HOWTO: Wii Remote in Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10)

[shmish]

Oh man, this is too confusing.
If I do lswm and press 1+2, it brings up the bluetooth address. If I then open wmgui, it says the remote is not connected. So I then click File -> Connect in wmgui and press 1+2 again. The remote connects and wmgui shows that that the controls are working.

My problem is that I don't think the wii remote is actually staying connected when I do the lswm. The terminal reports the address, the bottom blue lights on the remote flash for a while then they go blank. Likewise with wmgui: if I connect the wii, close and then re-open wmgui, the remote is no longer connected.

I think I either don't quite understand what is supposed to happen, or maybe I'm doing something wrong.

thanks!

[Toshibawarrior]

Hello shmish, actually lswm is for bluetooth address acquisition only, nothing else so the wiimote won't stay and doesn't need to stay connected after you get your bluetooth address.

Likewise wmgui only let's you test the buttons and movements of your wiimote, and as soon as the program closes the wiimote will be disconnected.

What you need to make your wiimote work is typing:

gksudo wminput <blueooth address>

And then you'll have your wiimote working in accelerometer mode.

So don't worry if lswm and wmgui don't keep your wiimote connected because they're not supposed to. They're just for acquiring your bt address and for diagnostics.

Let me know if it works for you. Remember to read my guide throughly and add all the necessary packages and fixes for it to work.

Post back your results. !

[brijizacks]

even though I followed this tutorial to a tee, every time I try to load wminput it says "unable to open uinput"

I have put the necessary line in the config file
I am using 8.10
Any suggestions? Can I re-install it? what could be causing this?

The wiimote IS detected via the bluetooth controller, and wmgui senses it as well, so my only issue is with uinput itself.

Thanks in advance.

[Toshibawarrior]

Try reinstalling the packages and using the "gksudo" before wminput in a terminal.

Let me know if it keeps doing that after reinstallation.

[brijizacks]

I typed in gksudo wminput and low and behold, the accelerated movement does work.

BUT, I want to use the IR as a mouse of course, and when I type in

gksudo wminput -c ir_ptr, I get this

housetv@HouseTV:~$ gksudo wminput -c ir_ptr
gksudo: invalid option -- 'c'
GKsu version 2.0.0

Usage: gksudo [-u <user>] [options] <command>

--debug, -d
Print information on the screen that might be
useful for diagnosing and/or solving problems.

--user <user>, -u <user>
Call <command> as the specified user.

--disable-grab, -g
Disable the "locking" of the keyboard, mouse,
and focus done by the program when asking for
password.
--prompt, -P
Ask the user if they want to have their keyboard
and mouse grabbed before doing so.
--preserve-env, -k
Preserve the current environments, does not set $HOME
nor $PATH, for example.
--login, -l
Make this a login shell. Beware this may cause
problems with the Xauthority magic. Run xhost
to allow the target user to open windows on your
display!

--description <description|file>, -D <description|file>
Provide a descriptive name for the command to
be used in the default message, making it nicer.
You can also provide the absolute path for a
.desktop file. The Name key for will be used in
this case.
--message <message>, -m <message>
Replace the standard message shown to ask for
password for the argument passed to the option.
Only use this if --description does not suffice.

--print-pass, -p
Ask gksu to print the password to stdout, just
like ssh-askpass. Useful to use in scripts with
programs that accept receiving the password on
stdin.

--sudo-mode, -S
Make GKSu use sudo instead of su, as if it had been
run as "gksudo".
--su-mode, -w
Make GKSu use su, instead of usin

I'm guessing I'm typing it in wrong? perhaps I need to put the command in quotes or something?

[brijizacks]

I tried quotes and eureka! Thanks for your help!

If I type that line in a shortcut it should just autoload it for me right?

You rock!

[Toshibawarrior]

Cool to know it worked for you! and yes, if you add that line to a shortcut or panel applet it should load it when you click on it and then it'll show you a password prompt for you to enter your password and successfully connect your wiimote.

Here's the part of my guide where I explained it. In your case use whatever command worked best for you !

I've setup on my system 2 icons in my gnome panel that I can click on if I want to connect to my Wii Remote and use it's IR light tracking ability as a mouse, and the other to turn off the wminput daemon that I started on the other icon.

Right click on an empty part of the Gnome panel and select "Add to Panel...", then "Custom Application Launcher" then press the "+Add" button.

Type in a name for it, for the command, use this:
Code:

gksudo wminput -d -c ir_ptr <your wiimote's bluetooth address here>

For IR mode. If you want to use ACC (accelerometer mode) the command should be:

Code:

gksudo wminput <your wiimote's bluetooth address here>


The gksudo is important because if you use sudo only you won't see any prompt to type in your password, and in Intrepid it IS necessary to be root to activate wminput.

Select a nice icon for it if you wish, then press close.

To create another icon to kill all running wminput processes, do the same as above, but for the command use this:

Code:

gksudo killall wminput

Use gksudo here too because you might need to type in your password again.

The advantage of using these two icons to run wminput, is that you can turn off your Wii remote (by pressing and holding the power button on your Wii remote) when you start watching a DVD / listening to music to save battery power, then if you wish to start using your Wii remote again, simply press buttons 1 + 2 on your Wii remote and Ubuntu will automatically connect to your Wii remote again as before without having to pick up a keyboard or mouse to do so.

[Stunts]

Just wanted to say thanks for this excelent tutorial. It works great.
This will impress a lot of people suring presentations, especially combined with compiz-fusion. Can you picture actualy flipping the presentation's pages by waving your arm?
Thanks again!

[shmish]

Hello shmish, actually lswm is for bluetooth address acquisition only, nothing else so the wiimote won't stay and doesn't need to stay connected after you get your bluetooth address.

Likewise wmgui only let's you test the buttons and movements of your wiimote, and as soon as the program closes the wiimote will be disconnected.

What you need to make your wiimote work is typing:

gksudo wminput <blueooth address>

And then you'll have your wiimote working in accelerometer mode.

So don't worry if lswm and wmgui don't keep your wiimote connected because they're not supposed to. They're just for acquiring your bt address and for diagnostics.

Let me know if it works for you. Remember to read my guide throughly and add all the necessary packages and fixes for it to work.

Post back your results. !

Okay, I get it. Your tutorial was great and I didn't have any problems with it. I just didn't quite understand what was supposed to happen but now I do. Next I might try and get the IR working, but we'll see. I have an IR port on my laptop but I have no idea if it's working in Ubuntu. That would be the first step.

cheers

[Toshibawarrior]

Just wanted to say thanks for this excelent tutorial. It works great.
This will impress a lot of people suring presentations, especially combined with compiz-fusion. Can you picture actualy flipping the presentation's pages by waving your arm?
Thanks again!

You're welcome! Glad to know it worked for you! And that presentation flipping would be awesome!

Okay, I get it. Your tutorial was great and I didn't have any problems with it. I just didn't quite understand what was supposed to happen but now I do. Next I might try and get the IR working, but we'll see. I have an IR port on my laptop but I have no idea if it's working in Ubuntu. That would be the first step.

cheers

Great! Let me know if the IR works or not. And if you have any requests, suggestions or questions for/about my tutorial just ask!