path: root/Documentation/joystick.txt

		     Linux Joystick driver v1.2.13
	       (c) 1996-1998 Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@ucw.cz>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

0. Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for
more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

  Should you need to contact me, the author, you can do so either by e-mail
- mail your message to <vojtech@ucw.cz>, or by paper mail: Vojtech Pavlik,
Ucitelska 1576, Prague 8, 182 00 Czech Republic

  For your convenience, the GNU General Public License version 2 is included
in the package: See the file COPYING.

1. Intro
~~~~~~~~
  The joystick driver for Linux provides support for a variety of joysticks
and similar devices.

  These currently include various analog joysticks and gamepads (both
variable resistor based and microswitch+resistor based), following IBM PC
joystick standard, with extensions like additional hats and buttons
compatible with CH Flightstick Pro, ThrustMaster FCS or 6 and 8 button
gamepads.

  In addition to these it also supports some of the new PC joysticks that
use proprietary digital protocols to communicate over the gameport,
currently by FPGaming, Genius, Gravis, Logitech, MadCatz, Microsoft and
ThrustMaster. Creative Labs protocol support is still to be done.

  The driver also includes support for many gamepads and joysticks that were
used by various non-PC computers and game consoles. These include Multi
system joysticks (Atari, Amiga, Commodore, Amstrad), Sega gamepads (Master
System, Genesis, Saturn), Nintendo gamepads (NES, SNES), Sony gamepads (PSX).
Support for N64, Atari Jaguar, Atari 2600, NES FourScore, SNES MultiTap,
PSX NegCon and others might be added later.

  Last, but not least there is also native Amiga joystick support for the
Amiga linux port.

  Should you encounter any problems while using the driver, or joysticks
this driver can't make complete use of, I'm very interested in hearing about
them. Bug reports and success stories are also welcome.

  The joystick package is available at the following FTP sites:

	ftp://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/pub/linux/joystick/
	ftp://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/pub/linux/joystick/

  The joystick driver is also included in the Linux 2.1 kernels:

	ftp://linux.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.1/

  And a homepage of the driver is at:

	http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~vojtech/joystick/
	http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~vojtech/joystick/

  A mirror of the homepage is at:

	http://www.trylinux.com/projects/joystick/

  There is also a mailing list for the driver at:

	listproc@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz

send "subscribe linux-joystick Your Name" to subscribe to it.

2. Usage
~~~~~~~~
  You could have obtained this driver in two different ways - either in the
joystick package or in the kernel. Because, for successful usage of the
joysticks, the utilities in the package are useful, maybe necessary, and
definitely recommended, I suggest you getting the package at some of the
above mentioned locations. The rest of this file assumes you have it.

2.1 Compiling the driver package
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  To compile the utilities in the joystick package, and the driver itself,
as a standalone module, you first unpack the package, and then edit the
Makefile to meet your needs (namely whether are you using versioned
modules). Then you compile it

	make

  And after that you install it

	make install

  In case you have not used the driver before, you'll need to create the
joystick device files in /dev so that applications can use them:

	make devs

  For manual creation of the joystick devices, check the
Documentation/devices.txt file in the Linux source tree.

  Should you not want to mess with the kernel, and just use the driver
standalone, as modules, skip the next two sections, proceeding right to 2.4,
because all you need is already done.

2.2 Patching the kernel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  If you already have the most recent joystick driver in your kernel, skip
this section. If not, you need to patch the kernel, so that it contains the
current driver version.  You do that with a command: 

	patch -Esp1 < /usr/src/joystick-1.2.x/kernel-2.x.y.diff

in

	/usr/src/linux

2.3 Compiling the kernel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  To compile joystick support into the kernel, use the kernel configuration
scripts, and answer 'Y' to Joystick support and also to at least one of the
hardware specific options. After doing something like

	make bzlilo

  you are done with the driver installation. Just reboot and the driver
should find all the connected joysticks. Read the notes about the hardware
specific drivers later in this file, though.

  You can also compile the driver as modules, answering 'M' to all joystick
support you want to have modules for. It is possible to have the main
joystick driver compiled into the kernel and the hardware dependent drivers
as modules. After you compile the modules 

	make modules

  And install them

	make modules_install

 you're set, and can proceed to the next step.

2.4 Inserting the modules into the kernel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  After installing the modules you'll first need to insert the generic
joystick driver module into the kernel

	insmod joystick

  and then one or more of the hardware specific modules

	insmod joy-something

  where 'something' is the type of your joystick. See below for more precise
explanation.

