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Clearly this isn't a trivial or very fun job (last time I used them, the Linux drivers were buggy as hell). Who would have the motivation to do it on Windows, w

by leppr 7y ago

Clearly this isn't a trivial or very fun job (last time I used them, the Linux drivers were buggy as hell). Who would have the motivation to do it on Windows, where you have a driver that works and users have little expectation of privacy to begin with?

jchw 7y ago
The Linux drivers for Wacom tablets have never been buggy in the past decade in a half I’ve used them. Other parts of the stack (Xinput, libinput, GUI libraries) have been, but the actual driver provides good data to userspace. Even then, to me the drivers on Linux have been perpetually less buggy. On Windows I found myself needing to restart the usermode service and restart applications frequently, especially if the USB connection was unreliable. The Linux driver did not have similar issues. For example, you’ll never have to follow this guide on Linux: https://www.deviantart.com/kiiroikat/art/How-to-Fix-Wacom-Drivers-Without-Rebooting-602842865 https://www.deviantart.com/kiiroikat/art/How-to-Fix-Wacom-Dr... I don’t recall having issues with the Mac drivers either.
- oehpr 7y ago
  Just because it would be better doesn't mean it will be made. So long as something is "good enough", it will strangle new projects in the crib.
  - jchw 7y ago
    1. Did you reply to the wrong comment? I was only remarking on the Linux driver not being buggy. 2. If you’re referring to a Windows open source Wacom driver, one already exists, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, though it has a pretty specific purpose in mind. https://github.com/hawku/TabletDriver https://github.com/hawku/TabletDriver
    - oehpr 7y ago
      the comment you are replying to is talking about the motivation to make a driver. I assumed your comment was also about that, I didn't expect that you were ignoring the context of the conversation and just commenting about whether the current driver was buggy or not. Sorry.
- leppr 7y ago
  Ok the bugs might have been isolated to the configuration GUI and not the driver strictly speaking, but the point still stands.
  - jchw 7y ago
    LinuxWacom doesn’t provide a configuration GUI that I am aware of, though. The xf86 input driver has knobs you can tweak but as far as I am aware the only official way to do it is CLI. If you are talking about GNOME’s Wacom settings, then I can understand the confusion: under Windows this would be part of the driver package, but under Linux this bit just happens to be completely unrelated and maintained by GNOME. I realize this does not matter much to the end user but it kind of matters in the context of this discussion; the bugs aren’t inherent, they are probably mostly a result of how the software ecosystem works on Linux...
ohithereyou 7y ago
>users have little expectation of privacy to begin with? The cynical side of me wonders how long it will be before prosecutors argue, with a straight face, that using evidence obtained from mass surveillance against people using Microsoft Windows is okay because Microsoft collects a massive amount of data so nobody should expect their files and activities to remain private; that there is or should be no expectation of privacy on such a system. And then how long until warrant applications come in with supporting evidence that the subject of the warrant uses Linux and therefore their increased desire for privacy is prima facia evidence that they're doing something illegal.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  The first part is long since true. Courts have already (wrongly) established that you have no expectation of privacy in anything you entrust to a third party agent like a bank or a cloud service. If you give the provider a key to your stuff, they can give it to law enforcement. The latter is a tougher desecration of the constitution to sell.
  - bitwize 7y ago
    Constitution schmonstitution. Just say the magic words -- "national security" -- and that problem goes away. The NSA is already selecting people with "Linux" and "Tor" in their search histories for added scrutiny.
    - gruez 7y ago
      >The NSA is already selecting people with "Linux" [...] in their search histories for added scrutiny. Source for this? If it's true it would be both sad and hilarious.
      - bitwize 7y ago
        https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nsa-linux-journal-extremist-forum-and-its-readers-get-flagged-extra-surveillance https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nsa-linux-journal-extre...

by leppr 7y ago

jchw 7y ago

The Linux drivers for Wacom tablets have never been buggy in the past decade in a half I’ve used them. Other parts of the stack (Xinput, libinput, GUI libraries) have been, but the actual driver provides good data to userspace. Even then, to me the drivers on Linux have been perpetually less buggy. On Windows I found myself needing to restart the usermode service and restart applications frequently, especially if the USB connection was unreliable. The Linux driver did not have similar issues. For example, you’ll never have to follow this guide on Linux: https://www.deviantart.com/kiiroikat/art/How-to-Fix-Wacom-Drivers-Without-Rebooting-602842865 https://www.deviantart.com/kiiroikat/art/How-to-Fix-Wacom-Dr... I don’t recall having issues with the Mac drivers either.

oehpr 7y ago
Just because it would be better doesn't mean it will be made. So long as something is "good enough", it will strangle new projects in the crib.
- jchw 7y ago
  1. Did you reply to the wrong comment? I was only remarking on the Linux driver not being buggy. 2. If you’re referring to a Windows open source Wacom driver, one already exists, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, though it has a pretty specific purpose in mind. https://github.com/hawku/TabletDriver https://github.com/hawku/TabletDriver
  - oehpr 7y ago
    the comment you are replying to is talking about the motivation to make a driver. I assumed your comment was also about that, I didn't expect that you were ignoring the context of the conversation and just commenting about whether the current driver was buggy or not. Sorry.
leppr 7y ago
Ok the bugs might have been isolated to the configuration GUI and not the driver strictly speaking, but the point still stands.
- jchw 7y ago
  LinuxWacom doesn’t provide a configuration GUI that I am aware of, though. The xf86 input driver has knobs you can tweak but as far as I am aware the only official way to do it is CLI. If you are talking about GNOME’s Wacom settings, then I can understand the confusion: under Windows this would be part of the driver package, but under Linux this bit just happens to be completely unrelated and maintained by GNOME. I realize this does not matter much to the end user but it kind of matters in the context of this discussion; the bugs aren’t inherent, they are probably mostly a result of how the software ecosystem works on Linux...

ohithereyou 7y ago

>users have little expectation of privacy to begin with? The cynical side of me wonders how long it will be before prosecutors argue, with a straight face, that using evidence obtained from mass surveillance against people using Microsoft Windows is okay because Microsoft collects a massive amount of data so nobody should expect their files and activities to remain private; that there is or should be no expectation of privacy on such a system. And then how long until warrant applications come in with supporting evidence that the subject of the warrant uses Linux and therefore their increased desire for privacy is prima facia evidence that they're doing something illegal.

lonelappde 7y ago
The first part is long since true. Courts have already (wrongly) established that you have no expectation of privacy in anything you entrust to a third party agent like a bank or a cloud service. If you give the provider a key to your stuff, they can give it to law enforcement. The latter is a tougher desecration of the constitution to sell.
- bitwize 7y ago
  Constitution schmonstitution. Just say the magic words -- "national security" -- and that problem goes away. The NSA is already selecting people with "Linux" and "Tor" in their search histories for added scrutiny.
  - gruez 7y ago
    >The NSA is already selecting people with "Linux" [...] in their search histories for added scrutiny. Source for this? If it's true it would be both sad and hilarious.
    - bitwize 7y ago
      https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nsa-linux-journal-extremist-forum-and-its-readers-get-flagged-extra-surveillance https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nsa-linux-journal-extre...