How to set up touchscreen on Linux (on X-server or Wayland)

Step-by-step guide to detect, map, and calibrate touchscreens on Linux , covering xinput, xrandr, xinput_calibrator, and persistent Xorg configuration.

Posted Mar 11, 2026

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By David Ampurua

7 min read

How to set up touchscreen on Linux (on X-server or Wayland)

Table of Contents
Step 0: Check if device is supported by the kernel
[If kernel do not detect] Get X11 drivers
- [Extra] How to see the driver you are using
  - Method 1: xinput list-props
  - Method 2: System logs
[Optional] Touchscreen in a multi-screen setup: Adjust the Coordinate Transformation Matrix
Calibrate: Adjust the Axis Calibration Matrix
- Permanent calibration: xorg.conf.d
[Optional] Gestures and Two-fingers scrolling
References

Step 0: Check if device is supported by the kernel

/proc/bus/input/devices file lists all input devices the Linux kernel currently knows about.

cat /proc/bus/input/devices

  
[...]

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=1fd2 Product=8105 Version=0111
N: Name="Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch" # Name of the device.
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:14.0-4.3.2.1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-4/1-4.3/1-4.3.2/1-4.3.2.1/1-4.3.2.1:1.0/0003:1FD2:8105.0002/input/input16
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse0 event15 # Assigned handlers
B: PROP=2
B: EV=1b
B: KEY=400 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=260800000000003
B: MSC=20

[...]

Verify it’s the right device /dev/input/eventX and touching the screen. If you see characters streaming, that’s the one to use with xinput.

sudo cat /dev/input/event15

Output touching the screen:

[If kernel do not detect] Get X11 drivers

Depending on your touchscreen device choose an appropriate driver. You can use proprietary (if it’s available) or open source driver. The most common open-source drivers are:

evdev: Generic input event interface in the Linux kernel and FreeBSD.
libinput: For Wayland/Weston compositor.

libinput/libevdev sit between the kernel and the user-level input handler, translating kernel events into a device API used by X or Wayland.
kernel → libevdev → xf86-input-evdev → X server → X client
For Wayland/Weston compositor, the stack would look like this:
kernel → libevdev → libinput → Wayland compositor → Wayland client
Since xorg-server 1.16, X supports libinput via the xf86-input-libinput driver:
kernel → libevdev → libinput → xf86-input-libinput → X server → X client

[Extra] How to see the driver you are using

Method 1: `xinput list-props`

First get device name (in my case Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch):

xinput

Output:

  
⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch             id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Wireless Mouse PID:4022          id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Wireless Keyboard PID:4023       id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys                          id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell AIO WMI hotkeys                      id=14   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech Wireless Keyboard PID:4023       id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]

And then get more detailed information:

xinput list-props "Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch"

On the output you can see how the device use libinput driver:

  
Device 'Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch':
        Device Enabled (179):   1
        Coordinate Transformation Matrix (181): 0.500000, 0.000000, 0.500000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
        libinput Calibration Matrix (318):      1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
        libinput Calibration Matrix Default (319):      1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
        libinput Send Events Modes Available (301):     1, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (302):        0, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (303):        0, 0
        Device Node (304):      "/dev/input/event15"
        Device Product ID (305):        8146, 33029

Method 2: System logs

Search for device name on system general logs (in my case Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch):

  
sudo journalctl | grep "'Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch'"

Note that I use ' simple quotes on the grep command.

And on the output find a line similar to this one, that as you can see says that the input driver is libinput:

  
(II) Using input driver 'libinput' for 'Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch'

[Optional] Touchscreen in a multi-screen setup: Adjust the Coordinate Transformation Matrix

You need to map the touchscreen to your actual touchscreen display. This is made by xinput’s map-to-output option.

  
# Generic command
xinput map-to-output <touch-input device (name or id)> <output name>

To get the touch-input device name execute xinput, and see the output (In this case is Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch):

  
⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch             id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Wireless Mouse PID:4022          id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Wireless Keyboard PID:4023       id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys                          id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell AIO WMI hotkeys                      id=14   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech Wireless Keyboard PID:4023       id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Now to know device output interface name execute xrandr, and see the output ():

  
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3840 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
HDMI-1 connected 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 527mm x 296mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  50.00    59.94
   1920x1080i    60.00    50.00    59.94
   1600x900      60.00
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02

[...]

DP-2-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 527mm x 296mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  50.00    59.94
   1600x1200     60.00
   1600x900      60.00
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02
   1152x864      75.00

[...]

In this case is HDMI-1, I know it because the touchscreen isn’t the primary monitor.

If unsure which touchscreen corresponds to which monitor, temporarily map it to an output, touch the screen, and verify the pointer moves only on that monitor.

So the final command to map the touch input to output monitor is:

xinput map-to-output "Melfas LGDisplay Incell Touch" HDMI-1

Calibrate: Adjust the Axis Calibration Matrix

The tool to calibrate a touchscreen is called xinput_calibrator.

xinput_calibrator works only for single-screen setups. It sets the device’s “Axis Calibration Matrix” and doesn’t account for a “Coordinate Transformation Matrix” used when mapping to a specific output. It also always opens stretched to the full available output area.

Calibration tool with all displays on Calibration tool only with touchscreen displays on

Turn off all the monitor except the one that you want to calibrate → xrandr --output <non-touch-output> --off
Reset “Coordinate Transformation Matrix” if you map it before → xinput map-to-output <touch input device> <touch-output>
Calibrate with → xinput_calibrator. You should now have well-calibrated touch on the single screen.
Re-enable the other monitors → xrandr --output <non-touch-output> --mode <resolution>. If you need position options use --right-of, --left-of, --above, --below place the monitor relative to another.
Map the touchscreen again to his monitor → xinput map-to-output <touch input device> <touch-output>

Permanent calibration: `xorg.conf.d`

To make the new values permanent you need to create a configuration files for Xorg X server (normally on /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ on Debian based OS), named with a sufficiently low priority (90-calibration.conf). The file’s data will be:

  
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier                      "calibration"
        MatchProduct                    "<DEVICE_NAME_FROM_XINPUT_LIST>"
        Option  "TransformationMatrix"  "<VALUES_FROM(Coordinate Transformation Matrix)>"
        Option  "Calibration"           "<VALUES_FROM(Evdev Axis Calibration)>"
        Option  "SwapAxes"              "<VALUE_FROM(Evdev Axes Swap)>"
        Option  "InvertX"               "<X_VALUE_FROM(Evdev Axis Inversion)>"
        Option  "InvertY"               "<Y_VALUE_FROM(Evdev Axis Inversion)>"
EndSection

[Optional] Gestures and Two-fingers scrolling

You can try installing Touchegg, an app that runs in the background and transform the gestures you make on your touchpad or touchscreen into visible actions in your desktop.

References

Linux

how to xorg-server touchscreen

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