External Controllers on OpenPandora?

[Harrier88]

I was trying to connect some external USB controllers to my OpenPandora, obviously an essential part of local multiplayer gaming. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any of them to work so far.

I have two Logitech Dual Action gamepads, one cheap generic PS1 style digital controller and a Buffalo USB SNES retro gamepad, which are all supposed to be plug-and-play on a regular PC, if I remember correctly. None of them seem to get recognized by my OpenPandora. I also own a bunch of wireless xbox 360 controllers and a USB receiver, and I'm aware of the driver from the repo, but I got some cryptic error messages trying to get this one to run as well. I could have asked for solutions to this particular problem in this app's forum thread, but considering that it has been inactive for a few years, I figured it's better to ask for some general advice here first.

Judging from other threads I've seen so far, getting external controllers to run doesn't seem to be a big deal on the OpenPandora, but it looks like there's something I'm missing. Do I need any specific drivers or apps for external controllers, maybe? Personally, I'm not picky about which gamepad to use, any working one will do. I'd gladly buy a new one as well, but only if I'm confident that I can get it to work.

So any advice on getting external controllers of any kind to run would be welcome, clearly I've been doing something wrong so far.

 

[FBnil]

Hello Harrier88, welcome to the Boards. The Pandora has a USB2 port, that does not do USB1.1, and thus, some USB devices that are only 1.1. will not work without a USB 2.0 hub that allows mixed 2.0 and 1.1.
drop down to the commandline and do a "dmesg" and post it to see what is going on. It could also be missing HUD drivers?

So here are the steps:

1. open a commandline
2. Enable USB but do not connect anything yet
3. On the commandline, clear the dmesg buffer by doing a "dmesg -c"
4. Plug in the USB device
5. On the commandline, get the output in "dmesg".

 

[levi]

Also, if you've plugged a USB1(.1) device into the USB2 only port, on the Pandora at least it's possible to get the system into a complete mess regarding USB stuff, so you'll need to reboot before testing again.

Luckily, USB2 enabled hubs are readily available and using one of those between your Pandora and USB1.1 joystick should work.

 

[Harrier88]

Thank you very much for your responses and the warm welcome.

1. open a commandline
2. Enable USB but do not connect anything yet
3. On the commandline, clear the dmesg buffer by doing a "dmesg -c"
4. Plug in the USB device
5. On the commandline, get the output in "dmesg".

I have tried this, but entering "dmesg -c" results in the message "klogctl: Operation not permitted". I plugged in one of my controllers anyway and entered dmesg to see what would happen, and it says "unable to enumerate USB device on port 2".

 

[elw3]

-c is just for better readability so ignore it.
Gives you the expected error, either use a hub now or the other usb port via special cable. The small port can use usb1 too.

 

[Harrier88]

Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary cables or adaptors for the small port.

What kind of hubs would I need for the regular USB port exactly? I already did a search on ebay for "1.1 USB adaptors" and some of the results seemed identical to a couple of hubs I own already. I tried plugging a few of them in, but it resulted in the same "unable to enumerate USB device on port 2" message, even without any controllers plugged into them. And with at least one of the hubs, my OpenPandora wouldn't be able to read any USB flash drives connected to the hub either.

 

[levi]

You need a USB2 hub, or perhaps (but I've not tested this) a USB3 hub will probably work too.

 

[elw3]

And with at least one of the hubs, my OpenPandora wouldn't be able to read any USB flash drives connected to the hub either.

Does that indicate that the other hubs do work?
We should see a longer part of that dmesg output.
If the message stays the same with a hub its likely not the weird usb2 chip causing the problem.

 

[levi]

They're probably old hubs with only a USB1.1 chipset inside. He says they look like that anyway.

 

[Harrier88]

Does that indicate that the other hubs do work?

No, I was only testing one of them at that point. I tested it again today with the working USB 2.0 hub I'm normally using on my PC, which had the same result. In fact, I noticed that once I disconnect the hub, the Pandora's USB port wouldn't even read any of my USB flash drives anymore until I reboot.

We should see a longer part of that dmesg output.

I copy/pasted the entire dmesg output into a document for a variety of situations (USB disabled, USB enabled with nothing plugged in, flash drive plugged in, hub plugged in, hub + flash drive plugged in, USB game controller plugged in). Problem is, the entire thing is an outstanding 72 pages long mess with mostly irrelevant information.

