Can a wireless gamepad be used with NexRemote?

When gamepad support is enabled, NexRemote uses a gamepad as a means of remotely controlling the telescope operation. This is particularly useful when aligning the telescope with NexRemote and the PC is not within reach.

NexRemote has built-in support for the following gamepads:

• Logitech Wingman Cordless RumblePad
• Logitech Cordless RumblePad 2
• Logitech Wingman RumblePad USB
• Saitek P3000 Wireless Pad
• Gamepad support can be enabled or disabled using the JoyStick option on the System Tray.

See Optional Gamepad Support in the NexRemote’s help files for a complete list of all operations.


Control Mappings

Slew rate is controlled by the X and A buttons on the right side of the gamepad. The X button increases the slew rate and the A button decreases the slew rate. The right joystick on the gamepad controls the slew direction for the telescope. The directions of this joystick map onto the up/down/left/right buttons on the computerized hand control.

This joystick can be configured for either:

• All Directions: allows slews to be made in any of 8 distinct directions.
• N,S,E,W only allows slews to be done in the 4 cardinal directions.
  

Use the JoyStick Mode option on the System Tray to select the mode.


Navigating Menus

Several gamepad controls are used to assist with navigating through the computerized hand control menus. When joystick support is enabled, a line of text will appear near the bottom of the computerized hand control image that displays the function of the Start button. An example of this text is shown below:

The Y button is used to change this selection between Menu Options (default): Planet List, Object List, and Take a Tour. When the B button is pressed, the menu displayed at the bottom is entered.

NOTE: If speech is enabled, then this menu selection is also spoken every time it is changed.

The Z/C buttons are used to scroll through items in the current menu. These buttons are the same as the 6/9 keys on the keypad.

Enter, Undo, Align and Info keys are mapped onto the trigger buttons of the gamepad. The R1 trigger is Enter, R2 trigger is Undo, L1 trigger is Align and L2 trigger is Info.


Tour Selection

The Start button on the gamepad acts as a shift key to allow the other buttons to be used in different ways. Start+Y and Start+B are used to cycle through the available custom tours.

If speech is enabled when changing the tour selection via the gamepad, the name of the newly selected tour will be spoken. When the active tour is changed, the menu selection is automatically set to the Take a Tour option. This is done so that the B button takes you to the tour menu after you changing the tour.


Inactivity Timeout

To save gamepad batteries, there is an inactivity timeout that disables the gamepad operation after 2 minutes. To wake up the gamepad, it is easiest to hit the rumble button then wait a few seconds and continue.


Gamepad Reference

The following images show the function of each gamepad control.




Updated 12/14/13