Disable devices?

hansolo77

Ok, got a working runcommand-onstartscript going, but it's not pretty. Had some complications but it's all figured out now.

if [ "$1" = "openbor" ]
then
sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick /dev/input/js99
sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-event-joystick /dev/input/event99
fi

The "not pretty" part is that this is a suicide modification. I don't know how to store the original ID's as variables to be recalled in the runcommand-onend script to put things back to normal. Going this route solves the problem for OpenBOR, but kills any other games that would use that device. What I need is a script that will do this:

if [ "$1" = "openbor" ] && [ "/dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick" = "js0" ]
then
# store variable for /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-event-joystick as this changes randomly too and ties with the jsX
sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick /dev/input/js99
sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-event-joystick /dev/input/event99
fi

and runcommand-onend:

if [ "$1" = "openbor" ] && [ "/dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick" = "js99" ]
then
# recall stored variable for eventX
sudo mv /dev/input/js99 /dev/input/js0
sudo mv /dev/input/event99 /dev/input/eventX #variable
fi

Does this sound possible? I know my &&'s and ='s are probably wrong, this is coming from a google search lol. Does the runcommand-onend remember the $1 variable when a game is exiting?

hansolo77

Anybody have any experience with this care to offer some helpful advice? :) Sorry I gotta ask. Once I get this figured out and working, I promise to leave you guys alone for a month or so before I try and do something else lol.

mediamogul

@hansolo77

I'm not entirely sure I understand the workflow you're aiming for, but if not exactly correct, this may at least serve as inspiration for a better solution.

In theory, the following should store the two event names as variables, export them and then check to see if they're present to allow the if/then statement to continue.

runcommand-onstart:

RNJS="$(find /dev/input/by-id/ -name '*raphnet.net_nes2usb*USB-joystick*')"
RNEJS="$(find /dev/input/by-id/ -name '*raphnet.net_nes2usb*USB-event-joystick*')"

export RNJS RNEJS

if [ "$1" = "openbor" ] && [ -n "$RNJS" ] && [ -n "$RNEJS" ]; then
  sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick /dev/input/js99
  sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-event-joystick /dev/input/event99
fi

With the event name variables exported, the following should put everything back as it was.

runcommand-onend:

if [ "$1" = "openbor" ] && [ -n "$RNJS" ] && [ -n "$RNEJS" ]; then
  sudo mv /dev/input/js99 "/dev/input/by-id/""$RNJS"
  sudo mv /dev/input/event99 "/dev/input/by-id/""$RNEJS"
fi

Does the runcommand-onend remember the $1 variable when a game is exiting?

It is aware of that variable, yes.

hansolo77

@mediamogul Thanks a lot for this! I will experiment and report back. I wasn't sure how a bash script would work as far as storing variables. My experience in writing a "program" from scratch is limited to my days in high school with TI-BASIC on the TI-85 graphing calculator. LOL! It looks like we name the variable, then the command to locate it. The parts I'm hung up on are the programming commands, like find, -name, and -n. find is pretty self explanatory, as is -name. Reading it across though, are you sure this is correct? I'm not defining $RNJS, just RNJS (missing the preceeding $)... or is that what the export does? Also, I'm still not seeing where the test against the variable is detecting it as js0... It looks like all we're doing is testing for the existence of the $RNJS variable...

What if we do:

if [ "$1" = "openbor" ] && [ "/dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick" = "js0" ]; then
  RNJS="$(find /dev/input/by-id/ -name '*raphnet.net_nes2usb*USB-joystick*')"
  RNEJS="$(find /dev/input/by-id/ -name '*raphnet.net_nes2usb*USB-event-joystick*')"  
  export RNJS RNEJS
  sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick /dev/input/js99
  sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-event-joystick /dev/input/event99
fi

Or is that just overly complicating things?

mediamogul

@hansolo77 said in Disable devices?:

It looks like all we're doing is testing for the existence of the $RNJS variable...

That is all that it's doing. I'm really not sure how you'd correlate an event name to a jsX assignment for the if/then statement. Perhaps you could get there by extracting and manipulating information from:

cat /proc/bus/input/devices

in some way, but to my knowledge you can't automatically correlate them by just using:

if  [ "/dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick" = "js0" ]; then

hansolo77

Well I'm getting no where fast. I thought I had the solution, by moving the js assignment. It worked, but now it's not. Even when doing it manually. Now I'm having a problem where the Xbox controller isn't being enumerated as js1. Instead, it's coming up randomly too as js4 sometimes (so OpenBOR's controller mappings need changed and it says "P3 BUTTON 1" etc. Then other times it's coming up as js1 (Player 2), or even a js6 (Player 5) one time. This whole things is ridiculously complicated now. I think I'm going to skip all of it and add another XBOXDRV setting. I really didn't want to do that, because it seems like each new entry takes a little bit longer for the runcommand-onstart to process. But it looks like it's still the best way to go.

mediamogul

@hansolo77

You never can tell, inspiration usually strikes me just as I've given up. However, xboxdrv will definitely work. One way to keep the script size down is to offload the lengthy xboxdrv launch commands to a separate script, leaving just the if/then statements that call the script in one line. I run a little over 300 xboxdrv maps and my runcommand-onstart file is only 32k.

hansolo77

@mediamogul said in Disable devices?:

I run a little over 300 xboxdrv maps and my runcommand-onstart file is only 32k.

