Nintendo WiiMote

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Version Status Date Updated Updated By
710 Unknown N/A N/A
810 Unknown N/A N/A
1004 Unknown N/A N/A
1204 Unknown N/A N/A
1404 Unknown N/A N/A
Usage Information
The Nintendo Wiimote

This device is not out of the box supported by LinuxMCE, but it is known to work [1] [2] [3].

Wiimote setup

I will try to explain what i have done to make the wiimote work with linuxmce.

The wiimote is a cheap gyration device which could work for linuxmce instead of the chief remote from fiire which i find too expensive!!

Setup

Login (Logging_In) as root to the media director which has a bluetooth stick with ssh. 

sudo su

Install the cwiid driver as follows

  • For LinuxMCE 0710:
apt-get install libcwiid0 wminput
  • For LinuxMCE 0810:
apt-get install libcwiid1 wminput

Make sure the uinput kernel module is loaded at boot-time: 

echo "uinput" >> /etc/modules

Load it manually in the mean time: 

modprobe uinput

create the daemon 

cat >/usr/sbin/wminputd <<"EOF"
#!/bin/bash
#read the config file
. /etc/wminputd.conf
export DISPLAY=:0

while true
do
        #check if the Orbiter/OrbiterGL is already running!
        if [ "$(pidof OrbiterGL)$(pidof Orbiter)" ]
        then

                #check if the wiimote is already connected
                if [ -z "$(hcitool con|grep $WIIMOTE_BDADDR)" ]
                then
                        PID=$(pidof wminput)
                        if [ "$PID" ]
                        then
                                kill -9 $PID
                        fi
                        #check if WiiMote is in range (prevents spawning devices every 10 secs)
                        if [ "$(hcitool scan|grep $WIIMOTE_BDADDR)" ]
                        then
                                #mouse acceleration, adjust to your liking
                                #see also: "man xset" and/or "xset -h"
#                               xset m 1/2 3
                                wminput -c ir_ptr $WIIMOTE_BDADDR &
                        fi
                fi

       fi

       sleep 5

done

EOF

Make it executable 

chmod 755 /usr/sbin/wminputd

vi /etc/wminputd.conf

#this is the config file for the wminputd
#enter the wiimote mac address, you can find it with
#hcitool scan  and then press the red button
#besides the battery's off the wiimote
#Then place the show'n mac address as follows
WIIMOTE_BDADDR="00:AA:00:BB:AA:FF"

you can find your address with hcitool scan

  • Edit the file /etc/cwiid/wminput/buttons
vi /etc/cwiid/wminput/buttons

And make it suitable to your needs below is mine 

#buttons

Wiimote.A       = BTN_LEFT
Wiimote.B       = BTN_RIGHT
Wiimote.Up      = KEY_UP
Wiimote.Down    = KEY_DOWN
Wiimote.Left    = KEY_LEFT
Wiimote.Right   = KEY_RIGHT
Wiimote.Minus   = KEY_F7
Wiimote.Plus    = KEY_F8
Wiimote.Home    = KEY_F3
Wiimote.1       = KEY_F1
Wiimote.2       = KEY_F6


  • create the init file
vi /etc/init.d/wminputd

#!/bin/sh
# Start/stop the wminputd daemon.
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          wminputd
# Required-Start:    $syslog $time
# Required-Stop:     $syslog $time
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: mousemodule
# Description:       wminputd
#
#
#
### END INIT INFO


test -f /usr/sbin/wminputd || exit 0
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "$1" in
start)  log_daemon_msg "Starting wii-remote mousemodule" "wminputd"
        start-stop-daemon -b --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd --startas /usr/sbin/wminputd -- $LSBNAMES
        log_end_msg $?
        ;;
stop)   log_daemon_msg "Stopping wii-mote mousemodule" "wminputd"
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd
        log_end_msg $?
        ;;
restart) log_daemon_msg "Restarting wii-mote mousemdule" "wminputd"
        start-stop-daemon --stop --retry 5 --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd
        start-stop-daemon -b --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd --startas /usr/sbin/wminputd -- $LSBNAMES
        log_end_msg $?
        ;;
*)      log_action_msg "Usage: /etc/init.d/wminputd {start|stop|restart}"
        exit 2
        ;;
esac
exit 0

Make it executable 

chmod 755 /etc/init.d/wminputd

run the script and push the red button beside the battery and your wiimote is ready to go

enable the script so that it will start at boot time 

update-rc.d wminputd defaults

now start the script and see if it works 

/etc/init.d/wminputd start

Troubleshooting

  • Q: When i reload the router then the wiimote will be slow
  • A: Just push the red button besides the wiimote so it will connect again
  • Q: Using a sensor bar (ir_ptr), and the cursor is limited to the bottom left corner of the screen
  • A: Make the following changes to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file on the Media Director and then restarting the Media Director:

Add this section: 

   Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier      "Wiimote"
       Driver          "evdev"
       Option          "Name"          "Nintendo Wiimote"
   EndSection

Add this line to the ServerLayout section: 

   InputDevice     "Wiimote" "AlwaysCore"

This was taken from the ubuntu forums: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CWiiD

  • Q: Using a sensor bar (ir_ptr), can't scroll through lists
  • A: Add the following lines from acc_ptr to ir_ptr:
   Plugin.acc.X = REL_X
   Plugin.acc.Y = REL_Y

Added 3-30-2008

I tried this and it works beautifully!

A couple of other notes...

Its a pain to get to the little red button by the battery. Instead, you can press and hold the '1' and '2' buttons at the same time for the same effect. The power button will not start the system, but once the system is started (with either the Red button or the button 1+2 being held down together), holding the power button for a couple of seconds will turn the wiimote off and break the connection.


Troubles Experienced

  • I have a Targus bluetooth doggle. The system recognizes the adapter, but it would not allow the Wiimote to connect. What I need to do to get it to work is get to a command prompt and execute hciconfig hci0 down; hciconfig hci0 up; hciconfig hci0 piscan. Then I am able to press the 1 & 2 buttons then it works. An additional change that I need to make was in /usr/sbin/wminputd. Had the change the line wminput -c ir_ptr $WIIMOTE_BDADDR & to wminput $WIIMOTE_BDADDR &. Otherwise I could not move the cursor, but the buttons works. Then I also mapped the buttons to how I wanted them. If I come up with a fix/workaround for executing the hciconfig commands I will update this. Thanks!
  • On my system, each call to wminput would cause a frame drop which meant that watching a video with no wiimote connected would have dropped frames every ~8sec. The following wminputd avoids the problem, though it won't stop with /etc/init.d/wminputd stop. As I want it to run indefinitely, that point is moot.
#!/bin/bash                             
#read the config file                   
. /etc/wminputd.conf                    
export DISPLAY=:0                       
while [ -z "$(pidof OrbiterGL)$(pidof Orbiter)" ]
do
        sleep 5
done
wminput -r -w -c ir_ptr
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