Bug 477898

Summary:	Ability to switch to relative mode for graphic tablet
Product:	[Applications] systemsettings	Reporter:	Raghavendra kamath <raghu>
Component:	kcm_tablet	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	aleixpol, capitalex, fanzhuyifan, klaymorer, madness742, nate, sebi.loew
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:	https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/3afdd02e021b9faf3adc797a7cc4f8a82ff9fd4f	Version Fixed In:	6.4.0
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Raghavendra kamath 2023-12-02 08:37:58 UTC

SUMMARY
Tablets are by default operated under absolute mode where the point on the tablet is mapped to the point on the screen. There is one more mode where the tablets behaves like a mouse. It is called relative mode. In this mode the point on the tablet is not matched to the point on the screen, if you lift the pen and start from a different position the cursor will continue to move from the existing position. This is like how touchpads work. 

Some artists like to use this mode. Wacom calls this the mouse mode in their tablet settings application on Microsoft windows.

You can also check the gnome documentation for this feature to better understand it - https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/wacom-mode.html.en

This mode was present in the wacom tablet kcm  in X11 due to the switch to wayland, this feature is not implemented in the new kcm. To bring graphic tablet experience on wayland on par to X11, I request this mode to added back the new tablet kcm.


STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open tablet kcm on wayland and try to set the relative mode for the tablet

Comment 1 sebi.loew 2024-01-04 21:30:02 UTC

I switched to a graphics tablet as a mouse replacement, because of bad wrist pain in my hand, even with an ergonomic mouse.
Sadly, without the relative input mode I can't use it under linux.
I hope someone can implement this for wayland, because soon with fedora there is no X11 anymore and I also love using wayland for my workflow.

Thanks a lot for all the awesome work!

Comment 2 Bug Janitor Service 2024-01-06 20:48:38 UTC

A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/4852

Comment 3 Bug Janitor Service 2024-01-06 20:49:42 UTC

A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/merge_requests/1963

Comment 4 duha.bugs 2024-03-07 19:42:47 UTC

*** Bug 482762 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 5 Nicolas Fella 2025-04-24 12:14:24 UTC

Git commit 3afdd02e021b9faf3adc797a7cc4f8a82ff9fd4f by Nicolas Fella.
Committed on 24/04/2025 at 11:40.
Pushed by nicolasfella into branch 'master'.

Add relative mode for graphics tablet

Graphics tablets normally operate in an absolute manner where the input
event position gets applied to a screen more or less directly.

However some people prefer it operating in a relative manner where it
works more similar to a mouse where movements of the stylus are added to
the current cursor position.

M  +26   -11   src/backends/libinput/connection.cpp
M  +14   -0    src/backends/libinput/device.cpp
M  +16   -0    src/backends/libinput/device.h
M  +5    -0    src/core/inputdevice.cpp
M  +4    -0    src/core/inputdevice.h
M  +5    -0    src/hide_cursor_spy.cpp
M  +2    -0    src/input.cpp
M  +71   -10   src/tablet_input.cpp
M  +3    -0    src/tablet_input.h

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/3afdd02e021b9faf3adc797a7cc4f8a82ff9fd4f

Comment 6 Nate Graham 2025-04-25 07:10:05 UTC

Git commit 13d3cbf16e5c6be75a30e28f240fec9307556df7 by Nate Graham, on behalf of Nicolas Fella.
Committed on 25/04/2025 at 05:51.
Pushed by nicolasfella into branch 'master'.

[kcms/tablet] Add setting for relative mode

M  +13   -2    kcms/libkwindevices/inputdevice.cpp
M  +13   -3    kcms/libkwindevices/inputdevice.h
M  +58   -0    kcms/tablet/ui/StylusTab.qml

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/commit/13d3cbf16e5c6be75a30e28f240fec9307556df7

Comment 7 klaymorer 2025-04-25 23:53:34 UTC

(In reply to sebi.loew from comment #1)
> I switched to a graphics tablet as a mouse replacement, because of bad wrist
> pain in my hand, even with an ergonomic mouse.
> Sadly, without the relative input mode I can't use it under linux.
> I hope someone can implement this for wayland, because soon with fedora
> there is no X11 anymore and I also love using wayland for my workflow.
> 
> Thanks a lot for all the awesome work!

I believe OpenTabletDriver can be set up on Wayland with relative mode, but it is nicer to have the setting directly in Plasma.