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

 included in the joystick package to set better correction coefficients than
what the driver would choose itself.

  After calibrating the joystick you can verify if you like the new
calibration using the jstest command, and if you do, you then can save the
correction coefficients into a file

	jscal -s /dev/js0 > /etc/joystick.cal

  And add a line to your rc script executing that file

	source /etc/joystick.cal

  This way, after the next reboot your joystick will remain calibrated. You
can also add the jscal -s line to your shutdown script.


3. HW specific driver information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this section each of the separate hardware specific drivers is described.

3.1 Analog joysticks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The joy-analog.c uses the standard analog inputs of the gameport, and thus
supports all standard joysticks and gamepads. It also supports extensions
like additional hats and buttons compatible with CH Flightstick Pro,
ThrustMaster FCS or 6 and 8 button gamepads. 

  However the only types that can be autodetected are:

* 2-axis, 4-button joystick
* 3-axis, 4-button joystick
* Two 2-axis, 2-button joysticks on an Y-cable

  For other joystick types (more/less axes, hats, and buttons) support
you'll need to specify the types either on the kernel command line or on the
module command line, when inserting joy-analog.o into the kernel. The
parameters are:

	js_an=p0,m0,n0,p1,m1,n1 ...

  Where 'p' is the port number, eg. 0x201, which is the standard address.
'm' and 'n' are joystick 0 and joystick 1 bitmasks for the specified
joystick port. The bits in the bitmasks mean:

	Bit |   2^n | Meaning
	----------------------------------
	 0  |     1 | Axis X1
	 1  |     2 | Axis Y1
	 2  |     4 | Axis X2
	 3  |     8 | Axis Y2
	 4  |    16 | Button A
	 5  |    32 | Button B
	 6  |    64 | Button C
	 7  |   128 | Button D
	 8  |   256 | CHF Buttons X and Y
	 9  |   512 | CHF Hat 1
	10  |  1024 | CHF Hat 2
	11  |  2048 | FCS Hat
	12  |  4096 | Pad Button X
	13  |  8192 | Pad Button Y
	14  | 16384 | Pad Button U
	15  | 32768 | Pad Button V

(CHF = CH Flightstick Pro, FCS = ThrustMaster FCS)

  Following is a table of joysticks for which the 'm' values are known. If
you have any additions/corrections to it, e-mail me.

	Joystick				| 'm' value
	----------------------------------------------------
	Genius Flight2000 F-12			| 0x00f3
	Genius Flight2000 F-21			| 0x08f7
	Genius Flight2000 F-22			| 0x02ff
	Genius GameHunter G-06			| 0xf0f3
	Genius MaxFire G-07			| 0xf0f3   
	Genius PowerStation			| 0xf0f3
	Laing #1 PC SuperPad			| 0xf0f3
	Microsoft SideWinder Standard		| 0x003b
	QuickShot QS-201 SuperWarrior		| 0x00fb
	Saitek Megapad XII			| 0x30f3

  In case you have one of the joystick in the table below, and it doesn't
work with a specific driver in digital mode for some reason, you can use
them in analog mode with the joy-analog driver as well. However, digital
operation is always better.

	Joystick				| 'm' value
	----------------------------------------------------
	Gravis GamePad Pro - analog mode	| 0x00f3
	Genius Flight2000 F-23 - CHF mode	| 0x02ff
	Genius Flight2000 F-23 - FCS mode	| 0x08f7
	Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro - CHF mode	| 0x02ff
	Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro - FCS mode	| 0x08f7

  An example that would configure the driver to use two two axis, two button
joysticks connected to port 0x201, a single four button four axis joystick
connected to port 0x202, a four axis, six button and two hat CHF compatible
joystick on 0x203, and a two axis four button FCS compatible joystick with a
single hat on 0x207:

	js_an=0x201,0x33,0xcc,0x202,0xff,0,0x203,0x7ff,0,0x207,0x8f3,0

  If you can't sum bits into hex numbers in your head easily, you can simply
sum the values in the 2^n column decimally and use that number instead.
Using this method you'd get a command line:

	js_an=0x201,51,204,0x202,255,0,0x203,2047,0,0x207,2291,0

  And it would do the same as the above explained command line. Use
whichever way you like best.

