Gamepad

Joysticks can be a bit of a hassle to get working in Linux. Not because they are poorly supported, but simply because you need to determine which modules to load to get your joystick working, and it's not always very obvious!

Joystick Input Systems

Linux actually has 2 different input systems for Joysticks. The original 'Joystick' interface and the newer 'evdev' based one.

'/dev/input/jsX' maps to the 'Joystick' API interface and /dev/input/eventX maps to the 'evdev' ones (this also includes other input devices such as mice and keyboards).

Most new games will default to the 'evdev' ones. However many of the ones mentioned here (such as jscal, jstest and jstest-gtk) only work with the older 'Joystick' interface making calibration/mapping with those tools mostly useless. 'evdev' doesn't support any remapping or calibration leaving it up to the applications to support it.

You can override SDL and force it to use the 'Joystick' API by setting the environment variable 'SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/js0'. This can help many games such as X3.

You can normally see and test both in wine with 'wine control joy.cpl'.

It's also worth mentioning that there is also a xorg driver 'xf86-input-joystick'. It just to allow you to control the mouse/keyboard in xorg using a joystick, for most people this will be undesirable. This mean that editing xorg.conf.d files for calibration/button mapping in games is pointless.

Determining which modules you need

For an extensive overview of all joystick related modules in Linux, you will need access to the Linux kernel sources -- specifically the Documentation section. Unfortunately, pacman kernel packages do not include what we need. If you have the kernel sources downloaded, have a look at Documentation/input/joystick.txt. You can browse the kernel source tree at kernel.org by clicking the "cgit" (git frontend) link for the kernel that you're using, then clicking the "tree" link near the top. Here's a link to the Documentation from kernel 3.12.6.

Some joysticks need specific modules, such as the Microsoft Sidewinder controllers (sidewinder), or the Logitech digital controllers (adi). Many older joysticks will work with the simple analog module. If your joystick is plugging in to a gameport provided by your soundcard, you will need your soundcard drivers loaded - however, some cards, like the Soundblaster Live, have a specific gameport driver (emu10k1-gp). Older ISA soundcards may need the ns558 module, which is a standard gameport module.

As you can see, there are many different modules related to getting your joystick working in Linux, so I couldn't possibly cover everything here. Please have a look at the documentation mentioned above for details.

Loading the modules

You need to load a module for your gameport (ns558, emu10k1-gp, cs461x, etc...), a module for your joystick (analog, sidewinder, adi, etc...), and finally the kernel joystick device driver (joydev). Add these to your /etc/rc.conf, or simply modprobe them. The gameport module should load automatically, as this is a dependency of the other modules.

Testing Your Configuration

Once the modules are loaded, you should find a new device: /dev/input/js0. You can simply cat the device to see if it works - move the stick around, press all the buttons. I found my Logitech Thunderpad Digital had two buttons that weren't working with the analog module. After reading some docs, I saw there was a specific adi module for this controller. The moral of the story is, if it doesn't work the first time, do not give up, and read those docs thoroughly! I couldn't get anything working at all until I found that documentation.

Another way of testing is using jstest from the AUR joyutils^AUR package. That package also has jscal for calibrating your device. If you have too many buttons and axes to fit on a single line or your pad has an accelerometer (it continuously sends new events even when nothing really happens) you should use a graphical tool. AUR has jstest-gtk-git^AUR for that purpose. It's essential for testing and troubleshooting a sixaxis.

USB joysticks

You need to get USB working, and then modprobe your joystick driver, which is usbhid, as well as joydev. If you use a usb mouse or keyboard, usbhid will be loaded already and you just have to load the joydev module.

PS3 controller

The Sixaxis gamepad works out of the box when plugged in via USB (the PS button will need to be pushed to begin), force feedback is backed since kernel 3.14.

Steam properly recognizes it as a PS3 pad and Big Picture can be launched with the PS button. Big Picture and some games may act as if it was a 360 controller. Gamepad control over mouse is on by default. You may want to turn it off before playing games, see below.

