Success with GUNZE touchscreen, but /dev/input changes after reboot

General · 10-21-2009, 07:40 PM

I run Debian "Lenny" 5.0.3 on an Itronix ix250 GoBook. This has a GUNZE USB Touch Panel.

I think there are others with this laptop who would like their touchscreen to work.

I'm happy to report that I've managed to get the touchscreen to work following the advice posted here and other Xorg related documentation.

First, I ignored the advice listed in the file called "/etc/X11/xorg.conf", which seems to have nothing much in it, then I ran:

Code:

$ Xorg -configure

This created a file called "xorg.conf.new".

I tested the file out with:

Code:

$ Xorg -config xorg.conf.new

Next, I edited the "xorg.conf.new" file.

In the "ServerLayout" section, I added

Code:

InputDevice	"Touchscreen" "SendCoreEvents"

It looks like this:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
	InputDevice	"Touchscreen" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

To see which device the touchscreen is at, I used:

Code:

cat /proc/bus/input/devices | less

This printed a message for me:

Code:

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=0637 Product=0001 Version=0122
N: Name="GUNZE GUNZE Touch Panel"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:07.2-2.2/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input8
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse2 event8 
B: EV=b
B: KEY=400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=3

See? It is on event8.

Then I added this to the end of the "xorg.conf.new" file:

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "touchscreen"
    Driver "evtouch"
    Option "Device" "/dev/input/event8"
    Option "DeviceName" "touchscreen"
    Option "MinX" "32"
    Option "MaxX" "992"
    Option "MinY" "38"
    Option "MaxY" "968"
    Option "SwapY" "1"
    Option "ReportingMode" "Raw"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons"
    Option "Emulate3Timeout" "10"
    Option "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

I tested that out, by running:

Code:

$ Xorg -config xorg.conf.new

Great! It works. I copied it to /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Code:

$ cp xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

But not all is well. When I reboot the system, /dev/input/event8 is not always assigned as the touchscreen. This seems to be assigned at random!

Per the advice in the above link, I added these two files:

60-symlinks.rules

Code:

#Touch Panel compatibility
SUBSYSTEMS=="input", KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{name}=="GUNZE USB Touch Panel", SYMLINK+="input/gunze"

and

69-touchscreen.rules

Code:

#Touch Panel compatibility
SUBSYSTEMS=="input", KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{name}=="GUNZE USB Touch Panel", SYMLINK+="input/gunze"

After a reboot, this magically added a new symlink in /dev/input called "/dev/input/gunze".

Then I changed the line that says

Code:

Option "Device" "/dev/input/event8"

to

Code:

Option "Device" "/dev/input/gunze"

Now when I reboot, the /dev/input/gunze points to a random place! Dangerously random...

What device do I write in that line? How can I deal with this randomness? As it is, I have to edit my Xorg.conf file everytime I boot my computer and want to use X, otherwise, really bad things can happen... I can't find anything in /dev/input that might be called a touchscreen.

General · 10-22-2009, 08:39 AM

It looks like I've solved the remainder of the problem on my own...the problem was in the udev rules. All appears to be well know. In case their are one or two of you with an ix250, I've posted the process here (PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK):

Code:

TOUCHSCREEN SETUP INSTRUCTIONS

1. Install required drivers.

2. Run:

$ Xorg -configure

3. To `Section "ServerLayout"` of "xorg.conf.new", add:

	InputDevice	"Touchscreen" "SendCoreEvents"

4. To the end of "xorg.conf.new", add:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "touchscreen"
    Driver "evtouch"
    Option "Device" "/dev/input/gunze"
    Option "DeviceName" "touchscreen"
    Option "MinX" "32"
    Option "MaxX" "992"
    Option "MinY" "38"
    Option "MaxY" "968"
    Option "SwapY" "1"
    Option "ReportingMode" "Raw"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons"
    Option "Emulate3Timeout" "10"
    Option "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

5. Move "xorg.conf.new" to "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

6. Create "/etc/udev/rules.d/60-symlinks.rules", containing:

SUBSYSTEM=="input", KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{name}=="*GUNZE Touch Panel", SYMLINK+="input/gunze"

7. Create "/etc/udev/rules.d/69-touchscreen.rules", containing:

SUBSYSTEM=="input", KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{name}=="*GUNZE Touch Panel", SYMLINK+="input/gunze"

8. Install GDM.

9. Reboot system.

Now, I just wish I could get Xorg to listen to everything in the "Screen" section, instead of trying a billion different combinations by trial and error (as it seems to do now) and maybe it will start a millisecond faster...