1 PS3 controller for 2 Batocera devices

eric4gth

I have a genuine PS3 SIXAXIS controller that is used on 2 Batocera 36 beta devices. One is S905gen3, the other is X86_64 laptop. There is something weird I think worth to discuss:

I plug the controller to S9905×3 box first, it works fine. Then I unplug it, and plug it onto the x8664 laptop. Batocera on x8664 laptop will show that the controller is recognized, but I can’t use it. Un-plug and re-plug will not help. The only way is to tap the hidden reset button of PS3 controller. Batocera will show that the controller is disconnected. Then I press the HOT button (PS button), and the controller can be recognized and used.
On x86_64 laptop, after exiting a game (by pressing HOT button and START button), the controller is still working in EmulationStation UI. On S905×3 box, weirdly, exiting a game will cause the controller not functional. Un-plug and re-plug the PS3 controller does NOT help. I have to plug another controller, wait after the new controller get detected, PS3 controller will also comes back to function. When both controllers are connected, unplug the second controller will also revive the first PS3 controller. Tap the hidden reset button of PS3 controller also works.

Atari

PS3 controllers are weird. They save the last connected device into their firmware, and only remember to connect to that device when turning on. There’s nothing the host device can do about this behaviour, so if you’re rapidly switching between host devices you may experience issues like this.

However, point 2 does sound like an issue with Batocera. Have you submitted an issue report about it? Could you try it on the latest beta image?

eric4gth

Just tried the latest Batocera 36 beta (kernel 6.1.8 20230131 custom build) on X96 Max Plus Q2 box. The second issue that I mentioned above no longer happen. I saw there is a PR to es-swissknife. Does that PR fix the problem?

Atari

es-swissknife is just a dev tool, I doubt that. But anyway, glad to see it fixed, this is why we have the betas.