Xbox 360 controllers

The controllers should work without additional packages, but the wireless controller needs a wireless receiver (the charge-and-play cable can not be used for communicating with the controller). Both the wired controllers and the wireless receiver is supported by the xpad kernel module.

By default, the device associated with a controller (e.g., /dev/input/event14) will be owned root, part of the root group and will only allow its owner to read or write to it (i.e., 600). As a result, applications will not be able to use the controller unless they are run with superuser privileges. To amend this, create the following udev rule.

/etc/udev/rules/50-event.rules

KERNEL=="event*", GROUP="games", MODE="660"

This udev rule allows users that are a member the games group to use controllers.

Unfortunately xpad has problems with new wireless controllers:

• incorrect button mapping. (discussion in Steam bugtracker)
• not-working sync. All four leds keep blinking, but controller works. (discussion in Arch Forum)

The working solution is use xboxdrv^AUR. It is alternative driver wich works in userspace. It could be launched as system service.

If you wish to use the controller for controlling the mouse, or mapping buttons to keys, etc. you should use the xf86-input-joystick package (configuration help can be found using man joystick). If the mouse locks itself in a corner, it might help changing the MatchDevicePath in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-joystick.conf from /dev/input/event* to /dev/input/js*.

xboxdrv with two controllers

xboxdrv supports a multitude of controllers, but it works only in daemon mode. The simplest way is launch xboxdrv as service in daemon mode:

ExecStart = /usr/bin/xboxdrv -D -c /etc/conf.d/xboxdrv

And add support of the second controller in config file:

 [xboxdrv]
 silent = true
 next-controller = true
 [xboxdrv-daemon]
 dbus = disabled

Mimic Xbox 360 controller

xboxdrv can be used to make any controller register as an Xbox 360 controller with the --mimic-xpad switch. This may be desirable for games that support Xbox 360 controllers out of the box, but have trouble detecting or working with other gamepads.

First, you need to find out what each button and axis on the controller is called. You can use evtest^AUR from the AUR for this. Run evtest and select the device event ID number (/dev/input/event*) that corresponds to your controller. Press the buttons on the controller and move the axes to read the names of each button and axis.

Here is an example of the output:

Event: time 1380985017.964843, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90003
Event: time 1380985017.964843, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 290 (BTN_THUMB2), value 1
Event: time 1380985017.964843, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985018.076843, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90003
Event: time 1380985018.076843, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 290 (BTN_THUMB2), value 0
Event: time 1380985018.076843, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985018.460841, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90002
Event: time 1380985018.460841, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 289 (BTN_THUMB), value 1
Event: time 1380985018.460841, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985018.572835, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90002
Event: time 1380985018.572835, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 289 (BTN_THUMB), value 0
Event: time 1380985018.572835, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985019.980824, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90006
Event: time 1380985019.980824, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 293 (BTN_PINKIE), value 1
Event: time 1380985019.980824, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985020.092835, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90006
Event: time 1380985020.092835, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 293 (BTN_PINKIE), value 0
Event: time 1380985020.092835, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985023.596806, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value 18
Event: time 1380985023.596806, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985023.612811, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value 0
Event: time 1380985023.612811, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985023.708768, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value 14
Event: time 1380985023.708768, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1380985023.724772, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value 128
Event: time 1380985023.724772, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

In this case, BTN_THUMB, BTN_THUMB2 and BTN_PINKIE are buttons and ABS_RX is the X axis of the right analogue stick. You can now mimic an Xbox 360 controller with the following command:

$ xboxdrv --evdev /dev/input/event* --evdev-absmap ABS_RX=X2 --evdev-keymap BTN_THUMB2=a,BTN_THUMB=b,BTN_PINKIE=rt --mimic-xpad

The above example is incomplete. It only maps one axis and 3 buttons for demonstration purposes. Use xboxdrv --help-button to see the names of the Xbox controller buttons and axes and bind them accordingly by expanding the command above. Axes mappings should go after --evdev--absmap and button mappings follow --evdev-keymap (comma separated list; no spaces).

