View source for Old school (non-usb) joystick in Ubuntu 11.10

We got a used joystick with a d-sub connector and I'm trying to make it work with Ubuntu 11.10.

I had to buy a sound card that had a game port.  I got a Diamond XS51 sound card that shows up like this in lspci:

<pre>
01:07.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
	Subsystem: C-Media Electronics Inc CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
	I/O ports at c000 [size=256]
	Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: C-Media PCI
	Kernel modules: snd-cmipci
</pre>

I now have these modules installed:
<pre>
Module                  Size  Used by
analog                 17399  0 
sidewinder             21041  0 
ns558                  12654  0 
snd_cmipci             35513  2 
gameport               15060  5 analog,sidewinder,ns558,snd_cmipci
snd_opl3_lib           18863  1 snd_cmipci
snd_mpu401_uart        13865  1 snd_cmipci
nfs                   297750  0 
lockd                  78804  1 nfs
fscache                50674  1 nfs
auth_rpcgss            39545  1 nfs
nfs_acl                12771  1 nfs
sunrpc                205330  7 nfs,lockd,auth_rpcgss,nfs_acl
rfcomm                 38408  0 
bnep                   17923  2 
bluetooth             148839  8 rfcomm,bnep
pci_stub               12550  1 
vboxpci                22882  0 
vboxnetadp             13328  0 
vboxnetflt             27211  0 
vboxdrv               251814  3 vboxpci,vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
autofs4                27924  6 
vesafb                 13489  1 
nvidia              10390874  40 
snd_intel8x0           33318  2 
snd_ac97_codec        106082  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_usb_audio         100880  0 
ac97_bus               12642  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm                80468  4 snd_cmipci,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_usb_audio
snd_hwdep              13276  2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_usb_audio
snd_usbmidi_lib        24558  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_seq_midi           13132  0 
joydev                 17393  0 
snd_rawmidi            25241  3 snd_mpu401_uart,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     14475  1 snd_seq_midi
uvcvideo               67271  0 
videodev               85626  1 uvcvideo
snd_seq                51567  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              28932  3 snd_opl3_lib,snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14172  4 snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
binfmt_misc            17292  1 
snd                    55902  21 snd_cmipci,snd_opl3_lib,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_usb_audio,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore              12600  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         14115  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
ppdev                  12849  0 
shpchp                 32356  0 
serio_raw              12990  0 
i2c_nforce2            12906  0 
parport_pc             32114  1 
lp                     17455  0 
parport                40930  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
usbhid                 41905  0 
hid                    77367  1 usbhid
forcedeth              58103  0 
pata_amd               13753  2 
floppy                 60310  0 
</pre>

Sound works on the new sound card.  That didn't take any effort.  But I can't get the joystick to be visible.

I've tried jstest, which seems to misidentify the device:
<pre>
root@merkli:~# jstest /dev/input/js0
Driver version is 2.1.0.
Joystick (Chicony USB Gaming Keyboard Pro) has 0 axes ()
and 11 buttons (BtnX, BtnY, BtnZ, BtnTL, BtnTR, BtnTL2, BtnTR2, BtnSelect, BtnStart, BtnMode, BtnThumbL).
Testing ... (interrupt to exit)
Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 1Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 10:off ^C
</pre>
It isn't USB and it isn't a keyboard.  It might be Chicony... the joystick doesn't have any brand or model written on it.
And the joystick might not be working.  But I think it is unlikely that all the switches and pots in it would all fail together.

It is much more likely that I don't know which device or module is required.

This post mentions asound.state:

http://osdir.com/ml/linux.alsa.user/2002-07/msg00248.html

Do I have to do something to asound.state?  I don't see anything in there related to joysticks at the moment.

This post looks helpful:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1145181

I'll try joydump.

That gives me this in dmesg:
<pre>
[1030086.907845] joydump: ,------------------ START ----------------.
[1030086.907854] joydump: | Dumping:      pci0000:01:07.0/gameport0 |
[1030086.907858] joydump: | Speed:                        59659 kHz |
[1030087.850311] joydump: >------------------ DATA -----------------<
[1030087.850315] joydump: | index:   0 delta:   0 us data: 11111111 |
[1030087.850322] joydump: `------------------- END -----------------'
</pre>
So what device is associated with pci0000:01:07.0/gameport0?  Probably not the /dev/input/js0 that I've been talking to.

/proc/ioports contains this:

 0201-0201 : CMIPCI gameport

lspci reports the address 01:07.0 as associated with the audio card.

