Building and using the sixpair command-line app to edit the Bluetooth master address of PS3 controller (for pairing with EV3)
This only seems to work with an authentic PS3 controller. Don’t use a knockoff brand.
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- Step 5: Plug in your Dual Shock 3 to your computer via USB mini cable, and SixPair should detect your controller. Step 6: Once SixPair sees your controller, click the Pair Controller to iPad button. This will copy the Bluetooth Mac address from your iPad to the PS3 controller so that the devices can communicate with one another.
- Blutrol is a universal iOS app. This means it runs on your iPhone, on your iPod touch and on your iPad. IOS 4-7 is required iOS 7.1 support is unclear yet.
- Plug your PS3 controller into your Mac via the USB cable. In Terminal again, type './sixpair 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F' where '1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F' is the 'Local Bluetooth Address' that the Sixaxis controller app gives you. Unplug the PS3 controller, start the Sixaxis controller app, and then press the home button on your PS3 controller.
- Download and start the SixPair tool. Then, connect your iOS device and the PS3 controller using USB cables to your Mac. Now, the SixPair tool will show a pairing button. Press the button and you're done. You can find the setup tool and instructions for Windows on the webpage of Dancing Pixel Studios.
Pairing a (real) PS3 controller with a non-PS3 device is technically straightforward, but not an automated process. The easiest way to do this is to connect the PS3 controller to your Mac via a mini-USB cable and run a command-line tool (called sixpair) to configure the gamepad to pair with the EV3’s Bluetooth address.
- Information about the sixpair tool is available here:
- C-source code is available here:
- A binary for macOS is here:
- Using Safari, this file downloads as
sixpair.dms(it’s an issue with Safari). Rename it to justsixpair.
- Using Safari, this file downloads as
Running sixpair, either from the binary or by building it from the C source, requires a library, libusb. Not the current 1.0.x, but an old 0.1.14 version, which is still available as libusb-compat (for backwards compatibility). Again, it’s Homebrew to the rescue:
Now, you can easily build sixpair via the command line (assuming you have Xcode installed):
Whether you’ve built it from source or downloaded the binary, you execute it the same way from the command line (assuming you’re currently in its directory):
##:##:##:##:##:## is the ID of the controller’s current Bluetooth master (probably your computer). To change it you specify a new master Bluetooth address [<bd_addr of master>] (from the EV3) in xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx format:
Sixpair Mac Download
You can now unplug the PS3 DualShock3 controller from your Mac, and it is ready to pair with your EV3 (when it’s running brickhid, as described on the parent page, here).
FYI, if a controller is NOT plugged into your computer, you’ll get the following error from running sixpair:
| Note: This tutorial assumes that you have completed the previous tutorials: ROS tutorials. |
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Keywords: PS3, joystick, driver
Tutorial Level: BEGINNER
Next Tutorial:Writing a teleop node
Contents
- Pairing
Start by installing the dependencies and compiling the driver:
If this joystick has already been paired to this dongle you can skip this section and go directly to 'Connecting to the Joystick Via Bluetooth'. This will usually be the case when you are working on the PR2.
For Computers with More than One USB Port
Plug the USB bluetooth dongle into your computer. Then, plug the PS3 bluetooth joystick into the computer using a USB cable.
Load the bluetooth dongle's MAC address into the PS3 joystick using:
You will see something similar to:
Press Ctrl-D now so that you do not continue to run as root.
If you get something like the following:
Run the command:
and then retry:
For Computers with One USB Port
Plug the USB bluetooth dongle into the computer and read the MAC address from the dongle:
You will see something like this:
(In the above example, the MAC address is: 00:22:B0:D0:5A:09)
Now unplug the bluetooth dongle and plug the PS3 joystick into the computer using a USB cable. Replace the joystick's MAC address using the following command:
You will see something like this:
Press Ctrl-D now so that you do not continue to run as root.
Unplug the joystick from the computer and make sure that the USB bluetooth dongle is plugged in. Now, start the program to create the connection between the bluetooth dongle and the joystick:
Sixpair Mac
You will see:
Press the PS button in the middle of the joystick and the connection will be activated.
You will see:
Sixpair Mac Download
If you do not see the above message and you are running Karmic or Lucid versions of Ubuntu you may need to follow these instructions.
In a new terminal, confirm that the joystick is sending data to your computer. You can test this with jstest:
Sixpair Tool Mac
(if this does not work, try replacing ? with the number of your joystick --try tab completing, i.e. /dev/input/js0 )
You will see output that looks like this and changes as you press buttons and move the joysticks:
Sixpair Tool Mac
If you ever need to unpair the joystick, you can simply press the pairing button for 10 seconds. The lights on the joystick should stop blinking.