<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
      type="topic" style="question"
      id="wacom-tablet-unknown">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="wacom"/>

    <desc>Tablets need to be known to GNOME to initialize the right capabilities.</desc>

    <credit type="author">
      <name>Peter Hutterer</name>
      <email>peter.hutterer@redhat.com</email>
    </credit>
    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
  </info>

  <title>Why is my tablet unknown?</title>

  <p>
    For GNOME to initialize a tablet with the correct capabilities such as
    pressure, tilt, mapable buttons, etc. it needs to first know which
    capabilities are available.
    This information is not provided by the devices but resides in a
    static device database provided by the
    <link href="http://github.com/linuxwacom/libwacom">libwacom library</link>.
    Devices must be individually added to this database and thus
    may not yet be available in the version of libwacom provided by
    your distribution.
  </p>

  <p>
    If a tablet is not supported by libwacom, GNOME cannot know which
    capabilities are available. GNOME then defaults to assuming the
    tablet is built into one of the outputs (the built-in one if available)
    and it has no external buttons. The pen (stylus) tool defaults to a
    standard two-button tool. This usually has little effect on the
    functionality of the tablet but it does limit the configuration
    of the tablet.
  </p>
  <p>
    For instructions on how to add a device please see the instructions
    in the <link href="http://github.com/linuxwacom/libwacom">libwacom repository</link>.
  </p>

</page>

