Welcome to dell-latitude-xt-tablet’s documentation!¶
How to use Dell Latitude XT tablet with Linux - config files and HOWTOs.
This is work in progress. Some of the configs, tips and HOWTOs are taken from rafi’s site, Gentoo’s Wiki and Rene Mayrhofer’s virtual home, although I found them a bit outdated. This is my personal approach and refinement to the case.
Desired Features¶
As of 2012-08-15 all major Linux distributions should install fine and utilize most of the features out-of-the-box. However there are some annoyances that pushed me to investigate the case to the fullest as I want to have a “full Latitude XT experience” (with some personal twists) that Windows users have:
- Touchscreen (using finger and pen)
- multitouch if possible.
- automatic switch to tablet mode (disable touch if pen is near screen - easier scetching) if possible
- long-press for RMB menu
- Screen & pointer rotation
- Fingerprint reader with optimal usability/safety solution (eg. login and unlock encrypted partition using password then just use fingerprints for unlocks, sudo etc.)
- Isolate and use every key on the lid. In present installations some buttons are confused and some are not recognized.
- Use jog-click for mode select between Volume/Brightness/Scroll and then use up/down appropriately
- Use BackKey as Esc/Ctrl+Z
- Fully functional wireless:
- Reuse WiFi Catcher button as BT switch.
- Use GPS [1] for navigation and geotagging.
- Other useful stuff
| [1] | (1, 2, 3) Optional module |
My distribution of choice is Arch Linux but I hope to write everything as distro-agnostic as possible.
Before system installation¶
Remember to install any upgrades prior to installing Linux. BIOS upgrade and N-Trig touchscreen firmware upgrade can only be applied via Windows.
Any help is appreciated. Just use issue tracker and/or pull requests.
Contents:
Author¶
These documents has been gathered and/or written by Dominik Kozaczko.