ES doesn't see controlles when X11 is started remotely

T-men

Hello,

I've installed RETROPIE on my PC which is running Linux Mint as an OS.
The base function of the PC is a (headless) fileserver. So usually there is no need to start X.
This saves resources, so this is the default setting.

But for RETROPIE the X-windows is needed :-)

Usually one can just type:

startx

... to get X-windows started.
When following this configuration everything is fine. Keyboard, mouse and controllers are all functioning perfect ! :-)

But, like I mentioned earlier, the base function op de PC is fileserver. Usually there are no keyboard and mouse connected to it. The controllers are, however.

Since there is no keyboard or mouse connected I need to start X via a remote ssh-shell using:

DISPLAY=192.168.2.15 && startx

This perfectly boots X.
RETROPIE/ES is started automatically. Keyboad and mouse (when connected) are functioning okay but my controllers.... aren't... :-(

I've tryed several types of controllers. Both wired and via Bluetooth. ES says: "No gamepads detected"

When I perform a test with

jstest dev/input/js0

output is generated. So the controllers are there and should be available to ES.

Does anyone have a suggestion how to get ES detecting the controllers when X is started remotely ?

System details:

PC: Asus VivoMini VM65N
OS: Linux Mint
Controllers: 8BitDo SN30 Pro+

DirtBagXon

@t-men said in ES doesn't see controlles when X11 is started remotely:

System details:

PC: Asus VivoMini VM65N

OS: Linux Mint

Controllers: 8BitDo SN30 Pro+

You will probably find this is down to the abstraction layer between the kernel and X11 and getting the Desktop to recognise the input events.

Do you have the xserver-xorg-input-joystick driver installed ?

I also used triggerhappy for Desktop environment js event detection.

My biggest concern in a setup like this is game event latency, and sound?

Is this fileserver in the same location so you can output sound ? I guess so, as you will have the same issue with controller input.

I found the best 'lightweight' Window Manager and Desktop environment that worked for me were: lightdm and xfwm4

mitu

@t-men said in ES doesn't see controlles when X11 is started remotely:

Since there is no keyboard or mouse connected I need to start X via a remote ssh-shell using:
DISPLAY=192.168.2.15 && startx

That's not how usually startx is run, it may need additional permissions which are granted if started from the console terminal. I'd suggest to start on-demand a login manager (lightdm as, @DirtBagXon suggested) and configure it to auto-login to your installation user instead of running startx manually.

DirtBagXon

@mitu

I read this as they are looking to run the desktop over an SSH tunnel from a (headless) remote linux fileserver, hence my concern about latency. If this is the case, they would need to start the X environment manually, or maybe you could setup some checks to examine ${SSH_ENV} within .profile to try an autostart.

@t-men

Another check is to ensure the user running ES, is in the correct group to access js events. Usually input

crw-rw-r--+ 1 root input 13, 0 Oct  3 19:05 /dev/input/js0