How do I configure a joystick or gamepad?

Question

I recently received a Logitech Rumblepad 2 (a joystick, like a PS2 controller) from a friend.

How would I configure this in Ubuntu? If possible, I would prefer to use a GUI utility.

I tried jstest-gui, but it shows my accelerometer!

Do you mind to say what brand name and model your joystick is? — Geppettvs D'Constanzo, Mar 25 '11 at 22:16
@GeppettvsD'Constanzo: never!!!! :D (joking) updating the question — RolandiXor, Mar 25 '11 at 23:03
jscalibrator:

no longer available,

bugged

won't be fixed Ref: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...sw/+bug/416628 Looking for an alternative — , Jan 20 '12 at 09:42

score 40 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

40

It is possible to calibrate Joysticks in Kubuntu using KDE's system settings. This is a bit of an "overkill" solution, as of course it requires KDE (and most Ubuntu users will not want this).

enter image description here

I did not have my joystick plugged in for the above screenshot, but I have tried it before and it works.

JStest gtk and joystick

These are two tools included in the Ubuntu repositories that I have not tested recently (I found these when looking for other options). The first of the two, jstest-gtk, is a graphical tool, and joystick is a set of commandline utilities.

You can install them using:

sudo apt-get install jstest-gtk

or

sudo apt-get install joystick

Jstest-gtk is a front end to joystick's commandline tools.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Mar 19 '13 at 20:33

RolandiXor

51,957

I installed kde-system-settings but can't find these settings. Where exactly are they? Do I need to install another package? – Seth Mar 19 '13 at 23:31
@Seth type joystick in the search box and input devices should be highlighted. – RolandiXor Mar 19 '13 at 23:35
I must need another package then.. See: https://i.sstatic.net/h2437.png – Seth Mar 19 '13 at 23:36
@Seth I would need to track it down :( – RolandiXor Mar 19 '13 at 23:39
I have all the major DEs on my system so I guess I must have missed something. – RolandiXor Mar 19 '13 at 23:40
2

I've tried jstest-gtk but it doesn't seem to allow me to change anything.. useful for testing though. – Seth Mar 19 '13 at 23:54
jstest-gtk worked great for me, I paired my ouya controller and everything was registered. Very cool! – Baggers Sep 29 '13 at 13:08

score 37 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

37

This process will work for Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty) and older versions. For the newest versions please refer to this Answer by RolandiXor. Thank you.

Not tested by me, but found in a link provided at: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=393425, I hope this may help.

Install joystick and jscalbrator

sudo apt install joystick jscalibrator

then run the calibration processes

jscal -c /dev/input/js0 (this is my joystick location, check yours)

jstest /dev/input/js0 (or wherever) If I remember correctly, this should return 0 for no error.

run jscalibrator

jscalibrator

and it should recognize the type of gamepad correctly and recognize all of your buttons, and axis

enter image description here

There is also an application called jstest-gtk, which seems to do something like that, I post here a screenshot and the link for you: https://github.com/Grumbel/jstest-gtk (This software may need to be compiled in order to make it work)

enter image description here

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Mar 25 '11 at 23:41

Geppettvs D'Constanzo

19,794

5

Time to update this answer: $ sudo apt-get install jscalibrator Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done E: Unable to locate package jscalibrator – matteo May 26 '13 at 20:16
2

The answer was updated. Please refer to this answer by RolandiXor for further support on newer versions. Thank you http://askubuntu.com/a/270111/9598 – Geppettvs D'Constanzo May 27 '13 at 22:05
I assume the first screenshot shows jscalibrator? That's exactly the software I'm searching for. Since it doesn't exist in newer versions of Ubuntu anymore, is there an alternative that actually shows what any particular button press should look like? Because I don't know what buttons 0-11 are supposed to map to so I don't know how to use jstest or jscal. If there is no such software, is there some picture that shows a reference mapping? I'm guessing X=0, O=1, square=2, triangle=4 but that's about as far as I can guess. – Christian Nov 24 '13 at 17:15
does some of theese tools give me the ability to choose what input driver the controller should use? like udev for example? – philx_x Apr 23 '16 at 18:44

score 25 · Answer 3 · answered May 28 '13 at 05:00

25

I'm using Ubuntu 13.04 and have Logitech Rumblepad 2. And what I did was installing these, joystick and jstest-gtk. It's already been calibrate to default and joystick device is detected right. Just plug and play.

If you need to calibrate and save your configuration you can do this, open jtest-gtk, You will see this,

enter image description here

You can calibrate by double click on the device.

enter image description here

Hope it will help you out as it has done to me.

answered May 28 '13 at 05:00

Shaharil Ahmad

842
1
9
15

How do you save your configuration? Where is it saved? In which file? – erik Sep 20 '16 at 16:00
Nice. Finds the tilt and all buttons of my old Microsoft Sidewinder Controller. – user643722 Jan 21 '21 at 12:35

Mark Kirby · Answer 4 · 2020-08-15T12:29:21.647

17

Thanks to @B. du Garay for pointing out in comments that anti-micro is now available in the repository (20.04 only), install it with:

sudo apt install antimicro

The answers here are getting a bit old now, and users seem to be having issues again, so this is a 2016 solution to configuring your joystick or gamepad on Ubuntu.

