USB game pads under linux
 

Hi all!

Though I've been using Linux for some time now, I have never treid to use my game pad with it. What I would like to know is if there is anyway to use a Logitech Wingman Rumble Pad with linux (I know the force feedback and rumble will not work), just curious, because when the system boots it detects the HID and knows it is a game pad, but can I actually use it?

I'll go check logitech's wep page to see if I can clarify my doubt there (though I doubt it)

Hi,

I just recently got a gravis gamepad pro (usb) to work on my box. Make sure you have usb-uhci, hid, and joydev compiled into your kernel. I have them as modules. When you selecte the hid module make sure it supports usb input devices (keyboard, mouse, etc).

Make sure you have a device for the joystick to connect to (/dev/js0 or /dev/input/js0). If you don't run
Load the modules and then you should be good to go. You can check to see if it's there with
and you'll see a bunch of garbage everytime you press a joystick button.

I got most of this info from the linux USB guide .

I found that some programs don't support a joystick well. A decent solution is a neat little program called joy2key .

Good luck.

Ok, done. Thanks

Just one more thing... How do I make (force?) the module joydev to load every time the computer boots up?

Just stick the following lines at the end of your /etc/modules file.
That's it!

Thanks a lot, man... thanks a lot.

failed after cat /dev/input/js0
 

says:

betty linux # cat /dev/input/js0

cat: /dev/input/js0: No such device

I'm using devfsd, and trying to figure out /etc/devfsd.conf :/

using a usb joypad, that I've had working before, and is seen in /proc/bus/usb/devices

not sure what to do now :/

hey footfrisbee! thanks a bunch for this post... it saved me quite a few headaches and longs nights messing about. i recently made my newly bought gravis eliminator gamepad work with the same three modules you used. cheers!

Good to hear you got it working!

Dear footfrisbee,
I can't thank you enough for your post. Using the advice here I got my kiky-x USB to PSX adapter (available at places like Fry's for around 10 bucks) working so I can play games like Vice City under winex 3.1 just like in windows (except better cause its linux)!! Someone should write a mini-howto on this or something, as I am sure there are lots of folks out there who could desperately need to know about this.

I'm glad my post helped you.

I'm a bit too busy to write a mini-howto, but you should give it a shot! I'm sure lots of people will appreciate it.

I found this little marvel of software for those interrested:
http://wolfpack.twu.net/libjsw/
This program will let you configure and calibrate your joystick... For me works like a charm! Hope it does for you as well.

I tried the method, along with the joy2key program. The Joy2key program still didn't find my joystick until I did the following commands as root:

# mv /dev/js0 /dev/js0.old
# ln /dev/input/js0 /dev/js0

I guess many programs will look for /dev/js0 only. On my system (RH 9) /dev/js0 and /dev/input/js0 were not the same thing.

... now to get the force feedback stuff working :)

Tamran

Indeed in RH 9 you'd rather use /dev/js0 instead of /dev/input/js0. About force feedback, all I've been able to find is that it is a kernel patch and that it is merged into the 2.6 kernel sources... I have no further information, so if you find out more, please post back!

i cant get joy2key working. ive looked at the readme file and at the man page. i dont understand what the readme is telling me to do in the example. plus, it seems the readme is very old, you have to use the start command, where as here you just type the name of the program in. does anyone have any advice?

this thread helped me too! hurray for searching for threads before creating a new one.