HOW-TO: Connect Sixaxis to Ubuntu trough bluetooth mode

[falkTX]

Did this (PS3, Ubtuntu 9.04):

1. Selected Fake Joystick in Input Profiles
2. Connected DS3 successfully
3. Exited SixA

At this stage I expect DS3 to work as a mouse, but nothing happens (to the mouse pointer) when I press the DS3 buttons.

Then ran jstest successfully. Also redid steps 1-3 but selected Firefox in Input Profiles, and started Firefox to see whether DS3 would work with Firefox - but no.

Sorry if I have missed something obvious (like not having set some option that mouse should be replaced by jostick or so). I'm new to Ubuntu and Linux.

Do this means that Sixaxis now works in PS3? That would be awesome.

I think I know what the profile problem is - It's the DualShock3. I'll explain:
The input profile are fdi/xml files that contains "tags"; Some tags define buttons, some others define the 'driver' to add these new assigned buttons. In the input profile that's a tag 'driver=XXXX' where XXX could be "PlayStation3 Controller", etc. Since the DualShock3 (DS3 and Sixaxis are different!) has a different driver name, this name must also be specified in the input profile fdi file.

The solution is should very simple. (and is going to be implemented soon)

EDIT: a user already mail-me about this

[falkTX]

Update:
I have bad news... and awesome news!!

First, the bad news - we're not going to have an update soon (1-2 weeks)

The awesome news is why - because of new features.


1st feature - Battery report (as you might have seen, there's command for that);
2nd feature - LED support (Yes, this is really possible). I already coded that part, but implemented it in the GUI is the hardest part.
3rd feature - Gyro/Sensors (not sure if this will be possible yet, but I'll do my best).

[falkTX]

Update: (copied from changelog)
* Is now possible to know a Sixaxis battery status (but not yet implemented on the GUI)
[usage: 'sixa battery <sixaxis-adrr>']
* You can now choose a LED when connecting a Sixaxis (only in terminal, not yet in the GUI)
[usage: 'sixa --start --led #'] (where # can be 0-10)
* Modified the fdi input profiles to make sure they are loaded by HAL (NEED TESTING)

Well...
I was thinking of waiting for GUI implementation of battery status and LEDs before releasing an update, but it may be better to let users test it first. So, if you're confortable using the command-line, this update brings 2 new cool stuff for you:

sixa battery <sixaxis-adrr>

Use this to check the battery status of ADRR Sixaxis

sixa --start --led #

This will let you choose a LED (0-10) for the incoming connections. The LED #5 is LED1 + LED4; #6 is LED2 +LED4, etc; #10 is LED1+2+3+4; 0 is all off.

[falkTX]

Update: (Copied from changelog)
* Marked as RC2
* In the 'list of sixaxis':
- bugfix: different Sixaxis appeared, but in the same line (thanks Pierluigi Vicinanza);
- improvement: auto-refresh (3sec).
* Very cool LED animation when connecting a Sixaxis
[LED changes 1,2,3,4,3,2,1,2... 8 times, before lighting up the selected one]
* Display a really useful text file when clicking 'View Available Keys' in new profile window
* New 'SixA Modules Setup' interface (with auto-refresh!)
* Replaced "Restore Bluetooth" button for "Start Daemon" in main tab, although the daemon is not written yet
* Official support to LPIA and PowerPC
* Limit LEDs to 1-7, since Sixaxis doesn't seem to support more than this
* Added bluez-hcidump as debian dependeds (used for battery check)
* Completed the Firefox profile
* Inform user that it's needed to disconnect Sixaxis after apply a profile


This update brings lot of new stuff; so don't forget to report any problems that you make experience.


For the PS3/PowerPC users:
The input profiles not working is under investigation; they will work, I just don't know when.
The PPC version doesn't support LED animation yet. This is because launchpad doesn't build/compile PPC stuff for regular users; I always need to ask a user to compile stuff, so that PPC build is done. Many thanks to Pierluigi Vicinanza for this!


Also another thing...
DualShock3 rumble and various Sixaxis/Dualshock3 connected at the same time can't be officially supported. That's because I just have 1 Sixaxis joystick.
So, if you are a very rich person, maybe you could buy me a DualShock3 (?). I'll then work to make sure rumble/many-sixaxis-at-once work nicely.

See ya soon!

[falkTX]

Update:
I'll be completely honest about this:
Holmen started v0.4 of SixA, while the 0.3 is not fully complete yet. This way we'll never come to a common sense.

So, I've come up with a solution - separate Qt-SixA and Gtk-SixA

If you like my little app, you'll be happy to know that I'll create a simple blog for it, and I'll change the repo for something trusted and faster, soon.

Anyone who hates Qt stuff is welcome to try the Holmen's Gtk-SixA that, in my opinion, never worked as needed.


Note: The blog is not yet finished but you can access it right now:
http://www.falktx.blogspot.com/

[falkTX]

Update: (Copied from Changelog)
* Final release
* Revert old "View available keys" text file (new file is doesn't work)
* Small fix of the SMPlayer profile
* Changed name from SixA to Qt-SixA
* Change Holmen status as former developer
* Updated links to the new Qt-SixA blog

[falkTX]

Update:
PowerPC/PS3 guys does now have the LED animation when connecting a Sixaxis

[falkTX]

Update:
The QtSixA blog is up and running. It may not be totally finished yet, but works for now (it should be completed in about 2 weeks).

http://falktx.blogspot.com/


Updates, bug reports and feature requests should go there;
But, of course, you can still reply here (I am subscribed to this thread)

[falkTX]

Update: (copied from changelog)
* Fixed "Report bug" menu action
* Run QtSixA as root
[some actions are disabled by now because of this]
* Half LED animation time
* All temporary files are now in dir "/tmp/sixa/" instead of just "/tmp/"
* Battery status check support (only for wireless/bluetooth Sixaxis)
* Added option to change Qt Theme
* Don't allow to select "No Sixaxis found" on 'list of Sixaxis'
* Some other small fixes

Users using Karmic may notice that bluetooth cannot be turned off, so this means my app will NOT work in Karmic at the time. But, as this is an important Ubuntu bug, they should fixed it soon

[mikerz343]

This looks wonderful. I'm sure I'll use this a lot when I get my new machine thanks!