3.2 Microsoft SideWinder and Genius Digital joysticks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  SideWinder and Genius Digital joysticks are supported by the
joy-sidewinder.c module. All currently supported joysticks:

* SideWinder 3d Pro
* SideWinder Precision Pro 
* SideWinder Force Feedback Pro
* SideWinder Game Pad (up to four, chained together)
* Genius Flight2000 Digital F-23

  are autodetected, and thus no module parameters are needed.

  The SideWinder Standard is not a digital joystick, and thus is supported
by the analog driver described above. SideWinder FreeStyle Pro and
SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel are not supported yet.

3.3 Logitech Digital joysticks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Logitech Digital joysticks are supported by the joy-logitech.c module. It
currently supports these devices:

* Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital
* Logitech CyberMan 2
* Logitech ThunderPad Digital

  All three are autodetected, and thus no parameters to the module are
needed.

  Logitech Wingman is not a digital joystick and is handled by the analog
driver described above. Logitech Wingman Warrior communicates through a
serial port and is not supported yet. Logitech Wingman Force, Wingman
Formula, Wingman Formula Force, Wingman Gamepad, Wingman Interceptor are USB
joysticks, with optional serial port connection, and are not supported yet.

3.4 Gravis GrIP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Gravis GrIP gamepads are supported by the joy-gravis.c module. It
currently supports:

* Gravis GamePad Pro
* Gravis Xterminator
* Gravis Blackhawk Digital

  All these pads are autodetected, and you can even use any combination of
up to two of these pads either chained together or using an Y-cable on a single
gameport.

GrIP MultiPort support is in the works. Gravis Xcalibur, ArcadeXtreme,
GamePad Pro/M are joysticks/pads that probably never reached mass
production. Gravis Stinger is a serial device and hopefully will be
supported in the future.

3.5 FPGaming A3D and MadCatz A3D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The Assasin 3D protocol created by FPGaming, is used both by FPGaming
themselves and is licensed to MadCatz. A3D devices are supported by the
joy-assasin.c module. It currently supports:

* FPGaming Assasin 3D
* MadCatz Panther
* MadCatz Panther XL

  All these devices are autodetected. Because the Assasin 3D and the Panther
allow connecting analog joysticks to them, these are supported in this
driver, too. The driver uses the js_as parameter for the analog joysticks,
which has the same syntax as js_an for the analog driver.

  The trackball support is far from perfect at this stage of development,
but should be well usable.

3.6 ThrustMaster DirectConnect (BSP)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The TM DirectConnect (BSP) protocol is supported by the joy-thrustmaster.c
module. It currently supports:

* ThrustMaster Millenium 3D Inceptor
* ThrustMaster 3D Rage Pad

  Both these drvices are autodetected, and thus no parameters to the module
are needed.

  The Millenium and Rage Pad should work fine now. TM WCS III won't work,
because important parts of code for that are missing. I'm not sure if it was
ever mass produced.

3.7 PDPI Lightning 4 gamecards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  PDPI Lightning 4 gamecards are supported by the joy-lightning.c module.
This driver is only for analog joysticks connected to the card - if you want
to use some of the digital devices, you need to use its specific driver. The
card will work in legacy mode with them, though.

  Since all features of analog joysticks can't be detected, this driver
needs a command line:

	js_l4=p0,m0,n0,p1,m1,n1,....

  As you can see, it's very similar to the analog drivers command line.
Actually it is the same except for the meaning of p0. p0 in this case is the
port the joystick is attached to:

	  p  | Port
	----------------------------
	  0  | Primary card, port 1
	  1  | Primary card, port 2
	  2  | Primary card, port 3
	  3  | Primary card, port 4
	  4  | Secondary card, port 1
	  5  | Secondary card, port 2
	  6  | Secondary card, port 3
	  7  | Secondary card, port 4

  Two cards maximum are allowed in one system, because of the card's design.

  See the description of analog joystick driver for explanations of m0 and
n0 values.