For what it's worth, here is (what seems to be) the relevant output for USB disabled:

[ 15.975097] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc: MUSB HDRC host driver

[ 15.975250] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1

[ 15.975372] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002

[ 15.975402] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1

[ 15.975402] usb usb1: Product: MUSB HDRC host driver

[ 15.975433] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 3.2.84 musb-hcd

[ 15.975433] usb usb1: SerialNumber: musb-hdrc

[ 15.978332] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found

[ 15.978393] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected

And here is the one for the "hub + USB flash drive" scenario (I could be wrong, I forgot to label them):

[ 1045.856750] usb usb2: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002

[ 1045.856750] usb usb2: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1

[ 1045.856781] usb usb2: Product: OMAP-EHCI Host Controller

[ 1045.856781] usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 3.2.84 ehci_hcd

[ 1045.856781] usb usb2: SerialNumber: ehci-omap.0

[ 1045.859771] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found

[ 1045.859802] hub 2-0:1.0: 3 ports detected

[ 1158.302032] usb 2-2: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-omap

[ 1159.143554] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1234, idProduct=0201

[ 1159.143585] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0

[ 1159.143615] usb 2-2: Product: MFH201

[ 1159.143615] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: MFG Technology Corp.

[ 1159.341583] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...

[ 1159.344757] scsi0 : usb-storage 2-2:1.0

[ 1159.347290] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage

[ 1159.347320] USB Mass Storage support registered.

[ 1160.342529] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access MFGCorp NAND Flash 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6

[ 1160.350189] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1966080 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 GB/960 MiB)

[ 1160.350646] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off

[ 1160.350677] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00

[ 1160.351287] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: disabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA

[ 1160.362091] sda: sda1

[ 1160.369018] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk

[ 1160.768341] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0

[ 1161.590545] FAT-fs (sda): invalid media value (0x01)

[ 1161.590698] FAT-fs (sda): Can't find a valid FAT filesystem

[ 1161.903411] EXT4-fs (sda): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem

[ 1161.905670] EXT3-fs (sda): error: can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda.

[ 1161.907653] EXT2-fs (sda): error: can't find an ext2 filesystem on dev sda.

[ 1161.910186] FAT-fs (sda): invalid media value (0x01)

[ 1161.910400] FAT-fs (sda): Can't find a valid FAT filesystem

[ 1161.914733] SQUASHFS error: Can't find a SQUASHFS superblock on sda

[ 1161.996673] FAT-fs (sda): invalid media value (0x01)

[ 1161.996917] FAT-fs (sda): Can't find a valid FAT filesystem

[ 1162.305511] EXT4-fs (sda): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem

[ 1162.307495] EXT3-fs (sda): error: can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda.

[ 1162.309265] EXT2-fs (sda): error: can't find an ext2 filesystem on dev sda.

[ 1162.312988] FAT-fs (sda): invalid media value (0x01)

[ 1162.313140] FAT-fs (sda): Can't find a valid FAT filesystem

[ 1162.315765] SQUASHFS error: Can't find a SQUASHFS superblock on sda

[ 1225.352416] usb 2-2: USB disconnect, device number 2

[ 1234.934570] usb 2-2: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-omap

[ 1235.067443] hub 2-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 2

That's all just a wild guess from me, though. What kind of lines for which of the above mentioned scenarios should I be looking for?

 

[elw3]

Dmesg simply prints out the log file, each event just appends to the end.
The numbers are timestamps in seconds so when you do something relevant only the last few seconds of the file are relevant.
Protip: You save with

dmesg | tail >> log

Which means word by word: Display kernel messages, pipe result to another command, the program "tail" simply removes all but the last 10 lines, save as or append to, file name.
And the terminal saves what you ever entered, just press "up" next time.
Anyway, i see a working hub getting plugged in, then a thumbdrive getting detected but not having readable data on it.
I see nothing wrong with the usb part itself.

 

[levi]

And _the terminal_ *bash* saves what you ever entered, just press "up" next time.

Edited that for you. Maybe other shells do the same but it was bash that popularised it if it didn't actually originate it imo.

