xpad driver on latest Armbian

Wizzard · August 21, 2020

Hello, friends. I am using legacy Armbian 3.x kernel on my development boards where I run Stella emulator with some special USB joystick. The joystick is detected as XBOX controller, hence I guess it uses xpad driver.

The problem is that this driver is not present in the latest Armbian so this joystick does not work. I would like to use latest Armbian to have the latest packages, using it as a print/scan/radio server and would like also to play some Atari game from time to time.

I tried to build it from the source using this https://github.com/paroj/xpad I can load it with modprobe, the joystick seems to be detected, but it is not working in Stella, I cannot even map any of the buttons, seems like it is not generating any event.

I am testing it on Orange Pi PC with Armbian Focal with 5.4.45 kernel.

Thank you very much for any help!

Logs: http://ix.io/2uNB

Werner · August 21, 2020

Did a quick check. xpad module seems to be missing in sunxi kernel configs while it is present in rk* und some other. I'll look into

Werner · August 21, 2020

I do not have this board so I cannot test that.

I create a new image with generic joystick support and added all available models as modules. Let me know if it works.

https://werner.armbian.de/_extra/Armbian_20.08.0-trunk_Orangepipc_focal_current_5.7.16.img.gz

Wizzard · August 21, 2020

Thank you very much, I will try it, but would it be possible to create also some test build for Banana Pi M1? It is easier for me to test it on this board now. Thank you very much!

Werner · August 21, 2020

Aight, will do. I'll edit here once its finished.

https://werner.armbian.de/_extra/Armbian_20.08.0-trunk_Bananapi_focal_current_5.7.16.img.xz

Wizzard · August 21, 2020

Thank you very much. I tried BPI image, xpad is present, it detects joystick, but still does not do any actions. Another joystick works, xbox compatible joystick not. Very interesting for me.

http://ix.io/2uQkery

Werner · August 22, 2020

Not sure if this is anything that Armbian can fix or help with.

Anyway I'll put a PR to add joystick support to sunxi-current since it is present in other board families too.

Wizzard · August 22, 2020

Thank you very much. I was not sure where to ask for help, did not know if it is Armbian specific bug or general Linux kernel issue.

Werner · August 22, 2020

Well just for the heck of it you could build a new image with sunxi-legacy and joystick support, test it and then grab a normal Ubuntu 20.04 for your PC which comes with kernel 5.4.x too and do a small comparison. I don't there is any difference from the kernel point of view. Though it might be possible that x86 Ubuntu Desktop ships some additional software tools with to make these toys properly work. But there is only one way to find out....

Wizzard · August 22, 2020

Some time ago I tried that joystick on Pinebook Pro and it did not work either, I think the same problem was with x86 PC in Linux, but have to check it again.

Werner · August 22, 2020

There aren't many people that do gaming on these devices so hard to tell.

Maybe there is a slight chance that @NicoD has some experience with joysticks on arm.

Wizzard · August 22, 2020

I would just expect that many people use SBCs for gaming with Retropie and similar software, mostly RPI, but sunxi devices are interesting for me because of their price.

Wizzard · August 24, 2020

I just tried it on my x86 PC with Ubuntu Focal with 5.4.0 kernel. Modprobe xpad works, joystick seem to be detected in Stella and Retroarch, just does not work, cannot map any key and it does nothing. Seems like some kernel issue cause it only worked in on legacy kernel 3.4.x.

Just made another quick search and it is problem very similar to this: https://github.com/paroj/xpad/issues/83

although the device is different, it has the same id 045e:028e

So it may not be Armbian problem, but general Linux problem, although I still do not know what to do. It is just the best joystick I have for playing Atari games :)