Touchscreen monitor drivers / distros

TimTheNoob

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PEOPLE OF THE FUTURE: Ubuntu 18.04 supports the Acer T232HL. You do however need to connect both the HDMI cable AND the USB for visual and touch respectively.

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Hi all. Firstly I'm a total Linux noob, sick of Windows and wanted to do something different; have literally just now assembled my rig and installed the most vanilla Linux that presented itself, ie Ubuntu 18. I gathered that GNOME 3 (which to my understanding I have by default) was pretty decent with touchscreens but I've got zero touch functionality. Nada zip. On closer inspection I think they mean it's good with phones and so on rather than PCs with standalone monitors.

So the question: can I get my big touchscreen monitor to work, on this or indeed any version of Linux? Where would I even begin to search for a driver? I'm perfectly open to changing distro, and maybe even, if it were absolutely necessary, swapping the monitor for one that is known to be supported.

Acer T232HL touchscreen monitor. Works fine as a regular monitor but doesn't register touch.
Connected via HDMI to Intel NUC i5-8259 @ 2.3GHz x 8
Ubuntu 18.04.02 with GNOME 3.28.2 straight off the website BUT I'm totally open to trying a different build.
 
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G'day Tim and welcome to linux.org :), where you join 24,000 plus former noobs, and possibly one-third still are :D

GNOME is one of a number of DEs (Desktop Environments) that are used around Linux, and if you are not familiar with DEs, you could read https://renewablepcs.wordpress.com/about-linux/kde-gnome-or-xfce/

Although I enjoy Ubuntu (but mostly with the MATE DE), they tend to put their own "stamp" on GNOME, so it is not "pure" GNOME.

The infamous "they" as in "they say", say, that GNOME is the best DE for support of touchscreen technology, but you are not finding that.

Don't despair.

So the question: can I get my big touchscreen monitor to work, on this or indeed any version of Linux?

Likely, but no guarantees.

Where would I even begin to search for a driver?

Don't yet, unless you just enjoy Googling. Over the last 2 years or so, more and more drivers are being incorporated into the Linux Kernel itself, rather than needing to be standalone drivers installed manually.

That being said, if the Acer T232HL is very recent, its driver/s may not have made it here (Linux) yet, we can take a look?

I'm perfectly open to changing distro

Cool.

...swapping the monitor for one that is known to be supported.

Hopefully it won't come to that :p

In the meantime, if you have a USB stick of say 16 GB or so, you could do well to install a French product called Multisystem, which will allow you to try a substantial number of Linux Distros that might suit, without having to install. Each one you install is bootable. I have been using it for 5 years.

You can install it on Ubuntu with the following at Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-t is a shortcut to open Terminal):

Code:
sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot all main'
wget -q -O - http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot/multisystem.asc | sudo apt-key-add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install multisystem

Once installed, you can launch it, and then add it to your Favourites. I will be writing an article in more detail soon.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

...sick of Windows and wanted to do something different

I believe you will find you have come to the right place :D:D
 
I have to head off for my evening here in Oz, but a quick Google of

linux Acer T232HL

... might keep you going for a while (and you'll see this Thread is there, too :))

The one I have had the briefest of looks at was from LXF - Linux Format Magazine, a great British publication I have used extensively, and it is dated just January passed and says in part that 18.04 supports their Acer 232HL.

So it's do-able, by the looks of it. It's also not new on the scene, by the looks of it, so things look promising.

I'll catch you when I can.

Cheers

Wiz
 
Would you warrant it. The monitor didn't even register on xinput, no mention at all. So maybe the input isn't passed over HDMI? Let's try plugging in the gorram USB cord hey? Whoop, problem solved. #wehaveliftoff

xinput said:
Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Genius USB Optical Mouse id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Weida Hi-Tech CoolTouchR System id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
Although this seems a little convoluted to me; the mouse is obvious and so I guess the other three deal with the touch input in various ways I don't understand. Anyone want to expand on what any of that means?
 
Just a heads up Tim - always good to add eg "Edited - added first line", I use "Edited - added BTW" a lot and then proceed with the BTW, this after my signature.

Helps others know you have changed something - I can see the History, but they can't. :)

That being said -

Legend, good that you got it solved.:D:D:D

On xinput, which I was headed to, at a snail's pace -

In /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/

You will likely have 1 to 2 files

10-evdev.conf and

40-libinput.conf

which will have updated details on your touch parameters.

Save them somewhere, and also make the acquaintance of Timeshift - https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

and take a snapshot of the new setup. Ask any questions on TS there.

Well done

Chris
 

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