HOWTO: connecting a RPi based arcade joystick via WiFi

This page summarizes the projects mentioned and recommended in the original post on /r/SteamDeck

Our great sponsors
  • WorkOS - The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS
  • InfluxDB - Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale
  • SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews
  • uinput-mapper

    Maps input devices to (multiple) other (virtually, created) input devices. Supports cloning input devices and sharing them over the network. Very useful for applications and games that do not support certain input devices (like gamepads)

    I have a Deck since Monday and start to tinker with it. I also have Picade Console from Pimonori which is basically a RaspberryPi Hat with nice buttons, a joystick and a cool case. The problem is that it's not a controller proper but rather a full-on console, namely you plug it to your TV and play. To make it work as-is with the SteamDeck I had to use a little trick : redirecting input events, e.g keypress, from one device to the other. There are multiple solutions for that e.g uinput-mapper https://github.com/MerlijnWajer/uinput-mapper , potentially barrier, a software KVM https://github.com/debauchee/barrier but I decide to stick to a minimalist solution, netevent https://github.com/Blub/netevent that just brings input events from one device to another over e.g ssh.

  • barrier

    Open-source KVM software

    I have a Deck since Monday and start to tinker with it. I also have Picade Console from Pimonori which is basically a RaspberryPi Hat with nice buttons, a joystick and a cool case. The problem is that it's not a controller proper but rather a full-on console, namely you plug it to your TV and play. To make it work as-is with the SteamDeck I had to use a little trick : redirecting input events, e.g keypress, from one device to the other. There are multiple solutions for that e.g uinput-mapper https://github.com/MerlijnWajer/uinput-mapper , potentially barrier, a software KVM https://github.com/debauchee/barrier but I decide to stick to a minimalist solution, netevent https://github.com/Blub/netevent that just brings input events from one device to another over e.g ssh.

  • WorkOS

    The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS. The APIs are flexible and easy-to-use, supporting authentication, user identity, and complex enterprise features like SSO and SCIM provisioning.

  • netevent

    Input-Event device cloning utility. Use it together with ssh/netcat/... to share input devices among different machines.

    I have a Deck since Monday and start to tinker with it. I also have Picade Console from Pimonori which is basically a RaspberryPi Hat with nice buttons, a joystick and a cool case. The problem is that it's not a controller proper but rather a full-on console, namely you plug it to your TV and play. To make it work as-is with the SteamDeck I had to use a little trick : redirecting input events, e.g keypress, from one device to the other. There are multiple solutions for that e.g uinput-mapper https://github.com/MerlijnWajer/uinput-mapper , potentially barrier, a software KVM https://github.com/debauchee/barrier but I decide to stick to a minimalist solution, netevent https://github.com/Blub/netevent that just brings input events from one device to another over e.g ssh.

NOTE: The number of mentions on this list indicates mentions on common posts plus user suggested alternatives. Hence, a higher number means a more popular project.

Suggest a related project

Related posts