Re: Gamepad support (SevenBits)

[Tom Davies]

Hi :)
I started a thread on the devs mailing-list but only got as far as asking
1.  if it might be possible, and how tricky it's likely to be
2.  whether best to post as a bug-report and how to make it clear it's
a feature-request for additional functionality
3.  is there an existing non-Grub multi-boot-loader for game-machines


The way this thread is going on the User Support mailing list seems
more within the devs scope rather than ours.  Interesting points tho!!

My own 2cents is that i would only really expect very basic support
and i'd be stuck if anything went wrong.

However, going further sounds like a great idea for the future even if
not possible in the short-term.  The idea of getting to the
command-line and being able to edit without a keyboard sounds
interesting.  Since tab-completion is built-in perhaps it might be
possible to do combine a list of commands with something like the
"high-score board" in 70s-80s arcade machines?  I wonder what ideas
the devs come up with! :)

It might be worth you finding my post to their list and adding your
thoughts, or perhaps start a new thread about practicalities :)

Good luck all!! :)))
Regards from
Tom :)





> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Simon Hobson <address@hidden>
> To: "address@hidden" <address@hidden>
> Cc:
> Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2014 09:32:22 +0100
> Subject: Re: Gamepad support (SevenBits)
> 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 !
>
>