And here I am complaining about 7k. :) Maybe it's just in my head.

mediamogul

@hansolo77 said in Disable devices?:

Maybe it's just in my head.

Maybe not. It could just be some other factor. 7kb shouldn't be slowing you down though. At 32kb, mine loads almost instantly.

cyperghost

@mediamogul

That is all that it's doing. I'm really not sure how you'd correlate an event name to a jsX assignment for the if/then statement. Perhaps you could get there by extracting and manipulating information from ....

That's possible, because the events are just symlinks to the jsx-tree. So the idea @mitu introduced works with realpath symlink and gives output dev/input/js[0-99]

@hansolo77
I think a good approach would be something like this

RNJS="$(find /dev/input/by-id/ -name '*raphnet.net_nes2usb*USB-joystick*')"
RNEJS="$(find /dev/input/by-id/ -name '*raphnet.net_nes2usb*USB-event-joystick*')"
JSX="$(realpath $RNJS)"

if [ "$1" = "openbor" ] && [ "${JSX##*/}" = "js0" ]; then
export  RNJS RNEJS JSX
  sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-joystick /dev/input/js99
  sudo mv /dev/input/by-id/usb-raphnet.net_nes2usb_1228-event-joystick /dev/input/event99
fi

mediamogul

@cyperghost

I love it when ideas exchange and evolve like this. Thinking on it a little bit, this could be used for a couple of different use cases that I've had in mind and didn't know where to start. I've always disliked how device assignment and handling is out of the user's control.

hansolo77

It doesn’t solve the problem though. Simply moving the assignment of jsX on the Raphnet didn’t change any of the other assignments. The Xbox controller still wasn’t working because it was assigned to js5. So my Mayflash that was on js2 was picked up as the next controller in OpenBOR. My wireless keyboard was js3 and the mouse was js4. I would have to go through and move the raphnet and the Xbox too. It’s became much more complicated then it should be. XBOXDRV works because you’re removing the kernel driver then creating a new one where you’re assigning the buttons to keyboard keys. It ALWAYS works. But we shouldn’t have to do that. Granted, my particular situation is unique, but the problem is there.

mediamogul

@hansolo77 said in Disable devices?:

It doesn’t solve the problem though.

Why do you always have to be so negative? ;) I do think there's a kernel of a solution here, but I also agree that after you wade through the complexity of what it'd take, it's probably best to seek out a simpler option. This type of issue with controller assignments was actually one of the first things I ever posted about on here. In looking for a solution I ran across xboxdrv and years later it's still a great option for these types of things.

hansolo77

@mediamogul said in Disable devices?:

Why do you always have to be so negative? ;)

I'm pessimistic.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pessimistic
Comes with my depression, anxiety, low self esteem. The whole belief that nothing positive exists in my life, other than being alive and having a job.

Back on topic though, I still think in this particular case, even my initial OP to seek a way to disable a device probably wouldn't have worked either, given that the other devices are also enumerated randomly.

mediamogul

@hansolo77 said in Disable devices?:

The whole belief that nothing positive exists in my life, other than being alive and having a job.

Don't forget about a kickass retro-gaming console of your own design. That's pretty sweet too.

Clyde

@hansolo77 said in Disable devices?:

Is there a way to disable a device so it's not being detected and identified?

USB devices can be disabled via usb authorisation in udev. For example, this udev rule disables my Mayflash Wireless Wii U Adapter:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0079", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1800", ATTR{authorized}="0"

I got the values for idVendor and idProduct from the output of the lsusb command. Alternatively, you can get them for a specific js* device like this:

udevadm info -q all -n /dev/input/js0 | grep 'VENDOR_ID\|MODEL_ID'

Just put your vendor and model ids as idVendor and idProduct values in the udev rule and save it in /etc/udev/rules.d/60-disabled_devices.rules (the name between 60- and .rules is arbitrary). That should disable the usb device on the next reboot or after running the command sudo udevadm trigger.

edit: The change is not permanent. Just delete the rule or change its value "autorized" to 1 to enable the device again.

cyperghost

@clyde This looks like a generic solution.
Is it save to execute those commands during a running ES session?

So on runcommand-onstart a driver is disabeld.
On runcommand-onend all drivers are enabled again.

But I think it won't solve the problem, that a specific driver (maybe the XBOX360) will be first row ;)
Any suggetions? I can't test this because all my joypads are simply assigned as js# devices.... there are no events triggered.

Clyde

@cyperghost Alas, I don't now how ES and its emulators will react to this on runtime. I didn't use it myself (yet), but researched it only because of this thread and a general interest for future use.

As for specific drivers, I don't have any experience in that either, but as long as they depend on the devices in /dev/input/, they should react to disabled devices there accordingly, I suppose.