Cheap, Rugged, Multiplayer Gamepads for Linux

IceAgeComing writes "Anyone interested in exploring multiplayer games under Linux should know: you can now pick up a four-way gamepad hub, with four gamepads, for under $15. It is known as the Gravis Multiport, and now it is supported under Linux. The link describes patches for Linux 2.4, but the drivers are now included in Linux 2.6. This input system used to cost more than $100, but it has been abandoned by Gravis since Windows 98. Now it's possible to pick them up extra cheap. Four-player Gauntlet under XMAME, anyone?"

Comments

Re:Are you insane?

[keroppi]

Your arguments for the advantages of a game pad over a keyboard are completely unfounded.

I'd have to utilise 3 fingers, a joypad only required my thumb.

First of all, if you know what you're doing with a keyboard in any FPS, you would be using ASDF as your movement keys, or some kind of equivalent set of 4 in the same row.

Using WASD may seem the most intuitive to most people used to the arrow pad, but moving your middle finger up and down to go forwards/backwards is incredibly inefficient. Using the arrow keys is just plain stupid, you can't press any other keys with the left hand while using the mouse since they're so far away.

The other disadvantage of a gamepad over a mouse is the fact that you can't aim precisely. When you move a gamepad joystick, it only spins your view as fast as its maximum speed is set. The mouse however, just does a translation of your crosshair as far as you move your mouse. There is a reason why we use mice to navigate 2d computer interfaces instead of a joystick. Same for trackballs.

Then there's the case of ease. With the keyboard I'd have to give quick looks to make sure I didn't hit the wrong key.

Learn where the keys are on a keyboard, or at least change your keys for every new FPS you get to be virtually the same as all the others you've played. I've been mapping ASDF for movement and other keys nearby for everything else since Quake 1.

With a gamepad, I never had to look at it, my eyes could remain on the screen 100%

Just because you can't type doesn't mean that a gamepad is better.

And in closing, Turok is just another FPS, with the exact same control as all the rest. You cannot aim, or move quickly but precisely with a gamepad -- nor can you press nearly as many buttons for complicated games. But there aren't complex and detailed games for the console, that's not their market.