qubodup {l Wrote}:Thanks for the hint! I tested it with the Techsolo TG-30. However, the output was:
- {l Code}: {l Select All Code}
$ fftest /dev/input/event4
Force feedback test program.
HOLD FIRMLY YOUR WHEEL OR JOYSTICK TO PREVENT DAMAGES
Device /dev/input/event4 opened
Axes query:
Effects: Periodic Rumble
Number of simultaneous effects: 16
Upload effects[1]: Invalid argument
Upload effects[2]: Invalid argument
Upload effects[3]: Invalid argument
Enter effect number, -1 to exit
Yes, that's excellent, it means your Techsolo supports force feedback! Now type 4 ENTER or 5 ENTER.
Your joystick will rumble, so hold it down well!
An "idealized" game pad (why X-box, by the way, I prefer PS/3 myself) wouldn't work very well for a racing game where you need a steering wheel, or for a flight simulator where you need real joysticks. Every game has to be able to decide what to do with what button or axis. And yes, I agree buttons may be analog too, but they need not be. Whether an axis or button is analog or digital needs to be described in the database as well.
As for "position and function", I mean just that. A button can in general, on a joystick or game pad, be located in several places, namely on the right hand side of a pad, on the middel of the pad, on the left of the pad, on the "right shoulder" of the pad, on the "left shoulder" of the pad, and for joystics, under the thumb-side of the stick, under the trigger of the stick, or on the left or right sde of the base of the stick. In an arcade stick, uttons would be mostly to the left of the stick, exept for "start buttons" which tend to be above the arcade stick. Same for the sticks, we have classic joysticks, steering wheels, throttles, digital + pads, analog mini-joysticks or thumbsticks (like on a PS2/PS3 controller), and hats, which are small digital + pads on top of a Joystick. so yes, the database that I'm thinking of is more complex, but I think it would be more useful as well.
But actually, I think to begin this database, we don't need to own all these joysticks. We can start by looking in the Linux kernel sources for all supported game-input devices, and then correlate those with photos we can find on the internet. Often, the button and axis numbers correspond pretty well to what you'd expect, from the layout of the joy pad or joystick.
I 'll try to come up with an idea for what we need for such a detailed database.