joystick(4)joystick(4)NAMEjoystick - Joystick input driver
SYNOPSIS
Snipped for xorg.conf.d(5):
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "joystick-all"
Driver "joystick"
Option "MatchIsJoystick" "on"
Option "MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
...
EndSection
DESCRIPTIONjoystick is an Xorg input driver for controlling the pointer with a
joystick device.
Use this driver, if you want to
- generate cursor movement, perform button or key events to control
desktop and applications
- generate cursor key events for playing legacy games, that have no
native joystick support
Do not use, if you want to
- play games, that have native joystick support
- use XI2 applications. The evdev(4) driver will suffice for those
in most cases.
You may mix above scenarios by setting the device floating. The driver
reports relative cursor movement, button and key events, as well as raw
axis values through valuators.
SUPPORTED HARDWARE
The joystick input module can be used on top of the following kernel
devices:
- Linux's evdev device
- Linux's joystick device
- BSD's usbhid device
Every joystick supported by the kernel should be supported by the joy‐
stick input driver. The joystick is assumed to be calibrated and
reporting axis values between -32768 and 32768. See the Linux kernel
documentation for a complete list of supported devices.
There is no support for force feedback at the moment.
CONFIGURATION DETAILS
Please refer to xorg.conf(5) for general configuration details. This
section only covers configuration details specific to this driver.
The following Driver Options are supported:
Option "Device" "string"
Option "Path" "string"
Specifies the device through which the joystick can be accessed.
This option is mandatory and there is no default setting.
In Linux, joysticks are usually accessible through
/dev/input/jsX or /dev/input/eventX.
In *BSD, joysticks are usually recognized as /dev/uhidX.
Option "AutoRepeat" "delay rate"
Sets the auto repeat behaviour for key events. delay is the
time in milliseconds before a key starts repeating. rate is the
number of times a key repeats per second. Default: Xorg default
Option "DebugLevel" "integer"
Controls the verbosity of the driver for debugging purposes. The
higher the DebugLevel, the more output is produced. Default: 0
Option "MapButton<number>" "string"
Sets the mapping of a joystick button to the desired action.
Button counting starts with 1, Possible options are:
none Don't do anything
"button=<number>"
Generate a pointer button event with button number
(starting with 1).
"axis=[<factor>]<axis>"
Where <axis> is one of: x, y, zx, zy
and <factor> is an optional amplifier of the axis, like
-, +, -5, 0.4, 1.3, ... Negative values invert the
direction. Default: 1.0
"amplify=<factor>"
Amplifies the movement of all axes by the given factor
when this button is held down. Different factors can be
combined.
"key=<scancode>[,<scancode>[,<scancode>[,<scancode>]]]
When button is pressed, a series of keydown events with
the specified scancodes is generated. When the button is
released, matching keyup events in the opposite order are
generated. You can specify up to 4 scancodes per button.
See special section about key events below.
"disable-mouse"
"disable-keys"
"disable-all"
Disables either the generation of mouse events, key
events or the generation of all X events by the driver.
Press button again to allow the driver to generate events
again.
You may also set the device floating from client space to
prevent it from generating core events.
Option "MapAxis<number>" "string"
Sets the mapping of the axis to the desired action. Axis count‐
ing starts with 1, the parameter may contain:
"mode=<string>"
Where <string> can be one of:
none, relative, accelerated, absolute
"valuator"
Send extra valuator events for this axis. The valuators
will be numbered ascending, starting with 2 (valuator 0
and 1 are reserved for pointer movement). Please consider
using the evdev(4) input driver if you are only inter‐
ested in XI2 features.
The range of the valuators is always -32767 to 32768.
Neither mode nor axis needs to be set to generate extra
valuator events. The axis will be labelled according to
its physical axis number, beginning with 1 , e.g. "Axis
1" for the first axis (being the 3rd valuator). Default:
not set.
"axis=[<factor>]<axis>"
Where <axis> is one of: x, y, zx, zy, key (see key‐
low/keyhigh)
and <factor> is an optional amplifier of the axis, like
-, +, -5, 0.4, 1.3, ... Negative values will invert the
movement. Default: 1.0
"keylow=<scancode>[,<scancode>[,<scancode>[,<scancode>]]]
"keyhigh=<scancode>[,<scancode>[,<scancode>[,<scancode>]]]
When the axis is moved out of the deadzone, a series of
keydown events according to the direction of the movement
is generated. When the axis is released, matching keyup
events in opposite order will be generated. You can spec‐
ify up to 4 scancodes for each direction.
keylow defines the keys to be generated when the axis is
moved in negative direction (left or up), keyhigh defines
the keys to be generated when the axis is moved in posi‐
tive direction (right or down).
If mode is set to relative: The driver will emulate
autorepeat according to the current value of the axis. A
keydown and subsequent keyup event will be generated in
short time intervals. To modify that interval and the
autorepeat speed, supply the "axis=[<factor>]KEY" parame‐
ter.
If mode is set to accelerated: Keydown and keyup events
will be generated repeatedly. The time between a keydown
and a keyup event corresponds to the deflection of the
axis. If the axis is deflected by 30%, the key will be
considered to be down 300ms out of 1 second. The exact
intervals may vary and can be adjusted with the amplify
parameter. If the axis is deflected by 100%, there will
only be one keydown event, so the key is considered down
all the time. The keys will be autorepeated according to
the Xorg keyboard settings.
See special section about key events below.
"deadzone=<number>"
Sets the unresponsive range of the axis to <number>.
