Ability to compile mame

[don999]

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Getting the joystick/gamepad working (using setfacl)

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Okay, I have spent way more time than I ever wanted to fiddling with permissions and the like. However, I've found a pretty simple way to get the joystick working.

There's actually two different styles of joystick access: one is with /dev/input/eventX and the other is with /dev/input/jsX.

I think /dev/input/eventX is the more recent, and /dev/input/jsX is the "old" way.

So when I boot knoppix, my gamepad shows up as /dev/input/event4. So you'll need to figure out which file represents your gamepad.

When I do a "ls -l /dev/input/by-id" the gamepad has a symlink to /dev/input/event4.

So I do this:

sudo setfacl -m "u:knoppix:rw-" /dev/input/event4
sudo setfacl -m "u:knoppix:rw-" /dev/input/js0
touch /dev/input/js0

so once you "touch" the js0, it sets up a symlink to /dev/input/js0 in the /dev/input/by-id directory.
When you run touch, it may complain about not being able to set the time. (Doesn't seem to hurt anything)
The reason I use "touch" is to make an access to /dev/input/js0.
Running "hexdump -C /dev/input/js0" would do the same thing (CTRL+C to exit after generating some joystick activity).

The setfacl commands above will give the user knoppix read and write file access using an access control list. setfacl = set file access control list (-m is modify).
getfacl = get file access control list.
If you do a "ls -l /dev/input" you will see a + after rw-rw-r--+, the + indicates that there's an access control list for that file.

So as a test, launch chromium or firefox, go to "about:blank" and bring up the f12 console. Press a joystick button. Type "navigator:getGamepads()" and hit enter.
Remember that you have to generate joystick activity (like pressing buttons) to see the gamepad in chromium or firefox.

If your joystick is working on /dev/input/js0 you should see a list like

(firefox) 
navigator.getGamepads() 

Array [ Gamepad ]

(chromium) 
navigator.getGamepads()
GamepadList {0: Gamepad, 1: null, 2: null, 3: null, length: 4}

If it isn't working, you will see

(firefox)
navigator.getGamepads() 

Array []

(chromium)
navigator.getGamepads()
GamepadList {0: null, 1: null, 2: null, 3: null, length: 4}

Once you enter the commands below, press a joystick button. Type "navigator:getGamepads()" and hit enter. You don't have to relaunch firefox or chromium if it's already open, it should work.

echo launch chromium or firefox here and getGamepads here wont work
sudo setfacl -m "u:knoppix:rw-" /dev/input/event4
sudo setfacl -m "u:knoppix:rw-" /dev/input/js0
touch /dev/input/js0
echo now getGamepads here should work