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Nuno edited this page Oct 8, 2018 · 6 revisions

Steam Link Bluetooth Controller

Steam link Bluetooth controller. Support for keyboard mouse and gamepad

Introduction

The objective of this project is to create a support keyboard, mouse and gamepad to help with steamk link user interaction. The app is to be developed to android in a first initial release and the communication is featured via bluetooth. No need to buy additional mouse, keyboard or second gamepad. No need to always move the peripherals arround. The bluetooth data transfer was choosen because the steam link supports bluetooth. Given that, in some conditions useres might not have wireless connection due to distance reasons. However, bluetooth will always be close to the players becuase a proper close quarters interactions is needed with steam link.

Proof of conecpt

In order to test if this project could be developed it required different proto-testing phases. These phases are:

  • Test virtual user input via uinput module in ubuntu
  • Test virtual user input via uinput module in steamlink
  • Test bluetooth data transfer via ubunutu (C server) and ubuntu (C client)
  • Test bluetooth data transfer via steamlink (C server) and ubuntu (C client)
  • Test bluetooth data transfer via steamlink (C server) and android (Android client)

Each phase was successful proving that the Application can be planned, designed and developed.

Setup

The project setup and compilation proved to be quite the challenge. Multiple modules needed to be configured in order to be possible to compile the multiple prototypes used during the proof of concept phase.

First of all the steamlink is differnt from common PC/laptop. While a common computer uses the x86_64 architecture, Steam Link uses a ARMv7 architecture. More detailed a ARMv7a architecture. Additional packages or development tools might need to be downloaded and installed manually under an architecture code armhf. I uses a Linux firmware called 3.8.13-mrvl based on the 3.8 version. In order to compile, the gnu C library 2.19 is used. This library has a different folder structure from the current release. Given that, some headers in C code might need to be updated accordingly.

To develop steamlink terminal apps we need ssh acces to it. The SteamLink SDK github provides a tutorial to enable ssh connection in steamlink. This setup chapter assumes you have already enabled ssh connection to your steamlink.

To compile a simple C program we need an armv7a compiler. Fortunatly, Valve provides the tools needed for that. Clone the Github, Steam Link SDK, link in references, cd steamlin-sdk && source setenv.sh and we have the compiler binaries exported for the current terminal. Now, instead of gcc we just need to use armv7a-cros-linux-gnueabi-gcc. The glibc folder used by the compiler is located under steamlink-sdk/toolchain/usr/armv7a-cros-linux-gnuebi/usr/include. If there is a need to use other headers in the future, they should be stored in that folder. It is the case of the bluez module. But we will talk about that later.

There is no need to compile the C program has a kernel module. However, I will describe how to recompile the kernel which might be needed in the future if someone wishes to replace the Steam Link device current module. This explanation is also featured in the Steam Link SDK Repository. Firstly, extract binaries, cd steamlin-sdk && source setenv.sh, this will be needed because the kernel must be compiled for the arm architecture. So when running make in the following steps, the armv7a compiler will be used. Second, export ARCH=arm; export LOCALVERSION="-mrvl". Third, make bg2cd_penguin_mlc_defconfig. Fourth, make menuconfig, the terminal will enter in a configuration graphical interface, you dont need to change anything just save and exit. Fifth, create a empty Makefile in all of the following folders (create them if they don't exist): ./kernel/arch/arm/mach-berlin/modules/wlan_sd8787, ./kernel/arch/arm/mach-berlin/modules/wlan_sd8797, ./kernel/arch/arm/mach-berlin/modules/wlan_sd8801 and ./kernel/arch/arm/mach-berlin/modules/wlan_sd8897. These files need to exist because they are missing and the build fails if there are no files there. You might need to install other tools to help build the kernel, sudo apt-get install git fakeroot build-essential ncurses-dev xz-utils libssl-dev bc. Sixth and last, hit make and wait until the build is successful.

