Specifically Arch. I found a GitHub page for xbox360wirelesschatpad but the installation instructions are for Windows. I know LibUSB is available but the vjoy driver doesn’t seem to be. I feel like there’s probably some comparable package.

There might also be an alternative way to do this all together. There seem to be a few methods of doing this on Windows using third party applications.


I am mostly doing this for the novelty of it but I feel like it could be useful for navigating my PC from my couch or responding to messages through Steam.

It seems like this whole process is pretty plug and play with the Xbox One controller and it’s chatpad but that’s not what I am after.

  • @[email protected]
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    2528 days ago

    I remember looking around when I found my old one in a box. I didn’t get it to work but I’m sure it’s possible.

    • CorrodedOP
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      1428 days ago

      I feel the same way. There have been a lot of projects using the Kinect on Linux so I figured some work would have been done for the chatpad.

      I imagine there is some easy way I am missing like simply using some kind of controller remapping program.

        • CorrodedOP
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          28 days ago

          Look promising but when running npm i

          I get the following error message

          npm WARN old lockfile 
          npm WARN old lockfile The package-lock.json file was created with an old version of npm,
          npm WARN old lockfile so supplemental metadata must be fetched from the registry.
          npm WARN old lockfile 
          npm WARN old lockfile This is a one-time fix-up, please be patient...
          npm WARN old lockfile 
          npm WARN deprecated ini@1.3.5: Please update to ini >=1.3.6 to avoid a prototype pollution issue
          npm WARN deprecated har-validator@5.1.5: this library is no longer supported
          npm WARN deprecated debug@4.2.0: Debug versions >=3.2.0 <3.2.7 || >=4 <4.3.1 have a low-severity ReDos regression when used in a Node.js environment. It is recommended you upgrade to 3.2.7 or 4.3.1. (https://github.com/visionmedia/debug/issues/797)
          npm WARN deprecated uuid@3.4.0: Please upgrade  to version 7 or higher.  Older versions may use Math.random() in certain circumstances, which is known to be problematic.  See https://v8.dev/blog/math-random for details.
          npm WARN deprecated request@2.88.2: request has been deprecated, see https://github.com/request/request/issues/3142
          npm WARN deprecated tar@2.2.2: This version of tar is no longer supported, and will not receive security updates. Please upgrade asap.
          npm ERR! code 1
          npm ERR! path /home/Luke/.custom_scripts/chatpad-linux/node_modules/@serialport/bindings
          npm ERR! command failed
          npm ERR! command sh -c prebuild-install --tag-prefix @serialport/bindings@ || node-gyp rebuild
          npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
          npm ERR! gyp info using node-gyp@3.8.0
          npm ERR! gyp info using node@18.18.2 | linux | x64
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error 
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: Command failed: /usr/bin/python -c import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack   File "<string>", line 1
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(...)?
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack 
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.exithandler (node:child_process:422:12)
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:517:28)
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1098:16)
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:303:5)
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Linux 6.8.4-arch1-1
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "/usr/bin/node" "/home/Luke/.custom_scripts/chatpad-linux/node_modules/.bin/node-gyp" "rebuild"
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd /home/Luke/.custom_scripts/chatpad-linux/node_modules/@serialport/bindings
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v18.18.2
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.8.0
          npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok
          
          npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/Luke/.npm/_logs/2024-04-13T00_57_22_075Z-debug-0.log
          
          

          It almost seems like it’s trying to make calls with older applications and that’s why it’s erroring out. I took a look at the files and I am guessing package-lock.json is the culprit. For example

          npm WARN deprecated tar@2.2.2: This version of tar is no longer supported, and will not receive security updates. Please upgrade asap.

