Current status of tablet mode support under GNOME/Wayland

[jibsaramnim]

A while ago mutter (GNOME) changed how it decides if a device is a tablet capable device, and now (only) listens to the chassis_type listed in the device's DMI data, along with a (very short) list of exceptions in the Linux Kernel, and basically requires the trackpad to physically disconnect before it considers switching on tablet functionality (ie. show the on-screen keyboard).

There's been requests to revert this change but the issue and related merge request has been left open/unresolved for over a year.

Unfortunately for us, the MiniBook X calls itself a Notebook, so the expected tablet behavior is not working. I tried to add the MiniBook X to the aforementioned allow list, but that alone did not seem to do the trick. Mind you, I am not a kernel developer, so my experience there is limited at best.

I honestly think that the mutter change is the problem, as it's simply too optimistic to think all devices have this information correctly identified in their DMI information. But as it stands right now, the MiniBook X when running GNOME on Wayland does not have the expected tablet functionality out of the box. Switching to X11 does avoid this issue partially, as mutter then switches to how it used to behave everywhere, and show the on-screen display whenever you're using the touch screen to select input elements.

Screen rotation based on device orientation is also not working, unless you use a GNOME extension to forcibly re-enable this.

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Regarding the MiniBook X's pen support; this works out of the box, though you were not able to make any changes through the "Wacom Tablet" settings panel, for example. I have submitted a PR for the MiniBook X's pen support to libwacom, which has already been merged so should be available on any system that bundles more recent versions of libwacom. This should let you conveniently set up the pen's settings.