Re: Gamepad support (SevenBits)

[Simon Hobson]

SevenBits <address@hidden> wrote:

> One obvious challenge that would need to be considered is how to map keyboard 
> inputs to those on a gamepad. This might be somewhat challenging, as up and 
> down behavior like you'd find on the arrow keys will be easy (relatively) to 
> implement, BUT what about additional actions, like e.g when the user presses 
> e to modify an entry's settings. This would be impossible on a gamepad unless 
> we map each specific button to a certain function, and then you'd have to 
> deal with variations between controllers, like Xbox vs Playstation vs a 
> generic PC controller.
> 
> How would these issues be addressed?

While it's not of any interest to me, there are some obvious solutions - though 
it depends on the target application.

If you are aiming at a user who will know what controller they use, then you 
simply provide a mapping file from buttons to actions - plus ideally a tool to 
help the user configure it. It's then up to the user to set everything up as 
they want.

More generically, you provide some standard mappings from button to function 
for common controllers - in much the same way that the IR Remote subsystem does 
in the Linux kernel (or LIRC module). I suspect there's some functionality 
already present that can be borrowed for this - is there generic support for 
game controllers in the Linux kernel ?

An interesting question is ... at what point does the bootloader stop being a 
bootloader and become an OS in it's own right ? I suspect Grub already has more 
functionality than some early "OS"s !