calling all linux gurus
 

Ok I have to do some work in linux for a project. And I need to use a joystick, I found some drivers and an example program which seems to be all i need. but ill be damned if i know how to install them.

The readme has some nice instructions but they are in linux speak, I cant seem to get it right. can someone please translate this into english for me.

they are as follows

¨To compile the utilities in the joystick package, and the driver itself,
as a standalone module, you first unpack the package, and then edit the
Makefile to meet your needs (namely whether are you using versioned
modules). You will also need an unpacked and configured

make config

kernel in

/usr/src/linux

Furthermore, if you're using versioned modules, you'll also need

make dep

done on the kernel, to create some needed files.

After that, you compile the joystick driver

make

And after that you install it

make install

In case you have not used the driver before, you'll need to create the
joystick device files in /dev so that applications can use them:

make devs¨

I think the readme describes everything you need to do pretty well.

unpack the drivers go into that directory and then type the following commands

make config
make dep
make
make install
make devs

(this assumes your kernel src is located in /usr/src/linux, go to that directory and make sure that is true first if it isn't you need to install the kernel source first)

well the kernel src is not there it turns out. So how would i go about putting it there.

but thanks for the help ill give it another go soon

kernel.org - I've never used it since I can just emerge the kernel source from Gentoo's portage, but that's the site you need to get it.

what OS are you using? If you are using redhat or fedora just download and install (via rpm) the kernel source for the correct kernel version. The kernel source should be located on the CDs that you used to install the OS.

I wouldn't download the source from kernel.org unless you have done a kernel upgrade from kernel.org. Instead get the distribution specific version of the kernel that you are using.

Chances are you've already got a kernel source tree in /usr/src. Just create a symlink to it like so:

If your kernel source is "/usr/src/linux-2.4.22-your-os-i386-etc", then type:

(as root)
cd /usr/src
ln -s linux-2.4.22-your-os-i386-etc linux

and that will create a symlink, /usr/src/linux, that points to your kernel source tree.

The directions they give indicate that the kernel must have been "make config'd" -- but chances are it's already like that without even touching it.

What's left is to go to your unpacked source, do 'make' then 'make install'. The make install part must be done as root, as it will probably try to copy a kernel module to /lib/modules/2.4.XX-your-kernel-version.

Once installed, you can run 'make devs' as root to create the appropriate device files in /dev.

Then you'll need to insert the module you just built. You'll use 'modprobe' for this, as root. So, for example, if the 'make install' copied over "joystick.o" into your modules dir, then run 'modprobe joystick'. If there's no output, that's probably good. Run 'dmesg' to see that your joystick initialized properly.

Hope this helps some.

shows what I know...I've only bothered compiling my own kernel with Gentoo...and I don't think I ever used an installation of another distro long enough to need to update the kernel.

Sorry bout that.

thanks for all the help guys. I think im getting the hang of this linux thing.

Ill keep you posted if i come across any more worries.

I forgot to mention that you may need to run 'depmod -a' (as root) to get the kernel to "learn" the location of your new module. Do this if you get a "no such module" error or something like it.