forum.heli-x.info

Hello,

I am currently evaluating 2.0 before buying. I have Esky 4-channel controller.

First I installed heli-x 2.0 on Windows and I have to say that I am quite satisfied with it, although it seems more difficult to me to pilot the simulator than a real helicopter.

Using exact same hardware (PC+controller) (in dual boot), I installed the same heli-x 2.0 package under linux (ubuntu 8.04).

The software starts correctly, controller is recognized and I configured it (using the wizard), I think, the same way as on Windows.
It works, I can control my heli, however it is not smooth at all: controlling the left/right for example the heli reacts only when I reach 75% (left/right) on the controller, which makes impossible any stable flight.

To be honest, I didn't look into all possible controller configuration settings as I assumed that the software would behave in the same way on linux/windows.

Would you have any tip to share to improve the linux experience and make it look like the Windows one?

Thanks in advance,

fdtrex

Hello fdtrex,

to get the full resolution of your controller, please calibrate the controller on each OS, i.e. also on Linux. After the calibration wizard have a look at the 4 color bars. Do they move smoothly when you move the sticks?

Michael

Hello Michael,

Thanks for helping me.

I just did some further investigations:

I have done the controller configuration again, and even there (in the config wizard) I see low resolution around stick center on the way forward (from center to outside). The way back (from outside to center) seems to be better.

Then I tried to pilot a bit.
It looks like on each of the 4 axis, one direction has low resolution while the other one is better.

As I said, it works fine on Windows, so the controller hardware is ok. Is there a way to troubleshoot at the driver level, for example to see the raw value returned for each stick movement?

Thanks,

fdtrex

Try to calibrate the controller with a joystick tool from linux (system settings).

Michael

Hello fdtrex,
I had the same problems as you. I changed the maximum values of each chanel in my remotcontrol (FC18) to
60%. Now it looks well.

regards

Rainer

ok I have investigated this issue. Although I can not explain it really, it seems to be a permission problem.

Initially I have:

root@pc:/dev/input# ls -al
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 300 Aug 21 19:30 .
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 14420 Aug 21 19:31 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 80 Aug 21 19:30 by-id
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 160 Aug 21 19:30 by-path
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 64 Aug 21 19:30 event0
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 65 Aug 21 19:30 event1
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 66 Aug 21 19:30 event2
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 67 Aug 21 19:30 event3
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 68 Aug 21 19:30 event4
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 69 Aug 21 19:30 event5
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 70 Aug 21 19:30 event6
crw-rw---- 1 root plugdev 13, 0 Aug 21 19:30 js0
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 63 Aug 21 2009 mice
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 32 Aug 21 2009 mouse0
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 33 Aug 21 19:30 mouse1
root@pc:/dev/input#

I start heli-x (not as root!) and I have the problem mentionned above.

Then I stop heli-x, and change the permissions:

root@pc:/dev/input# chmod a+rxw e*
root@pc:/dev/input# ls -al
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 300 Aug 21 19:30 .
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 14420 Aug 21 19:31 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 80 Aug 21 19:30 by-id
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 160 Aug 21 19:30 by-path
crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13, 64 Aug 21 19:30 event0
crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13, 65 Aug 21 19:30 event1
crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13, 66 Aug 21 19:30 event2
crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13, 67 Aug 21 19:30 event3
crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13, 68 Aug 21 19:30 event4
crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13, 69 Aug 21 19:30 event5
crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13, 70 Aug 21 19:30 event6
crw-rw---- 1 root plugdev 13, 0 Aug 21 19:30 js0
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 63 Aug 21 2009 mice
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 32 Aug 21 2009 mouse0
crw-rw---- 1 root root 13, 33 Aug 21 19:30 mouse1
root@pc:/dev/input#

I restart heli-x (still not as root!), I recalibrate the controller and now it works fine. I tried it 2 times by rebooting the computer.

With permissions issues, I would expect to have no command at all, not the type of problem I reported.
Michael, do you see any explanation for that?

Thanks,

helibel.

Hi helibel,

really strange. Is your problem now solved for ever, or do you have to start and restart HELI-X every time? Please hava a look into the console window. Is there anything strange visible?

Thanks.

Michael

Hi Michael,

I have to do it every time I reboot the computer. Not a big deal; I don't think I can permanently change the permissions on those entries as they are dynamic.

helibel

If you use Ubuntu 9.04 you have to build a file in

... lib/udev/rules.d/50-udev-default.rules

there must be a rule like
# USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", MODE="0666"

Rainer