I've gamed on Linux for a few years, and about a year ago I picked up a
Logitech G13. I've used the g13-git package from AUR without
issue.
I remember information about g13 on Linux being a bit sparse/out-of-date
when I first did it on my desktop, now that I'm doing it on my laptop I
thought i'd share the steps/issues I encounter.
If you aren't running Arch, here is a link to the github g13 on Linux
github project. The rest of this doc will assume you are running Arch
Linux, but should help any Linux user.
Obtaining g13-git from AUR, building, and installing:
#get the .tar.gz from AUR && extract && cd $tar
[jpyth@arch-jpyth aur]$ wget
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/g1/g13-git/g13-git.tar.gz
--2013-04-01 05:06:04--
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/g1/g13-git/g13-git.tar.gz
Resolving aur.archlinux.org (aur.archlinux.org)... 78.46.78.247,
2a01:4f8:120:34c2::2
Connecting to aur.archlinux.org
(aur.archlinux.org)|78.46.78.247|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 694 [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: ‘g13-git.tar.gz’
100%[=========================================================================================================================================================================>]
694 --.-K/s in 0s
2013-04-01 05:06:05 (99.8 MB/s) - ‘g13-git.tar.gz’ saved [694/694]
[jpyth@arch-jpyth aur]$ tar -xvf g13-git.tar.gz
g13-git/
g13-git/PKGBUILD
[jpyth@arch-jpyth aur]$ cd g13-git
#makepkg
[jpyth@arch-jpyth g13-git]$ makepkg
==> Determining latest git revision...
-> Version found: 20130401
==> Making package: g13-git 20130401-1 (Mon Apr 1 05:06:13 PDT 2013)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
==> Checking buildtime dependencies...
==> Retrieving Sources...
==> Extracting Sources...
==> Starting build()...
==> Connecting to GIT server....
Cloning into 'g13'...
remote: Counting objects: 61, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (58/58), done.
remote: Total 61 (delta 26), reused 28 (delta 2)
Unpacking objects: 100% (61/61), done.
==> GIT checkout done or server timeout
==> Starting make...
Cloning into '/home/jpyth/aur/g13-git/src/g13-build'...
done.
g++ -o g13 -std=c++0x g13.cc -lusb-1.0
g13.cc:4:34: fatal error: boost/lexical_cast.hpp: No such file or
directory
compilation terminated.
#This looks bad
make: *** [g13] Error 1
==> ERROR: A failure occurred in build().
Aborting...
[jpyth@arch-jpyth g13-git]$
#Install boost to fix error -- The AUR package needs to be updated for
the dependency.
[jpyth@arch-jpyth ~]$ pacman -S boost boost-libs
#Much better /cheer
[jpyth@arch-jpyth g13-git]$ makepkg
==> Determining latest git revision...
-> Version found: 20130401
==> Making package: g13-git 20130401-1 (Mon Apr 1 05:11:45 PDT 2013)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
==> Checking buildtime dependencies...
==> Retrieving Sources...
==> Extracting Sources...
==> Starting build()...
==> Connecting to GIT server....
Cloning into 'g13'...
remote: Counting objects: 61, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (58/58), done.
remote: Total 61 (delta 26), reused 28 (delta 2)
Unpacking objects: 100% (61/61), done.
==> GIT checkout done or server timeout
==> Starting make...
Cloning into '/home/jpyth/aur/g13-git/src/g13-build'...
done.
g++ -o g13 -std=c++0x g13.cc -lusb-1.0
g++ -o pbm2lpbm pbm2lpbm.c
==> Entering fakeroot environment...
==> Starting package()...
==> Tidying install...
-> Purging unwanted files...
-> Compressing man and info pages...
-> Stripping unneeded symbols from binaries and libraries...
==> Creating package...
-> Generating .PKGINFO file...
-> Compressing package...
==> Leaving fakeroot environment.
==> Finished making: g13-git 20130401-1 (Mon Apr 1 05:11:51 PDT 2013)
#Install your shiny new package:D
[jpyth@arch-jpyth g13-git]$ sudo pacman -U
g13-git-20130401-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
The configuration is detailed on the github project page here.In
short to get working, you need a file with mappings from G13 to 'known'
keys that you dump into a pipe(/tmp/g13-0) one way or another, the
daemon will read from when started. When you start the daemon the
available g13 keys and available system keys to map to are printed to
stdout. An easy way to do this is a file with the binds that you simply
cat into the pipe.
