Devices with absolute axes are those that send positioning data for an axis in a device-specific coordinate range, defined by a minimum and a maximum value.
Compare this to relative devices (e.g. a mouse) that can only detect directional data, not positional data.
libinput supports three types of devices with absolute axes:
multi-touch screens
single-touch screens
Touchpads are technically absolute devices but libinput converts the axis values to directional motion and posts events as relative events. Touchpads do not count as absolute devices in libinput.
For all absolute devices in libinput, the default unit for x/y coordinates is in mm off the top left corner on the device, or more specifically off the device's sensor. If the device is physically rotated from its natural position and this rotation was communicated to libinput (e.g. by setting the device left-handed), the coordinate origin is