Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
For many years, I’ve been using a Wacom Bamboo tablet. Wacom was always a sign of quality when it came to digital artwork and tablets, but recently several companies have been catching up with them. Xencelabs is one of them. What makes Xencelabs more important, for us Linux artists, is that they supply Linux drivers for their tablets. Wacom does not supply Linux drivers.
Unboxing
The Medium Bundle from Xencelabs has: • Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium (BPH1212W-A) • Xencelabs Quick Keys (K02-A) • 3 Button Pen (PH5-A) • Thin Pen (PH6-A) • Pen Case (H05-A) • Dongle (ACD12-A) • USB Cable / USB-A to USB-C (ACWTU06-201A) • USB-C cable L / USB-A to USB-C Right Angle 90 Degree (ACWTU05-200A) • Nibs (6 Standard) (ACTPH6A-A) • Nibs (4 Felt) (ACTPH6A-B) • Glove Medium (ACG-12M) • Adapter / USB-A to USB-C • Tablet Sleeve • Nib Extracting Ring • Quick Start Guide / Thank You Card • Warranty Booklet
Phew! That’s a lot of stuff!
Note: two different pens.
Both pens are about 6 inches long. The tablet has over 8,000 levels of pressure, includes tilt, and is about 12in x 9in with a drawing area of about 10in x 6in. About 2hrs charge should give about 16hrs work time. The quick keys are about 6in x 2.5in. Apparently 2hrs charge gives over 20hrs work time.
Plugging in
The Xencelabs tablet comes with two USB cables and a dongle. So you can either go wired (uses two USB ports) or go wireless with the dongle (one USB port). I’m going wireless.
The top of the tablet has a sliding switch. A flick of this turns the tablet on and the corners glow with colour. A nice touch! The ‘quick keys’ device also has a similar power switch.
Since I’m going wireless, I will need to plug a cable into these two eventually to charge the internal batteries.
Drivers
Going to https://www.xencelabs.com/support/download-drivers/ gets a link to the Linux drivers. Download Linux driver (an archive file). Opening the archive shows three files; a DEB, an RPM and TAR files. I can speak for only the DEB file that I used in Ubuntu 21.10.
The release notes link (below the download button) shows how to install/uninstall drivers from the command-line, but I did a right-click on the DEB file and chose ‘Open With Software Install’ to install the drivers.
Looking in the available software, I see ‘xencelabs’, but first: reboot. I found if I didn’t reboot the pens would show in the tablet diagnostics, but wouldn’t move the pointer. So be sure to reboot after the driver installation.
Configuration
Getting the tablet to the way you want it is easy through the xencelabs software which starts on boot.
With the tablet and quick keys switched on, you see them, and the two pens appear in the driver window. Below the tablet and quick keys it shows their respective battery power that’s left.
Moving down the items on the left of the window we first come to ‘Pen Tablet’. This is where you configure the tablet itself. As I mentioned with the switch on, the corners have a nice coloured glow to them. Here, you can change the colour of the corners. As well as the brightness of the colour. Below the tablet you can choose what you want the three buttons at the top of the tablet to do.
Next comes the ‘3-Button Pen’. This is one of the two pens supplied in the box. Here you can set the pen pressure to your personal preference and (on the right), set what each of the three buttons will do.
Next is the ‘Thin Pen’, and it’s the same idea as the 3-button pen. But this pen has only two buttons.
Now, why two pens? Well, you could configure the three-button pen with one set of settings, and the thin pen with other settings. So, like in the real world, you could switch between pens. One might have heavy settings, one might have light or softer settings. It’s a great idea.
Then comes ‘My Quick Keys’. The quick keys is a little rectangular box with a small screen, eight buttons, and a dial with a button in it. The idea is that you can press the button inside the dial to switch between 4 modes. The dial has a coloured outline that changes per mode. The eight keys can be configured to whatever you like. The screen displays what each button is configured for. I believe you can have several sets of shortcuts, but I didn’t try these. Eight was more than enough for me.
You set the label to be displayed and the keyboard shortcuts. The ‘customize’ dropdown lets you rotate the quick keys in 90’ increments, set the screen brightness, and so on.
So, for example, I mostly use MyPaint. Shown bottom right are my quick keys configured for MyPaint.
Lastly, ‘Preferences’. It is simply to say whether you want to use the whole tablet, or a part of it. And on the whole display(s) or a part of it. Also set a sleep time for the tablet to save your battery power.
Testing
As I mentioned earlier, I mostly use MyPaint for digital artwork. Yes, I could use GIMP, and it does work with GIMP, but MyPaint is geared purely towards pencil, ink, and painting stuff.
Any keyboard shortcuts were put into the quick keys settings and off I went. I choose my brush. I click the dial button and put it into brush size mode. Turn the dial and my brush pointer shrinks/enlarges. I do some scribbles. Press the undo quick key. Gone. Redo and it’s back. Works a treat. I can press the dial button and put it into opacity mode and make the brush softer. Flip over the pen and use the eraser. Flawless!
Conclusion
This is an amazing tablet. So well packaged and a 10 out of 10 for quality. Two pens, lots of spare nibs, and it all comes in a nice spectacle-case style box. The tablet has a nice touch to it so it’s not all slippery and slidey, and I like the slope at the front of it where your wrist rests. The quick keys unit is nice. Has a non-slip underside. The dial is smooth to turn, and the screen displaying the labels is nice and clear. Everything can pack into the lovely pouch that comes with it. It even comes with a USB-C to USB socket converter in case you need one.
I honestly can’t fault it. It’s great value for money. Definitely one for us Linux digital artists to support since they support us with Linux drivers. Bye bye Wacom Bamboo. It was nice knowing you…
LINKS
https://www.xencelabs.com/product/xencelabs-pen-tablet-medium-bundle/ US: https://amzn.to/30brOuh CA: https://amzn.to/3FqGN3w AU: https://amzn.to/3BXBRAW MX: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B08VNQW8HG SG: https://www.amazon.sg/dp/B08VNQW8HG?ref=myi_title_dp Estore US: https://www.xencelabs.com/product/xencelabs-pen-tablet-medium-bundle/ Estore DE: https://www.xencelabs.com/de/product/xencelabs-pen-tablet-medium-bundle/ Estore UK: https://www.xencelabs.com/uk/product/xencelabs-pen-tablet-medium-bundle/ Estore IT: https://www.xencelabs.com/it/product/xencelabs-pen-tablet-medium-bundle/ Estore FR: https://www.xencelabs.com/fr/product/xencelabs-tablette-a-stylet-m-pack/ Estore ES: https://www.xencelabs.com/es/product/xencelabs-pen-tablet-medium-bundle/