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Hi,

i've just uploaded a zeemote driver (libzeemote) incl. a control panel applet (libzeemote-conf) and a rather incomplete example game (zeesteroids) into extras-devel.

See my homepage for a screenshot of the config tool.

I did not need/use the SDK from the device vendor and thus the entire driver is under GPL. I lack some information to write a "perfect" driver (i don't understand some of the status reports the device sends and i don't know its service uuid), but the current result is working nicely and is likely sufficient for the average use case.

If you are interested in incorporating zeemote support into your own games, have a look at the zeesteroids source code (apt-get source zeesteroids).

The library works for chinook, diablo and fremantle beta.

MoG

That's great! That should be very useful once some Maemo devices with TV Out start appearing, not just for gaming but possibly for general use too.

(That reminds me, is there any existing Wiimote driver for Maemo?)

https://garage.maemo.org/projects/wiicontrol/

video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKx5tNrsiE8

Providing some demo isn't everything. Imho we need some way to deal with the fact that nokia never put the joystick related parts of the input system into the maemo kernel. Updating the kernel is no option as its way beyond the capabilities of the average user.

That's why i wrote those libraries and configuration tools. The library is by purpose able to support 4 axis devices and up to 32 buttons. This should also allow it to handle the wiimote. Perhaps i'll add wiimote support one day. But i think the wiimote is too big as companion of the tablets. The Zeemote is pretty small and sleek and i got mine for 12 Euro from ebay which also isn't very expensive.

The wiimote thing you refer to maps the wiimote to keys which is nice as it enables the wiimote for many applications. One the other hand you aren't able to take advantage of the analog inputs of the nunchuck or the zeemote.

I am thinking about patching the libsdl to support the zeemote directly. This way all sdl games could use the zeemote without being modified at all. The only downside is that the libsdl doesn't have a way to report things like connections losses and problems with connection establishment. So a user wouldn't know what's wrong with his zeemote if something fails whyn trying to use it with such an sdl game.

It's too late for the Fremantle kernel, but what about Harmattan?

I don't know if this would change anything but, have you tried filing an enhancement request specifying the modules you are interested about and the reasoning behind?

If you can gather the support of other developers all the better.

Hum... this is food for the Maemo Brainstorm.

Is there any chance of getting the Nintendo Wiimote into this too?

It's extremely easy to find a Wiimote, and it provides more control data too. It's surprisingly good as an all-round wireless media control, very suitable for devices with TV Out.

I'm sure Nintendo wouldn't mind this kind of thing either as they make a nice profit on every Wiimote sold.

Now we are going off-topic here, but what do you miss in terms of Wiimote support? I think they provide an API and some developers have used it (on of them Urho Konttori from the Maemo SW team in his spare time, by the way).

If you are talking about some kind of official support then this is a diffrent thing and two companies need to sit, discuss and sign papers (something not simple, you can imagine).

Please find a better thread is you want to keep discussing the Wiimote. Thanks!

Wow, I didn't even know about this device!! Thanks for pointing it out! Now I just need to find something it use it on.

What I'd really like to see Nokia themselves bring out a wiimote-style controller (without the motion detection) that works using the Bluetooth HID standard so that it would be compatible with all existing S60 and Maemo hardware. At the moment BT keyboards work like a wireless controller, but their physical shape makes them awkward. It would be nice to have a BT keyboard placed inside a Wiimote casing.

But I know that's beyond the scope of Maemo and your department... :-)


The Zeemote is (amongst other things) compatible with the N-Gage platform on S60 phones, and works particularly well if you plug the S60 device into a television set using TV Out.

Here's a demo of N-Gage games running through TV Out (the video uses a keyboard but a controller would work even better):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3EyhaLK0V4

Since we don't even know when fremantle devices will ship and how successful they'll be current focus is on existing devices. Even if that means some ugly hacks are needed.