This can be between 0 and 30000. Default: 5000
Option "StartKeysEnabled" "boolean"
Set to False to disable key event generation after startup. You
can toggle key event generation with the disable-keys button
mapping. Default: enabled
Option "StartMouseEnabled" "boolean"
Set to False to disable mouse event generation after startup.
You can toggle mouse event generation with the disable-mouse
button mapping. Default: enabled
DEFAULT CONFIGURATION
The default configuration is as follows:
Option "DebugLevel" "0"
Option "StartKeysEnabled" "True"
Option "StartMouseEnabled" "True"
Option "MapButton1" "button=1"
Option "MapButton2" "button=2"
Option "MapButton3" "button=3"
Option "MapButton4" "none"
...
Option "MapAxis1" "mode=relative axis=+1x deadzone=5000"
Option "MapAxis2" "mode=relative axis=+1y deadzone=5000"
Option "MapAxis3" "mode=relative axis=+1zx deadzone=5000"
Option "MapAxis4" "mode=relative axis=+1zy deadzone=5000"
Option "MapAxis5" "mode=accelerated axis=+1x deadzone=5000"
Option "MapAxis6" "mode=accelerated axis=+1y deadzone=5000"
Option "MapAxis7" "mode=none"
...
ACCELERATED AXIS CONFIGURATION
Accelerated mode should be selected, if the axis is a directional pad,
which reports only three states: negative, center, positive. It will
result in smoothly accelerated movement when the axis is deflected. An
optional factor will affect the acceleration and final speed.
This example will set up the axis as scrolling vertically inverted,
with half the speed:
Option "MapAxis1" "mode=accelerated axis=-0.5zy"
This example maps four buttons to the four pointer directions, so you
can use the buttons like a d-pad. The movement will be accelerated with
half the normal speed:
Option "MapButton1" "axis=+0.5x"
Option "MapButton2" "axis=-0.5x"
Option "MapButton3" "axis=+0.5y"
Option "MapButton4" "axis=-0.5y"
ABSOLUTE AXIS CONFIGURATION
In absolute axis mode, the position of the cursor will match the posi‐
tion of the configured axis, but relative to the previous position of
the cursor. You can specify the range in which the cursor can move. The
default range is the screen size.
In this example the first axis gets a range from left to the right of
the screen. The second axis gets a total range of 200 pixels, 100 to
the top and 100 to the bottom:
Option "MapAxis1" "mode=absolute axis=x"
Option "MapAxis2" "mode=absolute axis=200y"
GENERATING KEY EVENTS
Providing a "key=<scancode>[,<scancode>[...]]" option will generate X
Events with specified scancodes. When the button/axis is released, the
keys will be released in opposite order.
If you want a certain KeySym, look up the matching scancode using
xmodmap -pk. The scancodes depend on the configured keyboard layout.
You can also use unused keycodes and map them to a KeySym of your
choice using xmodmap(1).
You can specify up to 4 scancodes per joystick button/axis, which can
be used for modificators to get the KeySym you want.
Examples:
Option "MapButton1" "key=64,23"
will generate Alt_L+Tab when the button is pressed.
Option "MapButton1" "key=50,40"
will generate a Shift_L+d which will result in an uppercase d.
Option "MapButton1" "key=65"
will result in a space key.
Option "MapAxis1" "mode=relative keylow=113 keyhigh=114 axis=0.5key"
Option "MapAxis2" "mode=relative keylow=111 keyhigh=116"
Option "MapAxis3" "mode=accelerated keylow=113 keyhigh=114"
Option "MapAxis4" "mode=accelerated keylow=111 keyhigh=116"
will map the first and third axis to the arrow keys left and right and
the second and fourth axis to the arrow keys up and down.
The keys for the first two axes will be generated in an interval
according to the value of the axis. The autorepeat speed of the first
axis will be half the speed of that of the second axis. The keys for
the third and fourth axis are generated once when the axis moves out of
the deadzone and when it moves back into the deadzone. X.Org will
autorepeat those keys according to current keyboard settings.
XI2 Events
If you only care about raw valuator events instead of using the joy‐
stick to control the cursor, consider using the evdev(4) input driver.
If you still use the joystick driver for raw events, make sure to unmap
all axes/buttons and add the valuator option to the axes:
Option "MapAxis1" "mode=none valuator"
Option "MapAxis2" "mode=none valuator"
Option "MapAxis3" "mode=none valuator"
Option "MapAxis4" "mode=none valuator"
...
Option "MapButton1" "button=1"
Option "MapButton2" "button=2"
Option "MapButton3" "button=3"
Option "MapButton4" "button=4"
Option "MapButton5" "button=5"
...
Remember, that valuators 0 and 1 are reserved for pointer movement,
additional axes will start with valuator 2.
You might also want to set the device "floating" to stop it from
reporting core events:
Option "Floating" "true"
NOTES
It is not recommended to enable the joystick input driver by default
unless explicitely requested by the user.
Configuration through InputClass sections is recommended in X servers
1.8 and later. See xorg.conf.d(5) for more details. An example
xorg.conf.d(5) snipped is provided in ${sourcecode}/config/50-joystick-
all.conf
Configuration through hal fdi files is recommended in X servers 1.5,
1.6 and 1.7. An example hal policy file is still provided in ${source‐
code}/config/50-x11-input-joystick.fdi to be placed in
/etc/hal/fdi/policy.
SEE ALSOXorg(1), xorg.conf(5), xorg.conf.d(5), Xserver(1), X(7), xmodmap(1)AUTHORS
Sascha Hlusiak (2007-2012),
Frederic Lepied (1995-1999)
X Version 11 xf86-input-joystick 1.6.2 joystick(4)