For bluetooth development we are going to use the offical Linux BlueZ library for steamlink. BlueZ is installed in steamlink but not the terminal tools. However, there are some bluetooth tools natively installed in steamlink that are more than enough to support bluetooth for this Application. First of all, the compiler we need to use does not have the libbluetooth-dev installed which is mandatory to have in order to develop bluetooth applications in C for steamlink. For that we need to manually download and install the libbluetoot-dev package. Given that we have a armv7a cpu and the BlueZ version is 5.43, we need to download that exact package. Link in the references. After we have successfully downloaded it, we need to extract the debian package properly. So, dpkg -x libbluetooth-dev_5.43-2+deb9u1_armhf.deb . Copy the folder bluetooth, located in libbluetooth/usr/include/, to the toolchain glibc folder: steamlink-sdk/toolchain/usr/armv7a-cros-linux-gnuebi/usr/include. Now the armv7a compiler will be able to locate the bluetooth headers referenced. Finally when compiling don't forget to include the libbluetooth static library, which is the file libbluetooth/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libbluetooth.a. You can place this file anoy place you want as long as it is referenced when compiling the C program. And that is it, that should do it for C bluetooth apps compiltation for steamlink. A simple C bluetooth server in steamlink should run, connect and transfer data with a simple C client in Ubuntu.

Unfortunatly, in order to transfer data between steamlink C server and Android java client we need to configure a SDP (Service Discovery Protocol) in steamlink. The C code is simple to write, however BlueZ no longer supports SDP by default. So, in order to make it work we need to configure steamlink to run BlueZ in compatibility mode. For that, inside steamlink terminal, we will lock for the file /etc/init.d/bluetooth.sh, open the file in vi, and change the line /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd -E -n $DEBUG_OPTIONS to /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd -E --compat -n $DEBUG_OPTIONS. You might need some experience in order to use vi. Once you save and exit the steamlink should restart by itself, if not then power cycle the device. Once de device is up, hop into the terminal again and execute chmod 777 /var/run/sdp. This will change the file permissions in order to register the sdp. This setup is necessary because if you tried to register the sdp in your C application you would get segmetation fault (core dumped) in the sdp_record_register() line.

When Android 4.2 came out, the Bluetooth stack was completely revamped. The casual methods to create a RFCOMM connection no longer work and workarrounds are needed. So instead of calling a simple createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord() call we need to create a fallback socket using: btSocket =(BluetoothSocket) btDevice.getClass().getMethod("createRfcommSocket", new Class[] {int.class}).invoke(btDevice,channel); where btSocket represent a BluetoothSocket class, btDevice represents the device we want to connect with and channel represents the channel which the SDP protocol is running. This channel needs to be same number also registered in the C program server in steamlink. Do not mistake socket descriptor for channel. Socket descriptor is arbitrarily choosen, while the rfcomm sdp channel is not. I found that using the channel 11 works very well to register the sdp. In the description there is a link explaining the problem with the change of the Bluetooth stack in Android.

In order for steamlink and android exchange data via bluetooth, they need to be paired. It is a requirement of steamlink to only exchange data between know devices. Steamlink provides some tools that can help pair the yout device. First, hop into steamlink terminal and make it discoverable:

sudo hciconfig hci0 up
sudo hciconfig hci0 reset
sudo hciconfig hci0 piscan
sudo hciconfig hci0 leadv

Then make a simple scan in order to discover the MAC address of your Android device:

hcitool scan

Once you have your device MAC address, then initiate the pariring phase. Inside bluetoothctl:

$bluetoothctl
[bluetooth]# power on
Changing power on succeeded
[bluetooth]# discoverable on
Changing discoverable on succeeded
[bluetooth]# pairable on
Changing pairable on succeeded
[bluetooth]# agent NoInputNoOutput
Agent registered
[bluetooth]# default-agent 
Default agent request successful
[bluetooth]# pair XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

Follow additional instructions in your Android device or SteamLink Terminal and that should do it. Your device and steamlink are now paired. You can now properly initialize RFCOMM sockets and exchange data between both.

Additionally, it might be required to change the permissions of "/dev/uinput" depending on which user is attempting to open. Normal users might not be able to open the file, either change permissions to open and edit for the current user or execute as root.

Given that RFCOMM sockets behave like TCP/IP, ensuring data reliability might not be very useful when talk about a real-time user interaction with interfaces such as mousepad. Sometimes there might be a small "Lag", this happens because the RFCOMM channel is trying to get every information without errors, generating accumulated traffic. An attempt with L2CAP sockets, which behave like UDP, would be the best approach for interfaces like Mousepad. However, android only supports RFCOMM connections.

Steam link MAC used to test information

  • Bluetooth Adapter address: E0:31:9E:07:07:66

References

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