Im starting to think Linux gamepad support is an oxymoron

[antitrustworthy]

Im at my wit's end here. Im on my 3rd gamepad. The first two were leftover from my Windows days, and after checking compatibilty lists, I found that they weren't compatible.....Ok, I have no problems there. (even though I have heard of some people getting one of them, the Gravis gamepad to work).
However........
I just went to my local Computer store and purchased a $10 Logitech Wingman Pro which, WHICH I say says right on the #@%^&*( box is supported in Linux. Weeeell, much to my (cursing) surprise, it's just sitting there being obstinent like a little brat kid. Im using Mandrake 8.0, which I do believe has joystick support. Neither kudzu or HardDrake will detect it. What can I do??? Im about to smash the stupid thing to pieces!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[antitrustworthy]

...bump... :confused:

[seeker22]

Does Mandrake have joystick utils?
Utilities for configuring most popular joysticks.
RedHat-7.1 for i386
joystick-1.2.15-7.i386.rpm
you should have that some where. I've never configured a joystick but im sure that's how you would do it. sorry im not much help :)

[bdg1983]

There's a whole section just for joysticks in the kernel config. Have you tried recompiling the kernel and enabling the joystick options that are necessary?

[antitrustworthy]

Yeah well....that's entirely another issue. Im sure that might help, but the fact is that I cant compile a kernel correctly. I always get module dependency problems when I try compiling. none of the NHF's or READMEs I have seen anywhere can help me at all with this. And right now, I have my machine setup so well that I really dont feel like having to reinstall the stupid thing over again because the new kernel wont work properly (eth0, usb, vfat partitions, etc.) I did find something interesting that might explain why none of my previous gamepads wouldnt work, though. My soundcard's gameport doesnt work well with Linux. As soon as I found this out, however, I rushed to the store and bought a (very expensive!!!!) USB gamepad thinking that would solve the problem. NOPE!!!! It is a Gravis Eliminator Aftershock. It is detected by the joystick prog mentioned in the above post, but will not "attach" or calibrate. I know somebody here plays games besides me. Dont be stingy with your knowledge!!

[bdg1983]

I always share my limited knowledge whenever I can though I know nothing about gaming/joysticks under Linux. Sorry...

[r0nster]

I have a similar story to tell.
Soundcard: SB Live! value [0xe000 - 0xe01f]
SB Live! [0xe400 - 0xe407]
and in Windoze, my gamepad, a M$ Sidewinder, gets loaded at 0x200 - 0x207.
In kernel 2.2 I used to modprobe the sidewinder with the io=0x200. That went fine with 2.2 kernels but ever since using the 2.4 series kernels, I haven't got the bloody thing to work at all. And yes I have read the Doc's several times and did the necessary steps to get the new interface (for 2.4) to supposedly work. That meant making new device nodes in /dev/input/js* and linking them to /dev. I did that as well as make the "event" nodes.
One thing I noticed is that I can't load the new sidewinder module at 0x200 like I did with the 2.2 kernels. I received an error msg when trying to do so. So I do:
modprobe evdev (no problems)
modprobe joydev (ditto)
modprobe gameport (ditto)
modprobe sidewinder (ditto)
Modules are loaded but when I cat the /proc/ioports, the joystick is *not* loaded anywhere. The gamepad light was on before doing this and it does work in Windoze so it isn't a dud :)
Why oh why did they [Joystick API writers] have to change things around like that? :mad:
Anyone that has a M$ sidewinder gamepad working the 2.4 kernel series please enlighten me :)
Searching on google only game me documentation on the same joystick.txt file found in the linux kerel source tree.
I did this when running a 2.2 kernel with the relevent modules:
modprobe sidewinder io=0x200
no problems and it worked :). Why not now?