How do I get GGE909 to work with Linux?

NetRAVEN5000 · 08-13-2006, 07:28 PM

Hi, I've got a Game Elements GGE909 game pad that I'd like to get working with Linux. I've tried googling for info but it seems that this company is no longer around and never made any Linux drivers.

Any ideas?

EDIT: It appears that this company actually isn't out of business, rather this is actually a Philips controller branded as "Game Elements". . . here is Wal-Mart's description page of my controller. Notice that although it's described as a Philips controller, it has the "Game Elements" logo on it.

Caeda · 08-29-2006, 03:33 PM

Hrm, yep. I recognize that. I have one, few other people I know have them too. How to get it work, well. Have you tried plugging it in? They work fine. If it's not working for you, get a better distro.

NetRAVEN5000 · 08-29-2006, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caeda

Hrm, yep. I recognize that. I have one, few other people I know have them too. How to get it work, well. Have you tried plugging it in? They work fine. If it's not working for you, get a better distro.

Thanks for the smartass response. Of course I plugged it in.

Now that I'm using Ubuntu it works fine (was using Slackware when I asked this), but just saying "get a new distro" isn't helpful at all.

Caeda · 08-31-2006, 02:58 PM

Well, it really should have worked just by plugging it in, as it does now. So the "new distro" was pretty valid.

NetRAVEN5000 · 08-31-2006, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caeda

Well, it really should have worked just by plugging it in, as it does now. So the "new distro" was pretty valid.

Unless:
a) it wasn't enabled in the kernel
b) one distro had some software preinstalled that the other didn't

Whether or not it should've worked "just by plugging it in" depends on the distro.

"Get a new distro" isn't the answer, it doesn't fix the problem. I still don't know how to get Slackware to work with this device, and when I go home to my other computer I will have the same problem again.

A helpful answer would've been something like "you need to enable such-and-such in the kernel" or "did you install x software package?".

Tailer · 08-31-2006, 03:40 PM

Usually Slackware doesn't come with all of the add-ons, like distributions like Fedora, Red Hat, Ubantu etc...

argash · 09-18-2006, 11:41 AM

i just installed dapper drake and it does not seem to work by just plugging it in. does it require a reboot? (havent tried as I have some processes i dont want to stop at the moment and this isnt all that pressing)

NetRAVEN5000 · 09-18-2006, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by argash

i just installed dapper drake and it does not seem to work by just plugging it in. does it require a reboot? (havent tried as I have some processes i dont want to stop at the moment and this isnt all that pressing)

I don't remember because I'm in XP right now. . . but I seem to remember there being a tool you have to use when you first plug it in. Also, remember that a lot of games don't work with the gamepad.

kendall14 · 01-17-2007, 04:51 PM

You can try out Qjoypad at http://qjoypad.sourceforge.net . I hope I helped you.

angryfirelord · 01-17-2007, 08:23 PM

Run a dmesg and see what it says.

For example, plug it in & run dmesg. Look for some like "new USB device found at address whatever" (something like that) or sometimes the device's name will appear.

In case the name doesn't show up, unplug it & run dmesg. If you see "USB disconnected", then you know that the gamepad is detected. If not, well, then I'm not thinking hard enough.

cwwilson721 · 01-23-2008, 05:22 PM

I just bought the same gamepad.

And I'm running Slackware 12
And the "smartass" answer is WRONG

It works fine in SW12

Here's my dmesg tail:

Code:

usb 4-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad as /class/input/input4
input: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad] on usb-0000:00:10.2-1
usbhid: exports duplicate symbol hiddev_hid_event (owned by kernel)
usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 3
usb 4-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad as /class/input/input5
input: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad] on usb-0000:00:10.2-1
usbhid: exports duplicate symbol hiddev_hid_event (owned by kernel)
usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 4
usb 4-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad as /class/input/input6
input: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad] on usb-0000:00:10.2-1
usbhid: exports duplicate symbol hiddev_hid_event (owned by kernel)
usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 5
usb 4-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 6
usb 4-1: device descriptor read/all, error -71
usb 4-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 8
usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad as /class/input/input7
input: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [Jess Tech GGE909 PC Recoil Pad] on usb-0000:00:10.2-1
usbhid: exports duplicate symbol hiddev_hid_event (owned by kernel)

So, smartass: What's wrong with my distro? Sounds like you're jealous because

It works
It's fast
It's EXTREMELY well supported (for free, I might add) in this Forum (Over 250,000 questions and answers
And no smartass "Get another distro" answers

NetRAVEN5000 · 01-23-2008, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwwilson721

I just bought the same gamepad.

And I'm running Slackware 12
And the "smartass" answer is WRONG

It works fine in SW12

It didn't work out of the box with SW10.2 which was the version of Slackware that was out at the time.

Even so, I still contend "plug it in and if it doesn't work, get another distro" is a smartass comment - you might as well not say anything at all because
1) that would only help if I chose a distro whose kernel was compiled with this option (or had it as a module)
2) I'm not going to just reformat my computer - not with classes in session as was the case at the time, reformatting the computer isn't a good idea if you know you will need to use it soon
3) this could be fixed without removing Slackware - it's a kernel option that was not enabled for 10.2's stock kernel compile. This was on my laptop that I posted this, when I came back home after the semester was over I tried on my desktop PC which still had Slack10.2 - I saw that there was a new kernel available and so I downloaded and compiled it, and this driver was one of the options.

I didn't recompile the laptop's kernel while at school, I figured it's not worth risking it if the compile runs into trouble, not to mention there's other things happening on campus when classes aren't in session that I'd rather do (no, I didn't get hammered - but there's a lot of people there interested in the same kind of stuff as me so there were LAN parties, Wii/Xbox/PS2/etc, loud music, cranked amps, playing guitar, movie-watching, talking about new tech, etc.)

cwwilson721 · 01-25-2008, 02:12 PM

Actually, mine ran "straight out of the box", no recompile of the kernel needed.

As a quick guess, you didn't use the "huge" smp kernel, nor installed its modules (Fastest way for me. Has just about everything as modules, hence the "huge" name.)

Try switching to that kernel (Just run pkgtool as either root or su to root, and somewhere in there (not on my SW box at the moment), tell it to install the huge smp kernel, then install (manually) the kernel-modules for it (It's on the cd somewhere...God, I miss my SW box right now...lol).

After that, it's as easy as pie, no recompile neccessary, AND, as an added bonus, many issues that can come up later with other "bits and pieces" being broken will be avoided. (Seasrch the SW forum here at LQ to see what I mean).

Slackware. It just WORKS.

NetRAVEN5000 · 01-27-2008, 08:25 PM

Yeah, it works straight out of the box on Slack 12. That's what I'm saying - when I posted this, Slack 10.2 was the highest available, and it didn't have that support by default. I'm all set now - that was over a year ago.

cwwilson721 · 02-10-2008, 11:25 PM

As an aside:

Any forcefeedback support for this device in linux yet?