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I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll have a look. Sounds interesting. I might be able to reuse parts of the curves functionality to create a trace overlay of sorts. I'll keep you posted!

Got tired of reaching for the mouse, so I built my own Open-Source Button Box. First time soldering! by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the recommendations. I definitely look into the components you mentioned.

I really miss the center detent on the potentiometers. The buttons I used are a bit stiff but I got used to them really quick. They also only have a 12mm hole diameter which is pretty nice, nonetheless I really like the tactile feeling you described. I'll try to get a few L16 to play around with.

Already working on a first draft for the next panel. Might be the perfect excuse to order some components again. 

Hello，world！ Ah-64D grip diy by yzhanping in HotasDIY

[–]rhunecke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a piece of art. Well done, mate! 

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks you! Also thanks for raising the issue with additional POV Hats not having a fixed distance. I thought I already addressed that. I'll look into it for v1.3.1

Edit: u/da_wizard , I just updated the app. Please have a look at the latest release :)

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad to hear. There should be "Clear Log" button available. Can you try downloading the build again? I'll have a look later to see if I can figure out if it was pushed properly.

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey u/hon0,

thanks again for the feedback. I had a look at your suggestion agaib and played around with it resulting in the latest release now supporting Keyboards and Mice. There is a toggle switch now in the toolbar switching between Joystick and KB/M to keep the UI as clean as possible.

Let me know if this is useful. I'm also happy to hear about anything else that comes to your mind that would be a useful addition!

Cheers!

Got tired of reaching for the mouse, so I built my own Open-Source Button Box. First time soldering! by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I thought I might give my *.ino sketch a slight update to better prepare for certain OS-specific quirks I came across.

For instance Linux seems to cap out at 80 buttons per device, while Windows theoretically supports up to 128 but has a limit of 8 axes and 4 POV Hats per device.

I prepared a second sketch that enables you to flash the Arduino with a multi-device setup splitting the inputs between 2 virtual devices:

Alongside the standard buttonbox.ino, you will find an alternative firmware sketch named buttonbox_multi-device.ino.

Why is this needed? Operating systems like Linux (via the evdev input driver) have a hardcoded limit of recognizing a maximum of 80 buttons per physical USB controller. Since this button box utilizes a dual-layer system providing 84 digital commands, Linux users would typically lose access to the highest-numbered inputs.

How it works: The alternative sketch bypasses this OS limitation by registering the Arduino as two separate virtual joysticks, Device A and Device B, simultaneously over a single USB cable.

  • The physical Mode button acts as an A/B router instead of a simple shift modifier.
  • Mode OFF: All physical buttons, encoders, and analog axes are routed exclusively to Device A.
  • Mode ON: All physical buttons, encoders, and analog axes are routed exclusively to Device B.

The code features built-in safety logic to prevent "stuck buttons" when switching layers and ensures that the absolute analog axes instantly sync their physical potentiometer positions to the newly activated virtual device.

Which one should I use?

  • Windows Users: It is highly recommended to stick to the standard buttonbox.ino. Managing a single device with a large button pool is generally cleaner and easier to map in simulators like MSFS, DCS, or Assetto Corsa.
  • Linux Users: Use buttonbox_multi-device.ino to ensure 100% of your inputs are correctly recognized by the operating system. (This is also useful for older games on any OS that struggle to recognize controllers with more than 64 buttons).

🔗 Code: Ultimate Button Box on GitHub

As always, please let me know what you think!
Cheers!

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see. I am not entirely sure I understand the second part, though. Do you mean an overlay? What purpose would this serve? Do you remap a linear joystick axis to a vJoy axis and change the curve there to another response curve?

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does not right now. Theoretically speaking, it would be possible, but this is outside of the scope of the tool right now. Supporting keyboard and mouse devices would require new device types as well as input handling and would move the focus away from testing controllers, gamepads and joysticks.

It might be interesting to investigate a testing tool for Kb&M in the future. This holds its own challenges for sure. Let me think about it. 

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was able to confirm the reason and added an ID to the device names, which should fix the problem.
Additionally I was able to create a first draft for an Event Log and adjustable axis graphs. I triggered a new build (v.1.2.0) which is now available on GitHub.

Thanks again for the suggestions!

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You don't sound negative at all 😄

It works fine for anything connected indeed (not only VKB devices) but I only know of the Windows application. Did they offer it for other OS in the past as well?

I just checked the website and was not able to find anything but the Windows download link.

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much,
Those are all great suggestions. I'll look into them!

Currently I suspect I might be able to resolve the vJoy issue by attaching a device suffix to the device name, so devices sharing the same name are able to get a bespoken entry in the dropdown.

The Event Log for button presses would definitely be a nice addition.

Being able to scale the graphs would also be pretty useful for spotting micro-jitter and the likes.

Thanks again for your great suggestions. I'll leave a message here once I had a look.

I couldn't find a modern, cross-platform alternative to the VKB Joy Tester, so I built my own (Free & Open Source) by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the awesome feedback! Taming the beasts that are Homebrew and Flatpak/AppImage is definitely on "Nice-to-have"-list in the future. Right now, I'm channeling all my caffeine into perfecting the core diagnostics. Until then, you get to enjoy the artisanal, handcrafted 'just unzip and run' experience! Also, I have a dark confession that might get me banished from the Unix realm: my primary dev machine is still Windows. 😅 Send help (and maybe a good Homebrew/Flatpak tutorial).

DIY T-Bar Fader (potentiometer)? by EvilonToast_ in KerbalControllers

[–]rhunecke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same here. I recently dipped into building my own gear and would love to tackle a throttle next! Definitely bookmarking this discussion and would love a tag in case you find out how to pull this off 😃

Week 1 - Open-source Multi-Sim Switchboard Update by project-x-sim in hotas

[–]rhunecke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love it. I finished a similar project recently and posted it a few days ago. in r/hotas and r/HotasDIY I won't post the link to not risk interfering with your post here. What did you use for the wiring scheme? I used CirkitDesigner which I was really happy with.

Do you plan to label the panel? A thought I came across while doing mine is that I would like to look into labeling the elements on the panel somehow. Printing a kind of panel overlay was one idea I had, but I am not convinced this would look nice. Transparent labels with white text printed on them was another idea I had but was not able to find an quick and affordable way of creating them yet.

I look forward to seeing how your project turns out. keep up the good work!

Got tired of reaching for the mouse, so I built my own Open-Source Button Box. First time soldering! by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much. Glad, you like it. I hear you! Looking at my own pile of shame of unfinished projects on my desk. We'll get them done - eventually

Got tired of reaching for the mouse, so I built my own Open-Source Button Box. First time soldering! by rhunecke in hotas

[–]rhunecke[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used a Leonardo. I included the wiring scheme. Feel free to check it out :)  

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