Hardware: steering wheel and pedals?

[joevenzon]

From what stenyak has said, I think the linux kernel support is through HID-FF, which is a generic driver, not through a device-specific driver. Is that correct?

I wish SDL would add FFB support....

[thelusiv]

Maybe someone should hack together a force-feedback SDL lib. I doubt that SDL will incorporate it into their core but it's possible, since there is a lot of input-related stuff there already. It would be tricky though, as whomever does this will likely have to code it differently on each operating system.

[stenyak]

First of all, i'm no expert in these issues, so correct me if i'm wrong.

The FFB provided by linux kernel (the one i've used at least) works for all i-force (Immersion Techs) devices.
I think Immersion has patent for all force feedback systems (isn't that why the ps3 default controllers don't come with ffb?), so i guess all devices with ffb support adhere to i-force api, making it a sort-of standard.

Judging by what the hacker who coded i-force support says, it looks like this api could be used as a standard (of course not an open standard); but i guess it's easier to directly use Immersion SDKs on windows (which we don't have in linux).

Being mostly a linux developer (except for 6h a day at work! :lol: ), i have no idea about FFB support in windows. Does DirectX provide an api for it? Or is it necessary to use (buy?) the Immersion one?


Now changing topic... people at SDL already discussed the inclussion of a FFB api. The problem, IIRC, was that there's not enough interested/experienced developers on the subject. These discussions are on the SDL mailing list anyway, feel free to search it.

Also, i don't know how mature this lib is atm (probably not much), but the Object Oriented Input System is supposed to support some FFB devices, while being cross-platform.


Sorry for the mess of ideas in this post, gotta go to bed

[thelusiv]

That's interesting. I'd never heard of OIS before. I wonder if it'd be easier to handle input with that that SDL...SDL is kinda a pain when working with C++ because processing controls is done in a very C-like manner. It can be wrapped in a class and though ours is, it still takes a ton of coding to get anything done. I think I might try this out in one of my coding projects this semester (I'm taking a 3D game programming course) and then see if it is worth redoing all the VDrift control code using it. It really looks like a good library... Check out the API:

http://www.wreckedgames.com/docs/ois/html/index.html

[joevenzon]

I believe directinput supports FFB in windows. If FFB is incorporated into SDL, it would need to use directinput for FFB in windows while relying on something else in linux (openal does something similar with directsound).

[Nigo]

I didn't know OIS, but it looks like they try to address Force Feedback on Linux
http://www.wreckedgames.com/docs/ois/htm...dback.html
if anyone can try it ?

so i guess all devices with ffb support adhere to i-force api

if I remember well, the Microsoft devices use their own protocol :roll: and DirectX supports both

[stenyak]

I didn't know OIS, but it looks like they try to address Force Feedback on Linux
http://www.wreckedgames.com/docs/ois/htm...dback.html
if anyone can try it ?

so i guess all devices with ffb support adhere to i-force api

if I remember well, the Microsoft devices use their own protocol :roll: and DirectX supports both

Hmm right, i remember reading about microsoft ffb in the linux kernel too. Dunno how good the support level is though.

[joevenzon]

note to self: buy one of those sweet logitech FFB wheels and give it a try

[thelusiv]

note to self: buy one of those sweet logitech FFB wheels and give it a try

A friend has a Logitech Racing Force Pro he's looking to replace with the Logitech G25 soon. I'll probably buy the Racing Force Pro from him for cheap when he does. It's not quite the G25, but then again I don't exactly have nearly $300 to drop on a new steering wheel...

[stenyak]

<offtopic>

note to self: buy one of those sweet logitech FFB wheels and give it a try

A friend has a Logitech Racing Force Pro he's looking to replace with the Logitech G25 soon. I'll probably buy the Racing Force Pro from him for cheap when he does. It's not quite the G25, but then again I don't exactly have nearly $300 to drop on a new steering wheel...

FYI: it's available at amazon.de for less than 240eur. Of course you need to know german, or take some time using google translator (like i did), but you save 60eur over original price, and it gets shipped home
</offtopic>

[thelusiv]

That's a pretty good deal, but I still can't afford one. :cry:

[stenyak]

That's a pretty good deal, but I still can't afford one. :cry:

The DFP is *really* cheap now, i would seriously consider it unless the other wheel costs less than 40eur.

[Nigo]

amazon.de

and ship back to the US ?! according to xe.com, 300$ = 230€, what's the point ?

[stenyak]

Ah nevermind, i the g25 is sold at 300 eur and 300 usd, which are obviously not the same. My super-cheap price is about the same as your normal price. I'm sure i've seen super-super-cheap price in the us, even with free shipping, somewhere....
Sorry for the offtopic

[thelusiv]

No problem it's fun to get off-topic sometimes

Back on topic though, does anyone want to try to whip up a demo program to see just how well OIC works for force-feedback? I will try it later on but...somebody make my Wingman wiggle!