You can use antimicro, it is a fork of joy2key and has a GUI, use this PPA for 12.04 to 15.10

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ryochan7/antimicro
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install antimicro

For 16.04+ use this PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install antimicro

Source

edited Aug 15 '20 at 12:29

answered Jan 12 '16 at 18:43

Mark Kirby

18,969
19
80
117

1

This also worked with the droidpad application which allows android phone to be used as gamepad. – vivi Apr 16 '16 at 17:56
This application doesn' tedetct my USB gamepads on 15.10 - they work well on 14.04 though. Any workarounds for 15.10? – TenLeftFingers May 06 '16 at 13:30
I don't know a work around, it worked for me on 15.10 but here are some things to try, update your kernel and system with sudo apt-get dist-upgrade try installing the xbox driver sudo apt-get install xboxdrv reboot after each one. I also updated the answer to include a version for 16.04 if you want to upgrade. @TenLeftFingers – Mark Kirby May 06 '16 at 16:42
Thanks Mark Kirby. Turns out my laptop doesn't provide enough power via USB unless the power chord is connected. – TenLeftFingers May 06 '16 at 19:24
@TenLeftFingers (and to anyone else whose controller is not recognised when plugged in via USB cable) - something worth trying is a shorter cable. I had just grabbed the nearest one, which was pretty long. Nothing was recognised. I tried a pretty short one and both a PS2 controller and an Xbox One controller were then found using ftest /dev/input/by-id/.. – n1k31t4 Oct 25 '17 at 10:25
1

No 18.04 release. https://github.com/AntiMicro/antimicro/issues/230 building from source works for me – qwr Sep 09 '18 at 01:22
1

Now, from 20.04 Focal, antimicro is in Ubuntu repositories. – B. du Garay Aug 13 '20 at 21:27
@B.duGaray Thanks, I updated the answer based on your comment. – Mark Kirby Aug 15 '20 at 12:29
Nice that it's now in Ubuntu 20.10. It doesn't catch the tilt or C and Z buttons of my old Microsoft Sidewinder though. – user643722 Jan 21 '21 at 12:32
Antimicro seems to work perfectly but I need to keep the configuration screen open. Is there a way to background this? – kaasknak Aug 14 '21 at 11:03

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited May 28 '13 at 23:01

7

I am currently using qjoypad for mapping keys (even the mouse) to a Logitech Gamepad F310. It's working well for games that are designed with only keyboard and mouse controls in mind. It seems to require being run from cli as qjoypad --notray. It does use a GUI.

How to Install Qjoypad
First add the GetDeb Games ppa

wget -q -O - http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu raring-getdeb games" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'

Then update and install package

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install qjoypad

Alternatively download the package here and install with your favorite package manager.

edited May 28 '13 at 23:01

Nil

1,006

answered May 27 '13 at 23:01

iyrin

1,439

qjoypad isn't in ubuntu's repository. Mind giving instructions on how to add it? – Nil May 28 '13 at 16:59
1
I seem to recall installing via the synaptic package manager. I'll check when I get home, but you can get it at qjoypad.sourceforge.net.
Decompress the tar.gz and the installation should be as simple as
```
`./config`
`make`
`make install`
```
– iyrin May 28 '13 at 21:51
1

doesn't look as though the package as been updated in over 3 years. Also doesn't seem like there is a ppa for it, not like it would matter given how there are no updates. It is definitely not in raring's repository. Nvm, found it http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/getdeb_games?dist=raring – Nil May 28 '13 at 22:17
I'm still trying to figure out how to get that notray option to run from the launcher – Nil May 29 '13 at 01:24
1

@Nil at the time of writing this, qjoypad in fact in the Ubuntu repositories. – Obsidian Jackal May 24 '14 at 09:45

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 22 '25 at 07:14

I created a tool to calibrate my joysticks: https://github.com/dkosmari/calibrate-joystick

Calibration steps:

Select the tab for the joystick you want to calibrate.
Move all sticks and triggers, between minimum and maximum values, a few times.
Check each axis to see if you need to adjust things like flat (deadzone) and fuzz:
- The solid rectangle indicates the deadzone, if you see the cross marker moving out of it when it shouldn't, you should manually increase the flat parameter. While the cross marker stays inside the rectangle, the axis' value is interpreted as neutral.
- You should leave the fuzz parameter at zero, unless you have a good reason not to.
Click Apply then Save. If Calibrate Joystick sees that same joystick being plugged again, it will automatically load the calibration.

If your desktop environment can auto-launch apps, you can auto-launch the "(daemon)" version. It will monitor joysticks when they get plugged in, and either apply the saved calibration, or display the calibration window.

Note that the calibration is applied to the kernel's evdev driver. All parameters (except for fuzz) are merely suggestions for games to obey.

How do I configure a joystick or gamepad?

6 Answers6

JStest gtk and joystick

This process will work for Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty) and older versions. For the newest versions please refer to this Answer by RolandiXor. Thank you.

Install joystick and jscalbrator

then run the calibration processes

run jscalibrator