PS3 Controller Nirvana

[ExPostFacto]

PS3 Controller Nirvana

I've been looking for a REMOTE PS3 controller solution for years-- and it seems GIMX may be 1/3 (and the hardest 1/3) of the solution.

Simply said, I've been looking for a way to use the PS3 controller in a room that's, say, 100 feet away from the physical PS3 box.

TV is wired up to P3 via Long HDMI cable with built in repeater. But as we all know-- the BT connected controller craps out after about 30 feet.

Now here's the interesting part:

Wouldn't it be theoretically possible to hack GIMX to deliver un-mangled PS3 PHYSICAL controller commands (vs. PC input device commands) to the PS3 box from a "tethered " WiFi connection delivering BT packets? Perhaps via an Android phone to sixaxis BT connection?

So what you get is essentially a BT over WiFi bridge:

Sixaxis/DualShock Controller >>>>> BT >>>>> Android Phone
--- hacking one of the open source Android controller apps
Android Phone >>>>> WiFi >>>>> Linux PC
--- this would need to be written
Linux PC >>>>> BT >>>>> PS3
-- hacking GIMX


Any comments?
Would I be wasting my time looking into this solution?
Thanx.

[Matlo]

The GIMX core from the git repo already supports network connections.
I have to make this available through the GUIs.

[host1 / gimx] ----network---- [host2 / gimx] ----bt/usb---- [console]

[ExPostFacto]

So if I understand your post correctly...

GIMX may actually be 2/3 of an **ANDROID** BT2WiFi2BT bridge--!!

But more importantly?...

GIMX may actually be 3/3 (100%) of a **PC** BT2WiFiI2BT bridge--!!

If I understand your post, the bridge functionality is ALREADY coded into GIMX, but needs to be included in the GUI.

So, essentially, once the functionality has been given a GUI:

We could pair a BT controller to a Linux PC running GIMX in one room, and the code can ALREADY BRIDGE the BT packets over WiFi to and from, another Linux PC equipped with a BT dongle paired with a PS3 console in another room--??

Can this truly be ready to go, with only the addition of the front-end GUI?

So if the above is correct, what's needed to reach NIRVANA is a GIMX port to Android (ARM).

Anyone working on this?

[Matlo]

GIMX does not forward BT packets: only axis and button updates are sent from host1 to host2.

GIMX already works on ARM (Raspberry Pi).
I'm not aware of anyone working on an android port.

[ExPostFacto]

Oh I see...

We're not talking about a BT bridge, but a controller COMMAND bridge.

Not quite Nirvana but still pretty close.

I spent a few hours with your docs, blog, and wiki-- but still have a few questions on how a COMMAND bridge might work.

First, let me say that your development effort is right on. And the community is to be thanked for all the great input going back several years. Top notch effort here.

Questions:

1) I assume you have not appropriated QtSixA
-- that development effort seems to be stable, but dead
-- so any remote COMMAND bridge would still have to incorporate, or simply utilize the existing QtSixA source PLUS GIMX

2) I assume you can "turn up" the networking in GIMX
-- it seems GIMX was once two main efforts-- emuClient & emu
-- recent posts suggest you have combined both into GIMX, so no need for client PLUS Server

3) GIMX and QtSixA are stable on Rasberry Pi
-- barring an open source Pi port of QtSixA to Android (I'm guessing this is what Dancing Pixel has done with its sixaxis app), a Pi2PC bridge over WiFi is our best (read: easiest) way to move Controller commands to console over distances greater than 30 feet

So essentially we would have, as you described:

[controller] ----BT---- [Pi / gimx] ----network---- [PC / gimx] ----bt/usb---- [console]

it would seem that all it would take is for you take make the network portion of GIMX available in the GUI--??

Could it be that simple?
(Listen, I realize nothing is simple, wink!)

Comments?

[Matlo]

A bt bridge won't work for technical reasons.

1) QtSixA is not required anymore. Bluez (the linux bt daemon) now supports Sixaxis controllers. Installing bluez 5.13 is the way to go.

2) Yes, gimx can act as a client and a server.

3) Bluez 5.13 should also work fine on RPi.

I'm currently working on PS4 support. I will work back on the GUI after that.

[ExPostFacto]

Yeah, I get it.

You probably don't want to unpack and process BT packets too far away from their source, and certainly not over the LAN.