GamePad to Keyboard Mapper: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you tired of playing games on your Ubuntu system using a keyboard? Do you want to use your gamepad or dance pad to play games and control other applications more effectively? If so, this guide is for you.

In this article, we will show you how to map your gamepad's buttons and axes to keyboard keys using the joystick2 and js2mouse tools. We will also introduce a new tool called 'GamePad Mapper' that allows you to assign custom key mappings to your gamepad's buttons and axes.

Installing Joystick

To start, you need to install the joystick package on your Ubuntu system. You can do this by opening a terminal and typing `sudo apt-get install joystick`. Alternatively, you can use the Ubuntu Software Center to search for and install the joystick package.

Once installed, plug in your gamepad or dance pad and open a terminal. Type `joystick` to see a list of available joysticks on your system.

Configuring Joystick

To configure your gamepad or dance pad, you need to create a configuration file that maps your gamepad's buttons and axes to keyboard keys. You can do this by creating a text file with the extension `.joy` and adding the following lines:

```

Mouse_Up_Left = key 'Mouse_Up_Left'

Mouse_Down_Right = key 'Mouse_Down_Right'

```

Replace `key 'Mouse_Up_Left'` and `key 'Mouse_Down_Right'` with the actual keyboard keys you want to use.

GamePad Mapper

The GamePad Mapper is a new tool that allows you to assign custom key mappings to your gamepad's buttons and axes. To use it, simply download the source code from Google Code and follow the installation instructions.

Once installed, you can create a configuration file using the `gamepad_mapper` command:

```

gamepad_mapper -c example-config.joy

```

This will create a file called `example-config.joy` that contains the key mappings for your gamepad's buttons and axes.

Using GamePad as Mouse

If you want to use your gamepad or dance pad as a mouse, you can do so by creating a configuration file that maps your gamepad's axes to mouse movements. For example:

```

Mouse_Movement_Left = axis 0

Mouse_Movement_Right = axis 1

```

Replace `axis 0` and `axis 1` with the actual axes of your gamepad.

In this article, we have shown you how to map your gamepad's buttons and axes to keyboard keys using the joystick2 and js2mouse tools. We also introduced a new tool called 'GamePad Mapper' that allows you to assign custom key mappings to your gamepad's buttons and axes. With these tools, you can play games and control other applications more effectively using your gamepad or dance pad.

Gamepad to keyboard mapper