QtSixA – Sixaxis control mapping for all!

The Sixaxis emulator supports standard joysticks thanks to the SDL library.
The sixaxis itself is not a standard joystick. This means some ugly patches have to be done to get it work.

It already works fine in usb mode, which makes it usable as-is with the sixaxis emulator, BUT bluetooth mode doesn’t work out of the box.

If you want to use your sixaxis in bluetooth mode, there is an excellent tool called QtSixA. There is a big thread about it in Ubuntu forums.

It turns out that QtSixA (current version is 1.5.0) works fine with the sixaxis emulator 😀

This tool even let you use the motion sensing! This is not supported by the sixaxis emulator… for now 🙂

To install it, from a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:falk-t-j/qtsixa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install qtsixa

There is a shortcut in menu Applications > Accessories.

The pairing is currently broken, to fix it, just type in a terminal:

sudo mv /usr/bin/sixpair /usr/sbin/sixpair

All buttons and sticks are working with the sixaxis emulator. There is an issue with some ‘analog’ (pressure sensitive) buttons that are not working as axes: square/triangle/circle/cross.

There also is a minor compatibility issue regarding the joystick name which is different in bt mode. The joystick name is used to distinguish joystick models, so that this will require a small patch.

Remember: don’t use the same bluetooth address at the same time! This requires 2 sixaxis (1 turned off, 1 turned on). Or a usb dev board (such as the teensy++) to pair custom bluetooth addresses.

6 Replies to “QtSixA – Sixaxis control mapping for all!”

  1. You say "Or a usb dev board (such as the teensy++) to pair custom bluetooth addresses."

    I have a usb dev board how can i pair my bluetooth addresses

  2. Hi, I'm an engineer Mechatronics and my interest in the use of the PS3 is in control applications such as robotics, mainly in the Navigator Control, but perfect for starting this, my intention is not connected to a PC but connect to the ARM microcontroller NXP brand, and therefore I have sought information about the protocol cumunicacion using these controls to a bookstore and be able to communicate, but can not find information, not if you own inforamcion with which I can move forward in my development, thank you your time and admire his ingenuity and skill with this emulator.

  3. You should have a look at the source code of qtsixa. It seems that the communication protocol of the navigation controller is the same than the sixaxis. The only difference seems to be the usb product id, which is 0x042F instead of 0x0268.

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