          seems to match

              "tar": {
                "version": "2.2.2",
                "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/tar/-/tar-2.2.2.tgz",
                "integrity": "sha512-FCEhQ/4rE1zYv9rYXJw/msRqsnmlje5jHP6huWeBZ704jUTy02c5AZyWujpMR1ax6mVw9NyJMfuK2CMDWVIfgA==",
                "requires": {
                  "block-stream": "*",
                  "fstream": "^1.0.12",
                  "inherits": "2"
          

          Going to https://registry.npmjs.org/tar/ gives me a GitHub link with the latest version being 6.1.13. I don’t know if the fix as as simple as swapping the URL to be https://registry.npmjs.org/tar/-/tar-6.1.13.tgz (which apparently does exist) then doing the same thing for ini, har-validator, uuid, and request. Even then I don’t know how to figure out the hash value that I would need to the integrity check.

          Any ideas or suggestions?

          Edit: The integrity section is under dist on https://registry.npmjs.org/package_name_here/. I am going to try to hack something together and see if it works.

          Edit 2: I fixed the deprecated dependency errors with the exception of hal-validator and the latter part of the error message still remains.

          Edit 3:

          pm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: Command failed: /usr/bin/python -c import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
          
          

          Makes me wonder if it’s a Python issue but I really don’t know how to proceed from here.

          Edit 4: There’s a section on the GitHub page’s issue section that mentioned “Failed at the @serialport/[email protected] install script” and I’m wondering if that might be it. The solution was apparently running npm install node-sass@latest --save --force before the npm i but it errors out when run in the chatpad-linux directory starting with

          npm ERR! code 1
          npm ERR! path /home/Luke/.custom_scripts/chatpad-linux/node_modules/ioctl
          

          and it continues on with more text.

            • CorrodedOP
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              228 days ago

              No worries.

              I don’t think you would technically need an Xbox 360 controller to test this. This is the step before running sudo nodejs index.js <serial port> and using the controller.

              • K0W4L5K1
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                28 days ago

                Hey i just saw this on my way home but try running the logs through an ai like blackbox it has a JavaScript trained one specifically. I have been using it for other issues and shits fucking cool

                Edit: https://www.blackbox.ai/share/14a4c80f-0506-4cc7-8508-9810d71acb72 here’s the response it gave me might help you more I’ll try it out when I get home as well I don’t have a pad but if it builds should work? Right? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

                • CorrodedOP
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                  228 days ago

                  Thanks for the suggestion. It seems like that would have made upgrading the packages a lot easier.

                  Unfortunately after applying the fixes it suggests it seems to kind of send me in a circle. It did say at one point it might be a Python issue.

  • @[email protected]
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    1828 days ago

    Man, if you figure it out, I’d be blown away. I’d love to use it instead of my janky wireless keyboard for my PC/TV setup.

    • @[email protected]
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      1128 days ago

      I found steam controller is the pinnacle for remote controlling a PC/TV. Typing with the dual touchpads once you get used to it is amazingly fast and easy

      They’re hard to get nowadays though

      • @[email protected]
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        528 days ago

        Luckily, I have three of them 🤣

        I’ll try picking it up again, I do absolutely love the touch pad + trigger to click - I just never got very far with typing.

    • @[email protected]
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      328 days ago

      How far away are you from the computer? I use a Logitech keyboard mouse combo for mine and while it worked on and off at the start I put the dongle on a short USB extension and pointed it towards the couch and it’s been flawless

      • @[email protected]
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        428 days ago

        I’m not that far, it’s mostly the battery life of my wireless keyboard that’s really poor. I had a Logitech k830 that was amazing, but looks like they don’t make it anymore and the replacement K400 chews through AA batteries.

        • @[email protected]
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          228 days ago

          I wonder if your K400 is defective. I have the old black & white K400r (refurbished?) and the batteries last for many months even when I forget to switch it off.

    • CorrodedOP
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      628 days ago

      I own a few of those Rii keyboards. I feel like the chatpad feels a bit higher quality and I like navigating media apps with a controller. It would also be good for playing games.

      Appreciate the suggestion though