#start g13 daemon without a g13 connected - notice the known G13 keys,
and available keys to map.
[jpyth@arch-jpyth jmorgan]# /usr/bin/g13
Known keys on G13:
BD DOWN G1 G10 G11 G12 G13 G14 G15 G16 G17 G18 G19 G2 G20 G21 G22 G3 G4
G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 L1 L2 L3 L4 LEFT LIGHT LIGHT_STATE M1 M2 M3 MR TOP
STICK_LEFT STICK_RIGHT STICK_UP STICK_DOWN
Known keys to map to:
KEY_0 KEY_1 KEY_2 KEY_3 KEY_4 KEY_5 KEY_6 KEY_7 KEY_8 KEY_9
KEY_A KEY_APOSTROPHE KEY_B KEY_BACKSLASH KEY_BACKSPACE KEY_C
KEY_CAPSLOCK KEY_COMMA KEY_D KEY_DELETE KEY_DOT KEY_DOWN KEY_E
KEY_END KEY_ENTER KEY_EQUAL KEY_ESC KEY_F KEY_F1 KEY_F10 KEY_F2
KEY_F3 KEY_F4 KEY_F5 KEY_F6 KEY_F7 KEY_F8 KEY_F9 KEY_G
KEY_GRAVE KEY_H KEY_HOME KEY_I KEY_INSERT KEY_J KEY_K KEY_KP0
KEY_KP1 KEY_KP2 KEY_KP3 KEY_KP4 KEY_KP5 KEY_KP6 KEY_KP7 KEY_KP8
KEY_KP9 KEY_KPASTERISK KEY_KPDOT KEY_KPMINUS KEY_KPPLUS KEY_L
KEY_LEFT KEY_LEFTALT KEY_LEFTBRACE KEY_LEFTCTRL KEY_LEFTSHIFT
KEY_M KEY_MINUS KEY_N KEY_NUMLOCK KEY_O KEY_P KEY_PAGEDOWN
KEY_PAGEUP KEY_Q KEY_R KEY_RIGHT KEY_RIGHTALT KEY_RIGHTBRACE
KEY_RIGHTCTRL KEY_RIGHTSHIFT KEY_S KEY_SCROLLLOCK KEY_SEMICOLON
KEY_SLASH KEY_SPACE KEY_T KEY_TAB KEY_U KEY_UP KEY_V KEY_W
KEY_X KEY_Y KEY_Z
Found 0 G13s
I use one mapping for all games, but you could have different binds per
game. Here is mine:
:::bash
bind $g13Key $mappedKey
[jpyth@arch-jpyth ~]$ cat wowBinds
bind G1 KEY_7
bind G2 KEY_8
bind G3 KEY_9
bind G4 KEY_0
bind G5 KEY_KPMINUS
bind G6 KEY_Q
bind G7 KEY_E
bind G8 KEY_TAB
bind G9 KEY_1
bind G10 KEY_2
bind G11 KEY_3
bind G12 KEY_4
bind G13 KEY_5
bind G14 KEY_6
bind G15 KEY_LEFTSHIFT
bind G16 KEY_R
bind G17 KEY_T
bind G18 KEY_Y
bind G19 KEY_F
bind G20 KEY_LEFTALT
bind G21 KEY_C
bind G22 KEY_V
bind L4 KEY_B
bind L3 KEY_M
bind MR KEY_F6
bind M3 KEY_F5
bind M2 KEY_F4
bind M1 KEY_F3
bind LEFT KEY_RIGHTBRACE
bind DOWN KEY_SPACE
bind STICK_LEFT KEY_A
bind STICK_RIGHT KEY_D
bind STICK_UP KEY_W
bind STICK_DOWN KEY_S
[jpyth@arch-jpyth ~]$
Confirming it works with a g13 attached
#cat bind file into g13-0 pipe, which will be loaded when the g13
daemon start.
