I’ve rooted around the archive to find the tweaks/workarounds to change what the side button does. This will (or should) work with all other Samsung devices with gimped Wacom drivers.
Thanks to @HowdyDoody and @Selofain (should they ever join here):
Change S Pen side button
@HowdyDoody:
Figured out that if you wish to enable right click using the barrel button on the S Pen all you need to do is install WinTab drivers https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49498
Install and set the Pen Button option to “do nothing” in the Book Settings app and presto! Did no one else notice this?!
It’s hold and tap to right click (which I prefer) but if you want hover right click I think you will still need RadialMenu to do the job. All you need to do in that case is download radial menu (which is cool anyway) and set up remapping in the menu. Which button you remap depends on if you have wintab driver installed or not:
No wintap - Remap Pen button 3 to right click
With wintap - Remap Pen button 1 to right click
Warning though that Radial Menu is pretty unstable and the hover right click functionality will only work in certain apps…
Basically, you disable two Samsung services: Samsung Pen Service and Samsung Firmware Interface Service. Then you install Radial Menu and set the eraser to Right Mouse. Voila, hover right click on your s-pen!
Linux
Thanks to @ammarr:
Fixes for Linux installs
I was able to get touchscreen and wacom working properly in Ubuntu 17.04.
In xinput list, I can see a WACOM pointer device and something called ‘STMD1234’ which is the touch screen. Running something like:
The only dealbreaker left at this point is sound. I have output devices showing, but there is no sound output from speakers or headphones. Did you have sound working out of the box?
The latest Wacom Feel Driver has worked for me as of January 2023 (version: 7.7-61). Use with Radial Menu or other remapper to get the desired keys. This doesn’t get button 1 to work on two button styluses. This is also without installing any of the Samsung drivers and utilities from a clean Windows install.
Edit: Now a wiki, side button tweaks, and Linux tweaks added.
I recently installed a Photodon screen protector on mine and the ‘bite’ of the included stylus is really nice. Old style EMR styli and their rubbers (sorry, erasers) feel great too.
But the newer ones don’t. The Staedtler tips don’t drag well and the LAMY one (for glossy displays) drags a lot. The Staedtler’s eraser has too much resistance too.
The reduction in reflections and fingerprints really makes up for that though.
I’ve got two of the 12’s locked up in my file cabinet - they still both run well (Home and Pro; 8gb ram and 256gb ssd) - maybe should go visit HiFi’s sales table.
I’m enjoying my little 10.6. I got a random clear protector for mine. I wish amazon had a matter one though. I really prefer matte for both pen feel and glare reduction. The clear one is all fingerprints now. I’m mostly using the Samsung pen pro with it.
I also put dex for windows on it and had fun playing with that a little bit. Dex is certainly more useful on a touchscreen. But it’s locked to 1080p, so it looks weird with black bars top and bottom full screen. I wonder if it can run linux…
I use my Galaxy Book 12 8GB/256GB fairly often. I like it better than any Surface Pro I ever used. The OLED is wonderful and the 7th-gen i5 does whatever I need it to do.
I mean, I picked up the tablet cheap on ebay and the screen protector was mostly about camouflaging the one little scratch in the screen and making sure it didn’t get any more.
Depending on where you live, the Photodon protector will likely cost maybe $30 including shipping if you’re in the US. So yeah, it’s not cheap. It is what you are after though.
If you get some other cleaning supplies from them, it would take some sting out of the shipping cost. That’s what I did.
It’s not essential though, and as you’ve got a clear one at least your screen is protected.
I’ve been updating my two GB12’s to get ready to thin the herd, and I see how wonderful the QHD OLED screens are; EMR goodness; and think what could have been. Blow out the old-style thumb width bezels, add 11th gen i5, 16gb RAM, 512gb-1tb ssd, and TB3-4, and you would have had a world class Windows tablet to run Surface Pro 8 in circles. It is still a great piece of kit, but specs just aren’t up with the front of the pack.
It’s weird. I understand and formerly agreed with that position, but for various reasons the 12” Galaxy Book is an exception for me. As a tablet, usually when lounging on the couch, I like it better than even my Surface Go 2. And much better than a Surface Pro or the Galaxy Tab S7+ I recently tried.
Smooth rounded corners and edges are part of the reason, for sure. The Tab S7+ had a gorgeous AMOLED but sharp, square, uncomfortable edges…
Agreed on that. As much as a like everything else about the new iPad Pros , the original IPad is still IMHO the most comfortable tablet to hand hold for extended periods.
Though visually the home button looks archaic now,
Well, I might as well get out of lurking for a moment… Nice to see that the GB thread is being resurrected here so quickly.
I am still using my GB12 daily, mainly for theoretical physics computations in OneNote, coupled with an XPS17. I do wonder whether it’s time to jump on a Surface Pro 8 with the improved pen tech and all that - but will I miss wacom EMR if I do so? I do not like the OLED display, it’s full of vertical yellow striping and I find it fatiguing when studying scientific articles.
But nonetheless, some of the nastier computations I ever did were done on this thing. I’ll miss it dearly when I finally move on.
Nice to see that the GB thread is being resurrected here so quickly.