3.8 Amiga
~~~~~~~~~
  Amiga joysticks, connected to an Amiga, are supported by the joy-amiga.c
driver. Since they can't be autodetected, the driver has a command line.

	js_am=a,b

  a and b define the joysticks connected to the JOY0DAT and JOY1DAT ports of
the Amiga.

	Value | Joystick type
	---------------------
	  0   | None
	  1   | 1-button digital joystick

  No more joystick types are supported now, but that should change in the
future if I get an Amiga in the reach of my fingers.

3.9 Game console and 8-bit pads and joysticks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See joystick-parport.txt for more info.

4. Troubleshooting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  There is quite a high probability that you run into some problems. For
testing whether the driver works, if in doubt, use the jstest utility in
some of its modes. The most useful modes are "normal" - for the 1.x
interface, and "old" for the "0.x" interface. You run it by typing:

	jstest --normal /dev/js0
	jstest --old    /dev/js0

  If your trouble stems from the fact the drivers can't detect the attached
joystick, and/or you decide you need my help (which I will gladly provide),
please use the joydump utility first. It's created just by typing

	make joydump.o

  in the directory where you unpacked the joystick package. It is run then
by typing

	insmod joydump.o

  in the same directory. It will return a 'device busy' or 'initialization
failed' error. This is perfectly okay. It has already done it's job. The
results can be found in the system log. Please send me the results along
with your problem report.

  Oh, and read the FAQ! :)

5. FAQ
~~~~~~
 Q: The driver doesn't find any joysticks connected to my soundcard with the
message "joy-something: no joysticks found" and "joy-something.o:
init_module: Device or resource busy." or "Initialization of joy-something
failed"  What could be the cause?
  A: The most common cause is that the joystick port on your soundcard is
not enabled. If it is an ISA PnP card, you'll need isapnptools to configure
the gameport. Non-PnP cards usually use some option to the sound driver -
see the sound driver docs and source and enable the port.

  Q: Any access to the joystick devices gives me "Operation not supported by
device". What am I doing wrong?
  A: You're running a 2.0 kernel and you forgot to insmod the hardware
specific module. You not only need the joystick.o, but also one of the other
joy-*.o files (most usually joy-analog.o), as described in this document,
section 2. If you are not using modules, then you didn't say 'Y' to any of
the hardware-specific questions. Again, see section 2. If you did select
the specific support, and you still get this message, check that you
selected the right one, and if it still doesn't work, go to the previous
FAQ.

  Q: Everything is fine, except I get "No such device" error when I try to
do anything with /dev/js0. What's the cause?
  A: You're running a 2.1 kernel and you want to read the previous FAQ.

  Q: Upon 'insmod joystick.o' I get a LOT of unresolved symbols, including
printk and others. Why?
  A: You either don't have your kernel compiled with module support. If
that's the cause, re-compile your kernel with module support switched on.
Or, you use versioned symbols, and don't have -DMODVERSIONS in the joystick
driver Makefile, or vice versa. Correct the situation by either removing or
adding -DMODVERSIONS to the Makefile.

  Q: Running 'jstest 1' or 'jscal 1' doesn't work, and returns with "File
not found" error. What is the problem?
  A: The command line interface for these tools is different from what
version 0.8.0 used. You have to specify the whole device name, eg. 'jstest
/dev/js0'.

  Q: Running 'jstest /dev/js0' results in "File not found" error. What's the
cause?
  A: The device files don't exist. Run 'make devs'.

  Q: Is it possible to connect my old Atari/Commodore/Amiga/console joystick
or pad that uses a 9-pin D-type cannon connector to the serial port of my
PC?
  A: Yes, it is possible, but it'll burn your serial port or the pad. It
won't work, of course.

  Q: My joystick doesnt work with Quake / Quake 2. What's the cause?
  A: Quake / Quake 2 don't support joystick. Use joy2key to simulate keypresses
for them.

6. Programming Interface
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The 1.0 driver uses a new, event based approach to the joystick driver.
Instead of the user program polling for the joystick values, the joystick
driver now reports only any changes of its state. See joystick-api.txt,
joystick.h and jstest.c included in the joystick package for more
information. The joystick device can be used in either blocking or
nonblocking mode and supports select() calls.

  For backward compatibility the old (v0.x) interface is still included.
Any call to the joystick driver using the old interface will return values
that are compatible to the old interface.  This interface is still limited
to 2 axes, and applications using it usually decode only 2 buttons, although
the driver provides up to 32.