[jpyth@arch-jpyth jmorgan]# cat wowBinds > /tmp/g13-0
#start with g13 connected
[jpyth@arch-jpythg jpyth]# /usr/bin/g13
Known keys on G13:
BD DOWN G1 G10 G11 G12 G13 G14 G15 G16 G17 G18 G19 G2 G20 G21 G22 G3 G4
G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 L1 L2 L3 L4 LEFT LIGHT LIGHT_STATE M1 M2 M3 MR TOP
STICK_LEFT STICK_RIGHT STICK_UP STICK_DOWN
Known keys to map to:
KEY_0 KEY_1 KEY_2 KEY_3 KEY_4 KEY_5 KEY_6 KEY_7 KEY_8 KEY_9
KEY_A KEY_APOSTROPHE KEY_B KEY_BACKSLASH KEY_BACKSPACE KEY_C
KEY_CAPSLOCK KEY_COMMA KEY_D KEY_DELETE KEY_DOT KEY_DOWN KEY_E
KEY_END KEY_ENTER KEY_EQUAL KEY_ESC KEY_F KEY_F1 KEY_F10 KEY_F2
KEY_F3 KEY_F4 KEY_F5 KEY_F6 KEY_F7 KEY_F8 KEY_F9 KEY_G
KEY_GRAVE KEY_H KEY_HOME KEY_I KEY_INSERT KEY_J KEY_K KEY_KP0
KEY_KP1 KEY_KP2 KEY_KP3 KEY_KP4 KEY_KP5 KEY_KP6 KEY_KP7 KEY_KP8
KEY_KP9 KEY_KPASTERISK KEY_KPDOT KEY_KPMINUS KEY_KPPLUS KEY_L
KEY_LEFT KEY_LEFTALT KEY_LEFTBRACE KEY_LEFTCTRL KEY_LEFTSHIFT
KEY_M KEY_MINUS KEY_N KEY_NUMLOCK KEY_O KEY_P KEY_PAGEDOWN
KEY_PAGEUP KEY_Q KEY_R KEY_RIGHT KEY_RIGHTALT KEY_RIGHTBRACE
KEY_RIGHTCTRL KEY_RIGHTSHIFT KEY_S KEY_SCROLLLOCK KEY_SEMICOLON
KEY_SLASH KEY_SPACE KEY_T KEY_TAB KEY_U KEY_UP KEY_V KEY_W
KEY_X KEY_Y KEY_Z
Kernel driver detached
Found 1 G13s
command: bind G1 KEY_7
command: bind G2 KEY_8
command: bind G3 KEY_9
command: bind G4 KEY_0
command: bind G5 KEY_KPMINUS
command: bind G6 KEY_Q
command: bind G7 KEY_E
command: bind G8 KEY_TAB
command: bind G9 KEY_1
command: bind G10 KEY_2
command: bind G11 KEY_3
command: bind G12 KEY_4
command: bind G13 KEY_5
command: bind G14 KEY_6
command: bind G15 KEY_LEFTSHIFT
command: bind G16 KEY_R
command: bind G17 KEY_T
command: bind G18 KEY_Y
command: bind G19 KEY_F
command: bind G20 KEY_LEFTALT
command: bind G21 KEY_C
command: bind G22 KEY_V
command: bind L4 KEY_B
command: bind L3 KEY_M
command: bind MR KEY_F6
command: bind M3 KEY_F5
command: bind M2 KEY_F4
command: bind M1 KEY_F3
command: bind LEFT KEY_RIGHTBRACE
command: bind DOWN KEY_SPACE
command: bind STICK_LEFT KEY_A
command: bind STICK_RIGHT KEY_D
command: bind STICK_UP KEY_W
command: bind STICK_DOWN KEY_S
At this point, you should have a working gamepad. If you do not map any
keys by default all keys are mapped to 'a', I noticed the daemon would
crash if left this way after a period of time. My assumption at the
time(year+ ago) was due to having too many(or just >1) key mapped to
the same. I never investigated/tested though, instead I started dumping
my binds into the pipe before starting the daemon and the issue went
away entirely. I haven't had an issue since(over a year). The only time
the gamepad does not function is if I forget to start the daemon after a
power cycle, or disconnect/reconnect the device.
Here is the current script I run after each time I restart my computer:
[jpyth@arch-jm ~]$ cat startG13.sh
#!/bin/bash
ps aux | grep g13 | grep -v grep &>/dev/null && echo "Already running-
Exiting"|| {
cat /home/jpyth/g13/wowBinds > /tmp/g13-0
nohup /usr/bin/g13 &
rm nohup.out
}
Pretty crude, I know. I started to add it as a systemd process, but
there is currently a bug in the daemon. If you disconnect the g13 the
daemon goes into a tight loop failing to find the device. This will
consume process, and will have to be restarted once the device is
reconnected anyway. I didn't want to write a wrapper to babysit the
daemon....I have another plan for it by adding a bit more to onConnect,
when I get that working i'll share;).
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