Getting the Xbox controller to work with linux, including rumble effect.

This information is current as of Thu Jul 17 08:02:37 CDT 2008.

Edit: Correction: I believe I bought an xbox 360 controller.

Related post: programming joysticks with linux

Here is what I had to do to get my xbox 360 gamepad working with linux.

To start out with, I’m running Fedora core 8, with running kernel 2.6.25.10-47.fc8.

First, here’s what didn’t work:

I plugged the thing in, and saw the xpad driver load (saw it in output of dmesg.) Then, I ran the “jstest” program, and it printed out about 20 lines, then stopped, and no amount of fiddling with the buttons or joysticks on the game pad would make it produce any more output. Hmm.

I have the following kernel development packages installed, which means there are some headers and what not in /usr/src/kernels that allow modules to be compiled.

rpm -qa | grep kernel.devel produces:
kernel-devel-2.6.25.9-40.fc8
kernel-devel-2.6.25.10-47.fc8

So, I thought to build a new xpad.ko module from newer source:

After a bit of searching around on the internet, I tried the following:

mkdir xpad_driver
cd xpad_driver
wget http://xbox-linux.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*/xbox-linux/kernel-2.6/drivers/usb/input/xpad.c
wget http://xbox-linux.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*/xbox-linux/kernel-2.6/drivers/usb/input/xpad.h

Create a Makefile with this in it:

obj-m := xpad.o

then:

make -C /usr/src/kernels/2.6.25.10-47.fc8-i686 M=`pwd` modules

Well, it didn’t build.

So then, I downloaded the 2.6.26 kernel from kernel.org, and unpacked it and copied xpad.c and xpad.h from drivers/input/joystick, and tried the make command again:

make -C /usr/src/kernels/2.6.25.10-47.fc8-i686 M=`pwd` modules

this makes xpad.ko

then, as root:

rmmod xpad.ko

(at this point, unplug the joystick)

insmod ./xpad.ko

(at this point plug in the joystick.)

This worked. Yay!

But, now to try force feedback. I got the fftest program. (google for fftest.c, and compile it with “gcc -o fftest fftest.c”)

Then run it as “fftest /dev/input/event0”

No dice. “i/o error.”

Great. Ok, try copying evdev.h and evdev.c from kernel.org’s 2.6.26 tree (from drivers/input/joystick again) and add “evdev”a into the makefile, like:

cat Makefile
obj-m := xpad.o evdev.o

Then run the make again:

make -C /usr/src/kernels/2.6.25.10-47.fc8-i686 M=`pwd` modules

Now that produces evdev.ko.

Try to insmod it, but it won’t. Turns out Fedora has the “input” driver statically linked in, so you can’t rmmod it. (Found out by looking at /dev/input/event0, and noticing it had character device major number 13, and then looking in /proc/devices, see that this corresponds to “input”. Try rmmod input, but no luck, it’s statically linked.

Bummer. I guess Fedora core 8 (with their very most recent kernel as of this writing) just really doesn’t have xbox 360 support then. (Edit: this may not be true, see below.)

(Here begins the part where things began working.)

That means time to compile that 2.6.26 kernel.org kernel and see if that works. Copied the .config file from /usr/src/kernels/2.6.25.10-47.fc8-i686/.config and then ran

“make oldconfig”, hitting enter a whole bunch for defaults to new config options, then ran “make menuconfig” and turned off a bunch of hardware I don’t have, then ran “make.” Went shopping (not kidding). The compile takes awhile with redhat’s config file, even considering that I turned off a bunch of stuff.

then (as root) “make modules_install”, and “make install”, then reboot into the new kernel.

Hmm, it still doesn’t seem to work.

At this point, I was stuck for awhile, but then I began running fftest against the various event device nodes…

[root@zuul xpad_driver]# ./fftest /dev/input/event0
Force feedback test program.
HOLD FIRMLY YOUR WHEEL OR JOYSTICK TO PREVENT DAMAGES

Device /dev/input/event0 opened
Axes query: 
Effects: 
Number of simultaneous effects: 0
Upload effects[0]: Function not implemented
Upload effects[1]: Function not implemented
Upload effects[2]: Function not implemented
Upload effects[3]: Function not implemented
Upload effects[4]: Function not implemented
Upload effects[5]: Function not implemented
Enter effect number, -1 to exit

No dice. Same thing with event1, event2, event3, event4 but then… hello, what’s this?

root@zuul xpad_driver]# ./fftest /dev/input/event5
Force feedback test program.
HOLD FIRMLY YOUR WHEEL OR JOYSTICK TO PREVENT DAMAGES

Device /dev/input/event5 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

That’s different… hmm, it didn’t complain about 0, or, 4, or 5…

Enter effect number, -1 to exit
0
Now Playing: Sine vibration
Enter effect number, -1 to exit
4
Now Playing: Strong Rumble
Enter effect number, -1 to exit
5
Now Playing: Weak Rumble
Enter effect number, -1 to exit
-1
No such effect
[root@zuul xpad_driver]# 

Hey hey! It works!

Well, option 0, “Sine vibration” didn’t ever stop, just kept going indefinitely (even exiting the program doesn’t stop it.) But, playing 4, or 5 it rumbles for awhile then stop. 4 seems to be the same as 0, except it stops, and 5 seems to be a higher frequency, lower amplitude version of 4.

On inspecting the fftest code, it seems that it plays effects 4 and 5 for 5 seconds, but the others for 20 seconds for some reason. 20 seconds is a long time. Knowing this, and waiting 20 secs, effect 0 does indeed eventually stop. So… it looks like it’s working. And, knowing that it’s (for some reason) showing up at /dev/input/event5, rather than /dev/input/event0. Hmm, it suddenly occurs to me that maybe event0-4 are the mouse. Maybe that’s mousex, mousey, plus 3 buttons mapped to 0,1,2,3,4… that’d make sense.)

That it showed up on /dev/input/event5 means it’s quite possible that this might actually work with Fedora’s kernel, (well, apart from the xpad driver itself.)

I’ll have to try that… but for now, heck I’ll just stick with this 2.6.26 kernel. There’s nothing like the bleeding edge.

~ by scaryreasoner on July 18, 2008.