Looking through /sys/dev/char, I see these promising entries:
<pre>
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:2 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/midiC1D0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:3 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/pcmC1D2p
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:33 -> ../../devices/virtual/sound/timer
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:4 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/pcmC1D2c
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:5 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/pcmC1D1p
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:6 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/pcmC1D0p
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:7 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/pcmC1D0c
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:8 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/hwC1D0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-12-03 16:45 116:9 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/sound/card1/controlC1
</pre>

They all include a reference to 10:07.0.

Poking around in those directories, I found this directory:
 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/gameport0
and it contains this:
<pre>
root@merkli:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/gameport0# ls -l
total 0
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-12-03 16:45 description
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-12-03 16:45 driver -> ../../../../../bus/gameport/drivers/joydump
--w------- 1 root root 4096 2011-12-03 16:45 drvctl
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    0 2011-12-03 16:45 power
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-12-03 16:45 subsystem -> ../../../../../bus/gameport
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-12-03 16:45 uevent
root@merkli:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/gameport0# cat description 
C-Media Gameport
</pre>
I think I'm getting warm.

Those links into /sys/bus/gameport are interesting.  When I go there I see all the drivers that I've tried to load to make this work:

<pre>
root@merkli:/sys/bus/gameport# tree
.
├── devices
│   └── gameport0 -> ../../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/gameport0
├── drivers
│   ├── adc
│   │   ├── bind
│   │   ├── description
│   │   ├── module -> ../../../../module/a3d
│   │   ├── uevent
│   │   └── unbind
│   ├── analog
│   │   ├── bind
│   │   ├── description
│   │   ├── module -> ../../../../module/analog
│   │   ├── uevent
│   │   └── unbind
│   ├── joydump
│   │   ├── bind
│   │   ├── description
│   │   ├── gameport0 -> ../../../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/gameport0
│   │   ├── module -> ../../../../module/joydump
│   │   ├── uevent
│   │   └── unbind
│   └── sidewinder
│       ├── bind
│       ├── description
│       ├── module -> ../../../../module/sidewinder
│       ├── uevent
│       └── unbind
├── drivers_autoprobe
├── drivers_probe
└── uevent

12 directories, 19 files
</pre>

When I try to use jstest with that device, I get much closer, but not quite success:
<pre>
root@merkli:/sys/bus/gameport/devices# jstest /sys/bus/gameport/devices/gameport0
Driver version is 0.8.0.
jstest is not fully compatible with your kernel. Unable to retrieve button map!
Joystick (Unknown) has 2 axes and 2 buttons.
Testing ... (interrupt to exit)

jstest: error reading: Is a directory
</pre>
It sees the device!  It sees 2 axes and 2 buttons!

Here is a little bit more from dmesg:
<pre>
[166023.854108] C-Media PCI 0000:01:07.0: PCI INT A disabled
[166125.541549] C-Media PCI 0000:01:07.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APC1] -> GSI 16 (level, high) -> IRQ 16
[166125.560829] gameport gameport0: C-Media Gameport is pci0000:01:07.0/gameport0, io 0x201, speed 59659kHz
[180000.000039] [Hardware Error]: Machine check events logged
[748827.792033] hrtimer: interrupt took 32679 ns
[1030086.907845] joydump: ,------------------ START ----------------.
[1030086.907854] joydump: | Dumping:      pci0000:01:07.0/gameport0 |
[1030086.907858] joydump: | Speed:                        59659 kHz |
[1030087.850311] joydump: >------------------ DATA -----------------<
[1030087.850315] joydump: | index:   0 delta:   0 us data: 11111111 |
[1030087.850322] joydump: `------------------- END -----------------'
</pre>

And here is a helpful and discouraging post:
 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1145181

And here is another:
 http://forums.funtoo.org/viewtopic.php?id=763

At first boot, dmesg has nothing about gameport and my /sys/bus/gameport is empty:
<pre>
root@merkli:/sys/bus/gameport# tree
.
├── devices
├── drivers
├── drivers_autoprobe
├── drivers_probe
└── uevent
</pre>

This post looks helpful.
 http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-539758.html

I've found that adding "joystick_port=1" to the snd-cmipci line in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf will cause a device to appear in /sys/bus/gameport after a reboot:
<pre>
root@merkli:/sys/bus/gameport# tree
.
├── devices
│   └── gameport0 -> ../../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0/0000:01:07.0/gameport0
├── drivers
├── drivers_autoprobe
├── drivers_probe
└── uevent
</pre>

But it still won't make anything show up in dmesg.  "modprobe joydump" will get the diagnostic to show up in dmesg.

I still need to figure out what combination of modules will make that device useful.  I'm not sure if I should be trying to use that device in /sys/bus/gameport or if I should be using /dev/input/js0.