Connect game controller to SynScan android app?

[Ags]

Has anyone tried connecting a small game controller to the Android synscan app for tactile scope control? Something like this:

https://www.nedgame.nl/pc-gaming/8bitdo-zero-2-mini-bluetooth-gamepad--turquoise-/6645363627/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_uXB2_7z7wIVC-3tCh0X4Q9lEAQYASABEgLwWPD_BwE

 

[vlaiv]

@Ags Just ran into this topic. It's been some time since you posted. Have you managed to do something with thits?

Found rather interesting single hand blue tooth version of gamepad. It is meant for VR glasses, but from what I've gathered - it works as BT controller in general:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003237891833.html?spm=a2g0o.search0304.0.0.42191afemJoSb5&algo_pvid=9bba19c3-a562-4dae-8b75-272969f787cc&algo_exp_id=9bba19c3-a562-4dae-8b75-272969f787cc-14

From what I've gathered - it should not be too difficult to write an app that takes input from one of these and connects to SynScan app on Android (iOS is a bit more difficult as two apps can't communicate via loopback adapter) to control it.

I'm going to give it a go in making such app unless you managed to make it work somehow?

[Ags]

I have not made any progress on this, so I am interested to see if you make any progress.

[vlaiv]

On 06/11/2021 at 16:48, Ags said:

I have not made any progress on this, so I am interested to see if you make any progress.

Just to keep you up to date - I purchased mini Bluetooth game controller thingy for android phone - this one:

and paired it with my phone. It is very small controller - the size of thumb drive - maybe a bit bigger. It fits nicely in hand, but feel is rather plasticky (sure enough - it is plastic device). That thumb joystick bit is omni directional - but rather imprecise. Precise enough to be used as up/down/left/right control. I tried it with Gamepad testing app - and there it reports direction in fractions of 0-1 range. When moving left, right, up and down - that axis is always +/-1 but other has various values like 0.1-0.2 or sometimes very close to zero - like 0.005. When aiming for diagonal - both axis values get larger.

It pairs easily with phone (it came without instructions) - and I believe nothing special will be needed to command the mount - at least left/right/up/down - as it acts as keyboard arrow keys if in that mode (it has two modes - in one mode - joystick will emulate mouse - I think that "game" mode is one with arrow keys). This model has internal battery and charges via USB port (not sure which USB connection is that - but I had the cable that matched).

Will test it with mount and synscan app and let you know if its working.

 

[vlaiv]

Small update again:

- it will not work out of the box, SynScan app is simply not configured to accept keyboard input in such way

- Bluetooth device can and will interfere with wifi. This caused me to change from hotspot to station mode (connect mount to my local wifi). When it was running as hot spot - BT device caused frequent disconnects of my mobile phone. Not sure why is that - but as far as I can see - it can happen due to interference between BT and Wifi.

Don't know if re-pairing of device will fix the issue (as suggested by net wisdom). For me it is not a deal breaker, but some might find it difficult to use device in the field (although reversing roles is always possibility - make your phone be AP and mount connect to it).

In the end - it will need to be external app for the time being to create bridge between the two. I'll look into writing one (it's been while since I did any android coding).