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From: gms@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (George Sachs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: X & non-hil devices?
Message-ID: <101950201@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com>
Date: 11 Apr 91 00:03:28 GMT
References: <1991Apr08.162946.11128@eye.com>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA
Lines: 21

It can be done, but it's not trivial.

The hp X server can be configured, via the /usr/lib/X11/X*devices file,
to use an alternate path for its input devices instead of /dev/hil*.
This allows you to specify a path, such as "/tmp/hil" to which you
can link ptys.

You then write a program that reads input from the input device, in
this case the Spaceball, reformats it into something the X server
will understand (HIL device format), and writes it to the pty.
The X server thinks it's getting input from an HIL device, so it's
happy.

Since the Spaceball reports 6 axes of motion, your program will have
to ignore 4 of them.  Since the X protocol does not provide any way
to send configuration commands to input devices, your program will
have to do that as well.


George Sachs
gms@cv.hp.com