How do you use an MS Sidewinder Precision Pro

Asked by Paul Bransford

I have an old (working, thankfully) Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick. It connects with a gameport.

I can't for the life of me get this thing to work in Ubuntu (or Linux in general, anymore). I've made sure all the right kernel modules are loading (gameport, emu10k1-gp, sidewinder, joydev) however nothing shows for /dev/input/js0 or /dev/js0.

I've tried making the nodes using mknod per the input-driver's author's website (/usr/src/linux/Documentation/input/joystick.txt) but when you attempt to use the now-existing nodes, you get 'no such device'.

What am I missing? All the hardware in question is working (verified by booting into Windows XP).

I have attempted to get in touch with the author (Vojtech Pavlik) over a month ago but have not received a response.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Lars Renström
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Paul Bransford (draeath) said :
#1

I should mention I'm using a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS gameport.

Revision history for this message
peter (peter-neuweiler) said :
#2

I guess if you're going to run MS software, first you have to install wine (included in Synaptic).
Peter

Revision history for this message
Paul Bransford (draeath) said :
#3

This is a hardware peripheral. sidewinder.c has comments that show it was was written specifically to handle these sticks, among other SideWinder products.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SideWinder#Precision_Pro_1995

Revision history for this message
Robinson Tryon (colonelqubit) said :
#4

> or Linux in general, anymore

Did you get the joystick to work with a Linux kernel in the past?

> I have attempted to get in touch with the author (Vojtech Pavlik) over a month ago but have not received a response.

I'm not sure who else is hacking (or willing to hack) on the sidewinder code, but if you can't reach the author then perhaps you could try to get in touch with whomever is in charge of this code right now. If it's completely unmaintained, then you might be in a bit of a pickle here...

Revision history for this message
Paul Bransford (draeath) said :
#5

I don't know if this particular stick worked in the past, the last time I had one of these I was still a Windows user.

How can I find out who is in charge of the code at this time? This code is included in the kernel source.

Revision history for this message
Best Lars Renström (lars-renstrom) said :
#6

I have also been fiddling quite a lot. The solution for me was to, when logged in, run these commands in a terminal:

sudo rmmod emu10k1-gp
sudo modprobe emu10k1-gp

Then checking with command dmesg i get:

[39463.372031] gameport: EMU10K1 is pci0000:03:06.1/gameport0, io 0xce00, speed 612kHz
[39463.396343] input: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.4/0000:03:06.1/gameport1/input/input7

:-) It seems that the "drivers" modules must be loaded before the gameport module. Anyone knows how to automate this at bootup...? ;-)

Revision history for this message
Paul Bransford (draeath) said :
#7

That fixed it!

Incidently, yes, you can automate it. Pobably not the best way, but it works...

look in /etc/init.d for, I believe, 'rc.local' - add those commands (without the sudo part) and they will be executed by init, as root.

Now, does anyone else think this should be filed as a bug against alsa? (regarding emu10k1_gp requiring reinsertion)

Revision history for this message
Paul Bransford (draeath) said :
#8

Thanks larren, that solved my question.