With the announcements of SteamOS and Steamboxes, I wanted to give the Steam Big Picture mode a try and plugged in a gamepad. It's a Gravis Exterminator Force, which is a bit dated device, but it is supported very well by the Linux-kernel drivers, and therefore a good gamepad for use under Linux. But, apparently not for Steam.
The device is visible in lsusb:
daniel@commandchair:~> lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0557:2221 ATEN International Co., Ltd Winbond Hermon
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0424:2504 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 047d:4007 Kensington Gravis Xterminator Force
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 152d:2338 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JM20337 Hi-Speed USB to SATA & PATA Combo Bridge
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 1bcf:0005 Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.
Device is prevent:
daniel@commandchair:~> ls -al /dev/input/by-id
totaal 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 180 12 jun 07:31 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 400 12 jun 07:31 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-1bcf_USB_Optical_Mouse-event-mouse -> ../event5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-1bcf_USB_Optical_Mouse-mouse -> ../mouse2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-Gravis_Gravis_Xterminator_Force-event-joystick -> ../event4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 12 jun 07:31 usb-Gravis_Gravis_Xterminator_Force-joystick -> ../js1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-Winbond_Electronics_Corp_Hermon_USB_hidmouse_Device-event-mouse -> ../event1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-Winbond_Electronics_Corp_Hermon_USB_hidmouse_Device-if01-event-kbd -> ../event2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 12 jun 07:31 usb-Winbond_Electronics_Corp_Hermon_USB_hidmouse_Device-mouse -> ../js0
daniel@commandchair:~>
And also the Linux input layer lists the gamepad:
daniel@commandchair:~> cat /sys/class/input/js1/device/name
Gravis Gravis Xterminator Force
Further, games do recognize the gamepad and it works. Nevertheless, Steam claims that no controllers were found. In my opinion, this is undesired behaviour in any case. Ideally it should imply work, I don't see a reason why it should not.
However, it is of course possible that for one reason or another the gamepad is not good enough for Steam and rejected for that reason. In such case, Steam should not claim there is no game controller if the Linux input layer sees joystick devices. Instead the desired behaviour should be to show all controllers connected to the computer in Steam, and make unsuitable controllers unselectable, which a clear error message why.
Screenschot... this is a 3 monitor Eyefinity setup with on the left monitor jstest-gtk that proves that the Gamepad works and on the middle monitor Steam in Big Picture mode claiming there is no controller detected:
Lastly some technical data ( but I don't think they are revelant):
Linux distribution: OpenSuSE 13.1
Linux kernel: 3.11.10-17-desktop
CPU: Xeon E5-2670
Graphics card: Radeon HD 6670, 1GB
Steam version: 1433441724
Gamepad: Gravis Xterminator Force, directly connected to host (no USB hub)
Hi!
With the announcements of SteamOS and Steamboxes, I wanted to give the Steam Big Picture mode a try and plugged in a gamepad. It's a Gravis Exterminator Force, which is a bit dated device, but it is supported very well by the Linux-kernel drivers, and therefore a good gamepad for use under Linux. But, apparently not for Steam.
The device is visible in lsusb:
daniel@commandchair:~> lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0557:2221 ATEN International Co., Ltd Winbond Hermon
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0424:2504 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 047d:4007 Kensington Gravis Xterminator Force
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 152d:2338 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JM20337 Hi-Speed USB to SATA & PATA Combo Bridge
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 1bcf:0005 Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.
Device is prevent:
daniel@commandchair:~> ls -al /dev/input/by-id
totaal 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 180 12 jun 07:31 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 400 12 jun 07:31 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-1bcf_USB_Optical_Mouse-event-mouse -> ../event5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-1bcf_USB_Optical_Mouse-mouse -> ../mouse2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-Gravis_Gravis_Xterminator_Force-event-joystick -> ../event4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 12 jun 07:31 usb-Gravis_Gravis_Xterminator_Force-joystick -> ../js1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-Winbond_Electronics_Corp_Hermon_USB_hidmouse_Device-event-mouse -> ../event1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 12 jun 07:31 usb-Winbond_Electronics_Corp_Hermon_USB_hidmouse_Device-if01-event-kbd -> ../event2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 12 jun 07:31 usb-Winbond_Electronics_Corp_Hermon_USB_hidmouse_Device-mouse -> ../js0
daniel@commandchair:~>
And also the Linux input layer lists the gamepad:
daniel@commandchair:~> cat /sys/class/input/js1/device/name
Gravis Gravis Xterminator Force
Further, games do recognize the gamepad and it works. Nevertheless, Steam claims that no controllers were found. In my opinion, this is undesired behaviour in any case. Ideally it should imply work, I don't see a reason why it should not.
However, it is of course possible that for one reason or another the gamepad is not good enough for Steam and rejected for that reason. In such case, Steam should not claim there is no game controller if the Linux input layer sees joystick devices. Instead the desired behaviour should be to show all controllers connected to the computer in Steam, and make unsuitable controllers unselectable, which a clear error message why.
Screenschot... this is a 3 monitor Eyefinity setup with on the left monitor jstest-gtk that proves that the Gamepad works and on the middle monitor Steam in Big Picture mode claiming there is no controller detected:
Lastly some technical data ( but I don't think they are revelant):