Are you referring to a drawing tablet? If so, then a good number of ones from the better known brands are supported by the kernel by default. Your safest bet though is Wacom. Wacom is definitely the best supported brand, but it tends to be more expensive than other brands (such as XP-pen and Huion). Non-Wacom branded tablets may require a little bit more initial configuration, like adding a udev rule (I had to do that for my Huion Inspiroy Ink).
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
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You can pick up the older pads really cheaply too. I got mine for about £20 a few years ago. It's basic, but if you're just starting out, it does what you need :)
happy Wacom Intuos Art user here, can recommend
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Graphics_tablet
The Arch Linux kernels include drivers by the linux-wacom and DIGImend projects. linuMLx-wacom supports Wacom devices, while DIGImend supports devices from other manufacturers. Both projects publish a list of supported devices: linux-wacom, DIGImend
Due to how many devices are supported, your best bet is to simply go to your nearest store that sells them and then checking if Linux supports it against those two lists, which there is an extremely high chance it does.
Then you should also check reviews, to make sure you get a good one.
I have a Wacom Intuos CTL-4100WL, and it's served me well for math notes using Xournal++ (app for handwritten notetaking), but I truly have no idea how good it is for actual drawing related applications, as I don't do it for that at all.
Can you customize the buttons directly? I have xp-pen, it works by default but the buttons are not what I want, I have been using xp-pen provided driver-app for customizing buttons and screen and such. One time it had a bug that was pretty bad. I'd prefer to not use it if I can customize without it.
Yes
https://moonpiedumplings.github.io/blog/kde-6/#drawing-tablets/
My understanding is that gnome also has support for drawing tablets built in, and there are also other apps to customize buttons.