Linux Joystick & Mouse driver

chronos-input-driver for Linux

This is a Linux driver for your eZ430-Chronos watch, emulating a mouse or joystick device, similar to the Chronos Flying Mouse for Windows and with improved mouse movement compared to the Chronos Control Center.

It allows you to navigate your desktop or play games with your Chronos watch. For more information see the project page on https://github.com/laenion/chronos-input-driver.

Features

• Registers itself as a real mouse or joystick device
• Can be configured with any GUI or command line tool
• Additionally sensitivity can be set by the driver
• Deadzone (in which movements will be ignored) can be customized
• Includes an (experimental) racing wheel emulation

Is it usable?

{{#ev:dailymotion|x16rmjz_ez430-chronos-watch-as-mouse-joystick-on-linux_tech|Demonstration video|right}}

It depends.

For a first impression see the video to the right for a demonstration of both the mouse and the joystick mode, showing XFCE, Asylum, Bastion, Extreme Tux Racer, SuperTuxCart and X³ as example programs. Some of the videos (like the Bastion video) were recorded with an older version of the driver, so you may notice choppy movement on the screen which shouldn't occur with newer versions any more.

Limitations: The biggest problem is that you cannot use Drag'n'Drop on your desktop or use it for any games / applications where you have to keep a button pressed for a certain time. This is a limitation of the Chronos watch, as it is not possible to detect when a button was released. You may also discover that the three buttons of the watch may not be enough for many modern games.

Recommended usage: I can especially recommend the watch for racing games (see the Tux Racer part in the video) or general usage as a mouse if a real mouse wouldn't be very handy (i.e. for a presentation or on your couch). If you want to use the watch to emulate a racing wheel (-x) then please note that the watch is only usable for steering, but not for acceleration or breaking - there's simply no way to reliably detect those movements. Some applications work fine if you use a combined approach, i.e. using the watch and a keyboard simultaneously (see the X³ example in the video).

Downloads

Source code and usage information: https://github.com/laenion/chronos-input-driver

Linux x86 binary: http://www.digitalimagecorp.de/files/chronos-input-driver/linux/x86/chronos-input
Linux x86_64 binary: http://www.digitalimagecorp.de/files/chronos-input-driver/linux/x86_64/chronos-input

Not sure which version you need? Type uname -m on the command line to see your architecture.