Wisegroup MP-8866 Dual USB Joypad aka Super Dual Box

Wisegroup MP-8866 Dual USB Joypad aka Super Dual Box

[Andrew Fuller]

There are a number of posts on various support forums trying to get
the MP-8866 device to function in Linux.  The device in question is a
PS2->USB adapter that actually has two PS2 plugs.

Currently, when this device is plugged in, it is detected, and joydev
is loaded (the correct module), /dev/input/js0 is created (only
identified as a single joystick, but that's a minor issue), but
cat'ing the js0 node does not respond to joystick input.  A few bytes
appear immediately as cat is started, but then falls silent.

This post goes into more detail on the behaviour:
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-usb-users&m\x108292426517740&w=2

Through my own Googling and debugging, I've come up with a hack to get
this to function.  Surprisingly, this change does not touch anything
with USB (several posts requesting help have been on the usb mailing
list), but in fact it is with hotplug.

The change is in /etc/hotplug/hotplug.functions in the following block of code:

    # should we use usbmodules, pcimodules?  not on 2.5+, because sysfs
    # ought to expose the data we need to find all candidate drivers.
    # (on 2.5.48 it does for usb; but maybe not yet for pci.)
    case "$KERNEL" in
    2.2*|2.3*|2.4*)     LISTER=`which ${TYPE}modules` ;;
    *)                  LISTER="" ;;
    esac

Change the 2nd to last line to the following:

    *)                  LISTER=`type -p ${TYPE}modules` ;;

Now this looks to me to be flat out wrong.  I am running a 2.6 kernel,
and this check was explicitly put in to NOT use usbmodules with a 2.6
kernel.

I'm asking for help to track down a the real culprit here so a proper
fix can be made and applied in the appropriate package to avoid this
hack on my system, and provide a working MP-8866 to others with their
future upgrade of said package.

Perhaps the USB module not exposing something properly in the sysfs
that the comment in  hotplug.functions refers to?  Is it a shortcoming
of sysfs?  Is it a problem in hotplug, and we really should be using
usbmodules even with a 2.6 kernel?  Is it a problem in hotplug in the
way it deals with items when usbmodules is .not. used?

Any thoughts on how to debug this?

Thanks,
-Andrew


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Re: Wisegroup MP-8866 Dual USB Joypad aka Super Dual Box

[Marco d'Itri]

On Jan 19, Andrew Fuller <mactalla.obair@gmail.com> wrote:

> Any thoughts on how to debug this?
Check which modules are not being loaded.

-- 
ciao,
Marco


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Re: Wisegroup MP-8866 Dual USB Joypad aka Super Dual Box

[Andrew Fuller]

> > Any thoughts on how to debug this?
> Check which modules are not being loaded.

According to lsmod joydev is the only module loaded for this adaptor. 
I checked the output of lsmod when it works, then changed my
hotplug.functions file, unplugged the adaptor, plugged it back in,
then checked the output of lsmod.  They're identical, but at this
point /dev/input/js0 no longer receives input from the joysticks (but
it has been recreated).

Can you point me to some documentation re: bahavioural differences of
hotplug when LISTER is set to usbmodules and when it is not set?

Thanks,
-Andrew


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