Installing X Server

For one of the projects on which I worked we needed to use Linux with a touch-screen display.  The touchscreen drivers were provided by Zybrid, with instructions on installation here.

I had difficulty getting them to work, though, and these are some notes on how to get round certain issues that may crop up.

Installing X

First, I needed to install X.  I had only a basic debian linux installed, since I was using a 1GB compact flash card and there's no room for any fancy stuff there.  I installed X with apt-get:

apt-get install xserver-xorg-core

I could run X by executing /etc/X11/X, but an error came up:

error could not open default font 'fixed'

To solve this issue the default fonts need installing:

apt-get install xfonts-base

Once X is running you can switch between the graphical display and the terminal session with Ctrl+Alt+7 (X) and Ctrl+Alt+1 (terminal).

Installing the Touchscreen Driver

A zip file is available for download from the website referred to above, called UPDD Linux x86.

Copy it to the root of your filesystem and unzip it.  It unpacks to /opt/tbuppdlx.

Then just follow the instructions on the website.

The instructions aren't completely consistent, but the key points to note are:

1. Make sure a new startup process is present.  This is installed in /etc/init.d with symbolic links to it from /etc/rc2.d, /etc/rc3.d etc.

2. To check that X has been modified correctly check /etc/X11/xorg.conf and confirm that at the top of the file is a reference to a new input device, with a tbupdd driver.