Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Fun, fun, fun!

Some thoughts about the Bamboo table I've mentioned in the previous post.


The exact name is Bamboo CTH-470 Pen & table. It comes with Windows/OS X software on a CD and the manual resides there, too. But you know, I'm on the Linux side...

I've connected it via the USB port - and nothing happened. The table's LED lit up but no sign in Xubuntu that it had discovered any new hardware. But I was well-educated by that time, I knew I may be facing a 6-hour hard battle: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1515562
However, the topic starts with a brilliant summary of what one should do, courtesy of user Favux, even though the summary alone may be a huge printing task, too. It also includes a link to download the table's driver for Ubuntu before trying to compile drivers, etc etc. So it boiled down to a simple install from a PPA. Thanks, Lekensteyn! Then I've also found another link about the tables and that description uses Lekensteyn's, too.

After installing from the PPA, and after a reboot, the table simply - worked. I've installed MyPaint and gave the table to my daughter - she could use it in one minute and now produces beautiful drawings each and every day. I did not have to explain the pen's rubber function at all, she just naturally used it once needed. She draws real abstract pictures, quite different from her real pencil drawings that always tell a story. You may think "oh sure the dad brags about her daughter painting" but it is in fact different. I brag about her drawing because that is one thing in life I've never been able to - best so far were stick figures :D

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