Checking keys?
  • JimD
    Is there any way of checking key mapping? I know that you can use F1 inside a game to see keyboard controls, but is there a better way? I've seen info about the advk keyboard check utility, but can't find any info about it beyond it's command line syntax. Does it even exist in advmame for linux?

    I'm using a mini-pac keyboard encoder. Advmame gets funky with more than one keyboard, and I'm trying to find the exact mappings, including what keyboard the system thinks the encoder is. Hopefully I can then create a specific input_map setting for my buttons.

    Jim
  • johnnygaljohnnygal
    If you look in /var/log/messages you should see what HID device it spots the encoder as.

    The way I tested mine is just to get to the command prompt and exercise each button - of course this will only work with normal characters and not CTRL/ALT/etc

    (If you want to get to the command prompt without a "normal" keyboard, edit the .profile to comment out the call to the python menu.
  • JimD
    Thanks, I didn't think of checking the logs, and probably wouldn't have found the right one! :-)

    I can check the buttons on command line, just lazy... actually, that won't tell me which keyboard the system thinks it is, but with the above log, should get me most of the way there.

    Again, thanks!
  • JimD
    I've hit an interesting issue. I've checked the control panel on the command line, and all keys work as expected.

    In advmame, I cannot get any player 2 controls to work. Playing a two player game, player 2 buttons do not work. The player 1 buttons work for player 2 as well.

    Thinking this might be a controller issue, I connected a keyboard only, and the issue persists. Games tested so far are: missile command, joust, and moon patrol. The issue is in beta 6.3 as well as 6.4

    I still need to look at the explicit key mappings, and see if that is causing a problem, but since the issue affects multiple games, I don't think it's individual game settings.

    I welcome any thoughts!

    Jim
  • JimD
    Just realized, Missile Command and Moon Patrol probably only use one set of keys, since the players swapped.

    However, Joust, and Gauntlet as well, only do player 1 controls.
  • JimD
    Update...

    I'm using a brand new image, and a different keyboard, and two-player works. Now to try the original keyboard, see if that changes things. If not, I'll try the encoder alone tomorrow, and then try encoder and keyboard.
  • SSilver2k2SSilver2k2
    Please keep us updated!
  • johnnygaljohnnygal
    I have seen this for some games but assume it's the game.

    I have "cocktail" selected for most games (in DIP switch settings), as I am getting ready to build a cocktail cabinet. It certainly rotates the display and allows player 2 controls for Phoenix, Bomb Jack, Galaga, Frogger off the top of my head. (This is with a normal keyboard)
  • JimD
    OK, some actual progress...

    I've been working with a clean image, just to be sure. I first used a straight keyboard, and as expected, two-player works just fine. My setup is:

    Raspberry Pi B, powered off of a Belkin 7-port hub. Pi data connection to the hub from the lower usb port on the Pi.

    So, I added in the encoder, and the key assignments all got messed up. Using Gauntlet as a test, I tried explicit mapping of keys for the game itself. So for the keyboard, coin 1 showed up as 5. For the encoder the coin 1 button mapped as k2:5.

    After exiting, I looked at advmame.rc, and the explicit mappings were [0,5] and [1,5]. I would have thought 1 and 2, but anyway.

    I then deleted the Gauntlet explicit mappings, and changed all the input mappings at the end of the file to [0,(key)] or [1,(key)].

    Upon reboot, 2-player works for all games I've tried so far... Gauntlet, Joust, Galaga in cocktail mode, Frogger in cocktail mode.

    So, so far so good. However, I've made sure to keep all the usb inputs exactly the same during the tests. Next up, swap to different ports on the hub, and see if the system tracks by the HID Id, or by the port input.

    Jim
  • JimD
    It seems that all is now well! Moving the keyboard and encoder to different ports did not affect the key mappings. It appears that the Pi tracks the devices by hid id.

    I also had to change dev_mouse to raw, not auto to get the trackball working.

    Jim
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