7. Credits
~~~~~~~~~~
  Thanks to the following people who contributed code, ideas or specifications
to the joystick driver development:

	Arthur C. Smith		<asmith@cbnewsd.att.com>
	Eyal Lebedinsky		<eyal@eyal.emu.id.au>
	Jeff Tranter		<tranter@software.mitel.com>
	Carlos Puchol		<cpg@cs.utexas.edu>
	Matt Rhoten		<mrhoten@oz.net>
	Dan Fandrich		<dan@fch.wimsey.bc.ca>
	Sverker Wilberg		<sverkerw@manila.docs.uu.se>
	Hal Maney		<maney@norden.com>
	Bernd Schmidt		<crux@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de>
	Alan Cox		<alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>
	John Markus Bjorndalen	<johnm@cs.uit.no>
	Boris Muehmer		<mhs@cybernet-ag.de>
	Robert W. Grubbs	<rwgrubbs@vt.edu>
	Pete Chown		<pete.chown@skygate.co.uk>
	Benji York		<benji@cookeville.com>
	Leslie F. Donaldson	<donaldlf@cs.rose-hulman.edu>
	Eng-Jon Ong		<ongej@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>
	Ragnar Hojland Espinosa	<ragnar@lightside.ddns.org>
	Brian Gerst		<bgerst@quark.vpplus.com>
	Andree Borrmann		<a.borrmann@tu-bs.de>
	Martin Giguere		<zefrench@hotmail.com>

  If you think you should be in this list and are not, it's possible that
I forgot to include you - contact me and I'll correct the error. :)

  Thanks to KYE Systems Europe, who provided me with driver sources for the
Genius Flight2000 Digital F-23, which happens to be compatible with
Microsoft SideWinder 3d Pro.

  Thanks to ThrustMaster Inc. who provided me with docs for their digital
protocol, and to Trystan A Larey-williams <axe@mail.wsu.edu>, who wrote an
attempt of a driver for them.

  Thanks to Creative Labs Europe, and Ifor Powell <ipowell@cle.creaf.com>,
who provided me with docs for their first generation gamepad.

  Special thanks go to FP-Gaming, Inc. and James C Barnes <james@fpgaming.com>,
who provided me with help and detailed information about the Assasin 3D
protocol and devices, and even sent me a Panther and Panther XL for testing,
along with cool T-shirts.

  Special thanks to PDPI, Mike Pelkey <pdpi@email.msn.com> and Brand Kvavle
<BrandK@blackdiamond.com>, for providing me with documentation and example
code for their L4 gamecard, and sending me the card to test my driver with
it.

  Thanks to everyone else who helped me develop this package of drivers!

  No thanks to Microsoft, Logitech, and Gravis, who don't release a word
about their hardware .... :(

8. ChangeLog
~~~~~~~~~~~~
  See the ChangeLog file for the log of changes.

9. To do
~~~~~~~~
  See the TODO file for the list of things planned.

10. Current driver status
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  OK means tested and not touched till this driver revision, unknown means
that the driver was changed since last test, broken means doesn't work,
incomplete means can't work, because vital parts of support are missing.

joystick.c:		2.1.x kernel interface	- OK
joy-amiga.c:		Multi1 stick		- unknown
joy-analog.c:		standard joysticks	- OK
			FCS hats		- OK
			CHF hats & buttons	- OK
			XY buttons		- OK
			UV buttons		- OK
joy-assasin.c:		MadCatz Panther XL	- OK
			MadCatz PXL rudder	- OK
			MadCatz Panther		- OK
			FPG Assasin 3D		- OK
joy-console.c:		NES pad			- OK
			SNES pad		- OK
			Multi1 stick		- OK
			Multi2 stick		- OK
			PSX			- SW OK, HW unreliable
joy-db9.c:		Multi1 stick		- OK
			Multi2 stick		- OK
			Sega Genesis pad	- OK
			Sega Genesis 5 pad	- OK
			Sega Genesis 6 pad	- OK
			Sega Saturn pad		- unknown
joy-gravis.c		Gravis GamePad Pro	- OK
			Gravis Xterminator	- OK
			Gravis Blackhawk Digital- OK
joy-lightning.c		PDPI Lightning 4	- OK
joy-logitech.c		WingMan Extreme Digital	- OK
			CyberMan 2		- OK
			Thunder Pad Digital	- unknown
joy-sidewinder.c	SW 3D Pro		- OK
			Genius F-23		- OK
			SW GP			- OK
			SW PP			- OK
			SW FFP			- OK
joy-thrustmaster.c	Millenium 3D Inceptor	- OK
			3D-Rage Pad		- OK
joy-turbografx.c	Multi1 stick		- OK

Please help me and send me success / failure reports for the drivers,
I need to know what works, and what needs to be debugged. Thank you.