By default, xboxdrv outputs all events to the terminal. You can use this to test that the mappings are correct. Append the --silent option to keep it quiet.

Playstation 3 Controllers via USB

If you own a PS3 controller and can connect with USB, xboxdrv has the mappings built in. Just run the program (and detach the running driver) and it works!

# xboxdrv --silent --detach-kernel-driver

Playstation 3 Controllers via Bluetooth

To make the Playstation 3 controller work over bluetooth you will need to install the sixpair^AUR utility.

After installing sixpair connect your controller with an USB cable and run sixpair

# sixpair

Disconnect your controller from USB and wait about 5 minutes (not sure if really needed)

Now you will need to pair it with bluez. You will need bluez-utils and bluez-plugins packages.

Disable all bluetooth utilities (like bluedevil or bluemon)

Run the bluetoothctl utility

# bluetoothctl

A bluetooth prompt will appear.

Press the playstation button and watch for connection and disconnection messages and copy the device address (something like 38:C0:96:56:4D:AA)

Wait for the lights stop blinking.

Now, type the following:

agent on
default-agent
discoverable on
pairable on

Hit the playstation button again and while it blinks type the following

connect <device_addr>

Keep trying this command if you see device not available (it will loop between connected and disconnected) until you see something like the following

I usually keep pressing up + enter (repeating the last command)

[CHG] Device <device_addr> Modalias: usb:v054Cp0268d0100
[CHG] Device <device_addr> UUIDs:
       00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
       00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb

Now trust the device

trust <device_addr>

You're done

Next time you hit the Playstation button it will connect without asking anything else.

You can also re-enable your bluetooth applets/monitors.

Just remind to disconnect the device once you are done, once it will stay connected, on and consuming battery.

If you intend to use the xboxdrv to emulate the xbox360 controller its best to create a udev rule for it

Creating the udev rule

Create a new udev rule (usually 99 or 98-dualshock.rules into /etc/udev/rules.d/) with the following content

KERNEL=="event*", SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTRS{uniq}=="<device_addr_you_got_on_pairing>", SYMLINK+="input/dualshock3"

Now run xboxdrv over the new device

xboxdrv --evdev /dev/input/dualshock3 --mimic-xpad

If the mimic-xpad does not work, use the configuration file provided by xboxdrv [1] adding the following in the xboxdrv section:

 mimic-xpad = true

And replacing the evdev line by

evdev = /dev/input/dualshock3 (or whatever other name you gave in the udev_rule)

Now, just run the xboxdrv

# xboxdrv -c config_file

Have tons of fun.

Playstation 2 Adapter

To fix the button mapping of PS2 dual adapters and mimic the Xbox controller you can run the following command:

 sudo xboxdrv --evdev /dev/input/event* \
     --evdev-absmap ABS_X=x1,ABS_Y=y1,ABS_RZ=x2,ABS_Z=y2,ABS_HAT0X=dpad_x,ABS_HAT0Y=dpad_y \
     --axismap -Y1=Y1,-Y2=Y2 \
     --evdev-keymap   BTN_TOP=x,BTN_TRIGGER=y,BTN_THUMB2=a,BTN_THUMB=b,BTN_BASE3=back,BTN_BASE4=start,BTN_BASE=lb,BTN_BASE2=rb,BTN_TOP2=lt,BTN_PINKIE=rt,BTN_BASE5=tl,BTN_BASE6=tr \
     --mimic-xpad --silent

Logitech Dual Action

The Logitech Dual Action gamepad has a very similar mapping to the PS2 pad, but some buttons and triggers need to be swapped to mimic the Xbox controller.

