetwacom get "$tablet" Rotate)

# Work out the next tablet and screen orientations (rotating clockwise)
case "$rotate" in
none) nextRotate="cw"
nextOrient="right" ;;
cw) nextRotate="half"
nextOrient="inverted" ;;
half) nextRotate="ccw"
nextOrient="left" ;;
ccw) nextRotate="none"
nextOrient="normal" ;;
esac

# Rotate the screen
xrandr -o $nextOrient

# Rotate the tablet
xsetwacom set "$tablet" Rotate $nextRotate

Save this as a text file with the extension <tt>.sh</tt> somewhere on your system, mark it executable with {{cmduser|chmod +x <path to script>}}, and put the path in your {{path|~/.xbindkeysrc}}, on the appropriate line.

You may have to replace <tt>"Serial Wacom Tablet stylus"</tt> with the name of your Wacom tablet. You can find this with the {{cmduser|xsetwacom list devices}} command.

==See also==
*[[How to get special keys to work]]
*[https://code.edge.launchpad.net/~karl.hegbloom/tabuntu/tablet-screen-rotation-support Tablet Screen Rotation Support] (Launchpad).
[[Category:Components]]

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Tablet Hardware Buttons