Linux HID Driver

in   Drivers   , ,

Most HIDs (Human Interface Devices) are supported in Linux without the need for a custom driver. However, some devices don’t necessarily implement the USB HID specification correctly, and the support for gamepad controls is rather lacking.

Of particular interest to me, and a few others in the Linux gaming community, is support for the Saitek X52/X52 Pro HOTAS joystick. For the most part, this joystick works very well in Linux, but with one limitation. The little thumb stick on the throttle module that controls the mouse motion. Linux only reports the X-axis for that thumbstick, and I traced it to the fact that Linux maps only one axis in the game controls usage page. For this to work as intended, we really need to build a customized driver.

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