[TAG] DirectPad Joystick

[Peter Knaggs]

On 11/11/05, Triyan W. Nugroho
> First I had to remove lp module. I also stopped CUPS services because my
> printer is connected via parallel port.

Thanks, I didn't think of stopping CUPS :)

> In 2.4 kernel, I try:
> #modprobe gamecon gc=0,7
>
> where 0 means parallel port 0, and 7 means that it is a Playstation joystick.

the "map=0,7" would be what to use for 2.6,
judging from the sources they mention that
the "gc=" parameter is deprecated.

> When I tried to play xgalaga using my joystick, the ships did some strange
> movement.

Instead of tying a game directly, could you
try to build the "jstest" and "jcal" programs
if you don't have them already. From the README in the download
mentioned before:

2.5 Verifying that it works
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  For testing the joystick driver functionality, there is the jstest
program. You run it by typing:

        jstest /dev/js0

  And it should show a line with the joystick values, which update as you
move the stick, and press its buttons. The axes should all be zero when the
joystick is in the center position. They should not jitter by themselves to
other close values, and they also should be steady in any other position of
the stick. They should have the full range from -32767 to 32767. If all this
is met, then it's all fine, and you can play the games. :)
  If it's not, then there might be a problem. Try to calibrate the joystick,
and if it still doesn't work, read the drivers section of this file, the
troubleshooting section, and the FAQ.

2.6. Calibration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  For most joysticks you won't need any manual calibration, since the
joystick should be autocalibrated by the driver automagically. However, with
some analog joysticks, that either do not use linear resistors, or if you
want better precision, you can use the jscal program

        jscal -c /dev/js0

> Maybe it still need some configuration or it's a bug in the kernel
> (the documentation in 2.4 kernel says that support for Playstation joystick
> is still under development).

Well, to debug we'd need a better description
of the symptoms than "ships did some strange
movement in xgalaga", I mean any kernel
developer would probably find that quite
insuffuicient :)

>
> But I'm quite happy to see that my Linux box is now more fun with joystick
> support :)
>
> I haven't had time to try this on 2.6 kernel. Anyway thanks very much for the
> help :)

Could be that in 2.6 the driver would read
more frequently from the parport than in
2.4, resulting in a more responsive joystick,
so it could be worth a try. Especially to
get sound to work at the same time, as you
mentioned.