This know-how post is about how to limit a Wacom tablet in (Ubuntu) Linux to one screen, if you are having multiple monitors.

Keywords: Wacom, Ubuntu, Linux, multiple screens, multiple displays

We need to gather system information with xrandr and xinput. First we use xrandr to determine the display, where the tablet should be active:

$ xrandr
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-4 connected primary 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 510mm x 287mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+
   1440x900      59.89  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1280x800      59.81  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1024x768      70.07    60.00  
   800x600       60.32    56.25  
   640x480       59.94  
DP-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

I want to have it on the primary display, witch is in my case DP-4. A easier way to immediately determine the primary display would be

$ xrandr | grep 'primary'
DP-4 connected primary 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 510mm x 287mm

Next we need to list the devices using xinput | grep -i Wacom (we directly only list Wacom devices here)

$ xinput | grep -i Wacom
⎜   ↳ Wacom Intuos3 6x11 Pen stylus               id=12    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Wacom Intuos3 6x11 Pen eraser               id=13    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Wacom Intuos3 6x11 Pen cursor               id=14    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Wacom Intuos3 6x11 Pad pad                  id=15    [slave  pointer  (2)]

For me, it’s id 12 to 15. No we map the Wacom tablet to DP-4

$ xinput map-to-output 12 DP-4
$ xinput map-to-output 13 DP-4
$ xinput map-to-output 14 DP-4
$ xinput map-to-output 15 DP-4

Done.