 

[Harrier88]

Anyway, i see a working hub getting plugged in, then a thumbdrive getting detected but not having readable data on it.
I see nothing wrong with the usb part itself.

The thumbdrive was empty at that point, but either way, it wouldn't show up in the Pandora's file menu when it is connected via a hub, and not even when I unplug the hub and insert the flash drive afterwards. It seems to require a reboot at that point, but maybe disabling and re-enabling the USB port would work as well, I'm not sure if I have tested it yet.

I've been using the USB port for data transfers pretty much since day 1, so I didn't expect anything to be wrong with it in itself.

This still brings up the question what is keeping my USB game controllers from being recognized by the Pandora, if the USB part itself is fine and the hubs (at least the ones I have) don't seem to solve the problem either. I could maybe try looking for some of the dmesg output with one controller connected when I get home tonight.

 

[levi]

If, after rebooting your pandora each time, something you know to work like a USB memory stick doesn't work via the hub you have a non-USB2.0 hub there, I would posit most likely.

 

[elw3]

[ 1158.302032] usb 2-2: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-omap
High speed is usb2. The hub is OK
[ 1160.350189] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1966080 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 GB/960 MiB)
The thumbdrive is accessed and read from at that point, Showing up or not does not matter at all in that case.

 

[HelenF]

For another Pandora USB oddity, there may also be issues if you plug in an empty hub. So: reboot the Pandora, and check your flash drive by itself. If that's OK, plug the flash drive into the hub, then plug the hub into the Pandora. If that's OK, plug a controller into the hub too and see if that works.

 

[FBnil]

@Harrier88 Wait, maybe you need to add NT drivers?If you have an old image on the Pandora, I had to install windows drivers to work with NTFS drives. (I think modern images have it by default).

Ok, after putting in the usbstick, go back to the commandline and do a

lsblk

to see all discovered blockdevices (disks) there could be 2 mmcblk* those are the SD cards and hopefully something called sda, which would be your first usb drive (stick). If so, then you should be able to get

What version of Armstrong do you have? While booting it should say "Release 1.xx SuperZaxxon", where XX is like 76 at the moment?

 

[levi]

@Harrier88 Wait, maybe you need to add NT drivers?If you have an old image on the Pandora, I had to install windows drivers to work with NTFS drives. (I think modern images have it by default).

Good idea, although it's probably not NTFS formatted if its not been user formatted yet. It'll be exFAT and I can't remember whether the Pandora even supports that at all, community codecs or no.

 

[TrashyMG]

NTFS can be installed with the community codec pack pnd, exfat was available on a PND installer that was later pulled off the repo for reasons I forgot...

 

[Harrier88]

If, after rebooting your pandora each time, something you know to work like a USB memory stick doesn't work via the hub you have a non-USB2.0 hub there, I would posit most likely.

The hub I was using during my tests explicitly says "USB 2.0" on it, and this isn't some Chinese knockoff product where people can write pretty much anything on it, it's an authentic one by Hama.

For another Pandora USB oddity, there may also be issues if you plug in an empty hub. So: reboot the Pandora, and check your flash drive by itself. If that's OK, plug the flash drive into the hub, then plug the hub into the Pandora. If that's OK, plug a controller into the hub too and see if that works.

As I was about to try this, I noticed that my Pandora wouldn't recognize the stick at all anymore. Plugging it into my PC revealed that it needed to be formatted, which seemed a bit odd, because I've been using it just a few days ago.

Anyway, it worked fine after formatting, and as you predicted, connecting the hub with the flash drive already inserted would work, while plugging in an empty hub and then connecting the drive wouldn't. After removing the hub, I got back to the old problem where the Pandora wouldn't find the flash drive. Disabling and re-enabling the USB fixed it, no further formatting was necessary.

And guess what? When I connected one of my controllers that way (first inserting it into the hub, and then connecting it), I found out that it was also working.

So nice job, it looks like this fixed my issue, at least to some degree. I will need to make some more tests to find out how many of my controllers and hubs are working and in which combinations etc, so maybe we can get back to the NT driver thing later on. Especially because if I understand correctly, those gamepads are ideally supposed to work without any hud at all, so there may still be something that isn't quite right. But either way, we made some big progress already.