FAQs

Compatibility

Does Wayland support the use of tablet devices?

This question is poorly defined. Wayland itself is a protocol for sharing data between a compositor and application. The Wayland Tablet Protocol is an optional addition to this protocol which specifies how tablet data may be shared. A tablet should work as long as both the system compositor and the application you are using both support the Wayland Tablet Protocol.

Can I use my tablet with any Wayland application?

The Wayland Tablet Protocol must be supported by both the system compositor and application in order to work. If the application in question does not support this protocol, your tablet will not work in it. If the application supports the protocol but your system compositor does not, your tablet will not work at all. If the protocol is supported by both, your tablet should work. Note that some compositors may emulate standard mouse input if an application does not support the protocol. In these cases, the tablet will work but not be pressure-sensitive.

Can I use my tablet with any Wayland compositor?

The Wayland Tablet Protocol must be supported by both the system compositor and application in order to work. If the compositor in question does not support this protocol, your tablet will not work at all. If the compositor supports the protocol but your application does not, your tablet will only work in the desktop. If the protocol is supported by both, your tablet should work.

Is the Wayland Tablet Protocol universal?

The Wayland Tablet Protocol is supported by the most common compositors in Linux: Mutter (GNOME), KWin (KDE Plasma), and compositors based on wlroots (e.g. Sway). Support is not universal, however. The most notable exception is a lack of support by the reference Weston compositor. Other niche compositors may not support the protocol either.

Is the Wayland Tablet Protocol the only way to send / receive tablet events in Wayland?

The Wayland Tablet Protocol is the recommended way to send / receive tablet events in Wayland. At least one other niche protocol does also exist, but its use is strongly discouraged. Similarly, applications may theoretically receive events e.g. directly from the kernel. But this is also strongly discouraged. Compositors may, however, opt to translate tablet data into standard wl_pointer events for backwards-compatibility with applications that do not make use of the tablet protocol.

Which Wacom tablets are compatible with the Wayland Tablet Protocol?

The Wayland Tablet Protocol was designed with Wacom tablets in mind and so is compatible with all Wacom devices. Note, however, that drivers for Linux may not be compatible with all Wacom devices. This may prevent some devices from being usable under Wayland.