HOW-TO: Connect Sixaxis to Ubuntu trough bluetooth mode

**linuxcreeper** · March 21st, 2010

Originally Posted by falkTX

First of all, you should install Karmic (ubuntu 9.10) (or you won't get accelerometer support and rumble, when it's supported).
There are also some other issues with 9.04, so it's really recommended that you upgrade.

For Jaunty (9.04), you need to install this first:
http://launchpadlibrarian.net/324100...u2_powerpc.deb

Thanks, that worked great! I'll try to convinced my friend to upgrade to 9.10, as it's his system. He hasn't wanted to though since we finally got a bunch of stuff working for it, and he doesn't want to start over again. As long as this works for now though, he should be happy with it.

**linuxcreeper** · March 23rd, 2010

Alright, now I've upgraded to Karmic for the PS3, and the controller works, but when I try to set it up in mednafen, the tilt sensors in the controller automatically sets all the controls to itself. I want to set the controller up to work like a NES controller, with keypad on the keypad, and A and B set to O and X, but the tilt sensor wont let me. Any way to turn that off?

**falkTX** · March 23rd, 2010

Originally Posted by linuxcreeper

Alright, now I've upgraded to Karmic for the PS3, and the controller works, but when I try to set it up in mednafen, the tilt sensors in the controller automatically sets all the controls to itself. I want to set the controller up to work like a NES controller, with keypad on the keypad, and A and B set to O and X, but the tilt sensor wont let me. Any way to turn that off?

Yes, open QtSixA, then in the menu "Settings" -> "Configure Sixaxis". In the "input events" section, disable what you don't want.
Disconnect and Connect the Sixaxis again to apply those settings.

**KhaaL** · March 24th, 2010

Just a quick question, is it possible to use two sixaxis at the same time on the PC with this?

**falkTX** · March 24th, 2010

Originally Posted by KhaaL

Just a quick question, is it possible to use two sixaxis at the same time on the PC with this?

Yes.
I tested with 4, all working Ok.

**originalg** · March 28th, 2010

First I'd like to thank everyone who has helped create this software. I've got 2 sixaxis controllers successfully connected and working through bluetooth, and this has me very excited! However, I'm using the profiles option to have my controllers emulate keyboard presses and when I try to apply an override for the second controller I get the following error message:

"The selected profile is not on the list of profiles! QtSixA will quit now!"

Concerned that the profiles I had created and added might very well have been the problem, I went to settings-->advanced and clicked "Restore Sixaxis Profiles". I then chose to use the supplied "Fake Joystick" profile and attempted to override my second controller with the "Fake Joystick 2" profile. Unfortunately, I received the same error message as before.

I'm new here, and to Linux/Ubuntu, and did my best to search the form before posting, but did not see any posts relating to this issue. I have overcome a number of hurdles while setting up my new HTPC, but this time I'm truly stuck and could use some help.

**keenanv** · March 28th, 2010

I installed the deb today (on my PS3) from your SF project but when I installed (PowerPC version) there's no GUI. Am I missing something?

using sixad in terminal works to start/stop the service but where is the GUI lol?

**keenanv** · March 29th, 2010

Upon further investigation I made the mistake of installing "sixad", and not "qtSixA" lol :X

**falkTX** · March 29th, 2010

Originally Posted by keenanv

Upon further investigation I made the mistake of installing "sixad", and not "qtSixA" lol :X

You need to install sixad first, then QtSixA.
That was on the readme file...

**gopher38** · March 30th, 2010

Hi,

Looking for help on this. I'm trying to get this running on a PS3 with Jaunty. Just trying to use the SixAxis as a mouse and for MAME. I know the first question will be, "Why Jaunty?". Well, I'm familiar with Jaunty, so I tried that first. Couldn't get it to work, so I went to Karmic, but I had more serious issues with the screen, sound, and other flaky behaviour, so I'm back to Jaunty. Also, I know that this works at least on a laptop using Jaunty, because I got it to work on my HP Pavilion. Besides, I only want to use the SixAxis as a mouse, so I don't care about some of the new features. So, I'm back to trying Jaunty on the PS3. I believe that this combination will work, but if someone knows that it definitely will not work (like this falkTX, who seems to know everything), please give me a heads up.

Anyway, I'm on jaunty and I'm pretty sure that I read that you first have to install this:

libbluetooth3_4.51-0ubuntu2_powerpc.deb

So I downloaded and installed it with no problems. I then downloaded this:

QtSixA-1.2.1-DEBs.zip

And installed this file:

sixad_1.2.1-0ubuntu0+karmic1_powerpc.deb

And then this:

qtsixa_1.2.1-0ubuntu0+karmic1_all.deb

I know that they both say "karmic" on them, but I believe that they are the right files. They worked on my Pavilion with Jaunty anyway, and seemed to install correctly on the PS3.

So I thought I'd be OK, but I can't get the thing to work. QtSixA sees the SixAxis (address listed in connected devices), both on bluetooth and through USB. I can select the hidraw device, but when I hit apply, one of two things happens: a) it seems to work but I still don't see any reaction when I move the joysticks, or b) it gives me an error message that it can't start the sixad driver. There aren't any lights on the sixaxis either.

So couple of questions to start. Can anyone:

a) confirm that the sixaxis will work as a mouse on the PS3 with jaunty?

b) tell me if I'm using the correct packages?
libbluetooth3_4.51-0ubuntu2_powerpc.deb
sixad_1.2.1-0ubuntu0+karmic1_powerpc.deb
qtsixa_1.2.1-0ubuntu0+karmic1_all.deb

c) give me any hints on what I might try next?

Muchos gracias.