 sudo xboxdrv --evdev /dev/input/event* \
     --evdev-absmap ABS_X=x1,ABS_Y=y1,ABS_RZ=x2,ABS_Z=y2,ABS_HAT0X=dpad_x,ABS_HAT0Y=dpad_y \
     --axismap -Y1=Y1,-Y2=Y2 \
     --evdev-keymap BTN_TRIGGER=x,BTN_TOP=y,BTN_THUMB=a,BTN_THUMB2=b,BTN_BASE3=back,BTN_BASE4=start,BTN_BASE=lt,BTN_BASE2=rt,BTN_TOP2=lb,BTN_PINKIE=rb,BTN_BASE5=tl,BTN_BASE6=tr \
     --mimic-xpad --silent

Setting up deadzones

If you want to set up the deadzones of your analog input you have to do it separately for the xorg (for mouse and keyboard emulation) and the kernel driver (for gaming).

Deadzones in Xorg

Add a similar line into your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-joystick.conf before the EndSection:

Option "MapAxis1" "deadzone=1000"

1000 is the default value, but you can set anything between 0 and 30 000. To get the axis number see the "Testing Your Configuration" section of this article. If you already have an option with a specific axis just type in the deadzone=value at the end of the parameter separated by a space.

Deadzones in the Kernel Driver

The easiest way is using jstest-gtk-git^AUR. Select the controller you want to edit, then click the calibration button at the bottom of the dialog. You must set the CenterMin and CenterMax values for joysticks and analog sticks, RangeMin for triggers. Then use jscal for to dump the new values into a shell script:

jscal -p /dev/input/jsX > jscal.sh # replace X with your joystick's number 
chmod +x jscal.sh

Now you need to make a udev rule (for example /etc/udev/rules.d and name it 85-jscal.rules) so the script will automatically run when you connect the controller:

SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTRS{idVendor}=="054c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c268", ACTION=="add", RUN+="/usr/bin/jscal.sh"

To get the idVendor and idProduct use udevadm info --attribute-walk --name /dev/input/jsX

Finally we must announce SDL our joystick device, or else it will just ignore these to use its own settings. Add this to your ~/.bashrc : export SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/jsX (Again, replace X to your device number.)

Disable Joystick From Controlling Mouse

If you want to play games with your controller, you might want to disable gamepad control over mouse cursor. To do this, edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-joystick.conf so that it looks like this:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-joystick.conf 

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "joystick catchall"
        MatchIsJoystick "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "joystick"
        Option "StartKeysEnabled" "False"       #Disable mouse
        Option "StartMouseEnabled" "False"      #support
EndSection

Troubleshooting

Joystick moving mouse

Sometimes USB joystick can be recognized as HID mouse (only in X, it is still being installed as /dev/input/js0 as well). Known issue is cursor being moved by the joystick, or escaping to en edge of a screen right after plugin. If your application can detect joystick by it self, you can remove xf86-input-joystick package.

More gentle solution is to Disable Joystick From Controlling Mouse.

Joystick sending keystrokes

A couple joystick to keystroke programs exist like rejoystick^AUR and qjoypad^AUR, both work well without the need for X.org configuration.

via X.org

This is a good solution for systems where restarting Xorg is a rare event because it's a static configuration loaded only on X startup. I use it on my media PC running XBMC controlled with Logitech Cordless RumblePad 2. Due to a problem with the d-pad (a.k.a. "hat") being recognized as another axis, I used to run Joy2key as a workaround. Since I upgraded to XBMC 11.0 and joy2key 1.6.3-1, this setup no longer worked for me. I ended up taking a more direct approach and let Xorg handle joystick events.

First, make sure you have xf86-input-joystick installed. Then, create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/51-joystick.conf like so:

 Section "InputClass"
  Identifier "Joystick hat mapping"
  Option "StartKeysEnabled" "True"
  #MatchIsJoystick "on"
  Option "MapAxis5" "keylow=113 keyhigh=114"
  Option "MapAxis6" "keylow=111 keyhigh=116"
 EndSection

Note: The MatchIsJoystick "on" line doesn't seem to be required for this to work but you may want to uncomment it.