Can't for the life of me get an Xbox360 wired controller to work in Linux

[Dark Carnival]

Ok, let's take it briefly:

I know the device exists and that it's being somewhat recognized as I can do "jstest /dev/input/js0" and get:

Driver version is 2.1.0.
Joystick (Microsoft X-Box 360 pad) has 8 axes (X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, Rz, Hat0X, Hat0Y)
and 13 buttons (BtnX, BtnY, BtnZ, BtnTL, BtnTR, BtnTL2, BtnTR2, BtnSelect, BtnThumbR, ?, ?, ?, BackBtn).
Testing ... (interrupt to exit)
Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:     0  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:-32767  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:-32767  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:-32767  3:     0  4:     0  5:     0  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:-32767  3:     0  4:     0  5:-32767  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:-32767  3:     0  4:     0  5:-32767  6:     0  7:     0 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9Axes:  0:     0  1:     0  2:-32767  3:     0  4:     0  5:-32767  6:     0  7: 32767 Buttons:  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  7:off  8:off  9:off 10:off 11:off 12:off

But the gamepad will NOT send any key-presses !
Every game-pad guide just mentions that you can do "cat /dev/input/js0" and that this will return some weird characters - and that more will come each time you press a button - signifying that the gamepad is indeed working.

However, I get no extra weird characters, there's nothing to suggest that any key-presses are being sent, furthermore, if I attempt a calibration like:
"jscal -c /dev/input/js0"

I get

jscal -c /dev/input/
by-id/   event0   event2   event4   event6   mice     mouse1   
by-path/ event1   event3   event5   js0      mouse0   
root@monolith:/dev/input# jscal -c /dev/input/js0 
Joystick has 8 axes and 13 buttons.
Correction for axis 0 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 1 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 2 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 127, 127, 4227330, 4227330
Correction for axis 3 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 4 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 5 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 127, 127, 4227330, 4227330
Correction for axis 6 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 0, 0, 536870912, 536870912
Correction for axis 7 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 0, 0, 536870912, 536870912

Calibrating precision: wait and don't touch the joystick.
Axis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisAxis 0:    0,    0 Axis 1:    0,    0 Axis 2:    0,    0 Axis 3:    0,    0 AxisDone. Precision is:                                             1,    1 
Axis: 0:     0
Axis: 1:     0
Axis: 2:     0
Axis: 3:     0
Axis: 4:     0
Axis: 5:     0
Axis: 6:     0
Axis: 7:     0

Move axis 0 to minimum position and push any button.
Axis 0:        0

Problem is, it hangs here because it won't recognize that I'm hammering keys to get on. It's just not receiving a thing.

Please, please help!

[MS3FGX]

What kernel are you using?

[Dark Carnival]

2.6.24 on a Ubuntu Hardy Heron system.

I finally got it working though

See, ubuntu includes an xpad driver by default - which is what I've been using - turns out they don't update the driver too often and so it's just for the old Xbox1 gamepads while newer releases (which have been in existence from long before Gutsy's end ) also have xbox360 controller support.

Anyway, you'll have to compile the driver yourself, generally, I just followed the instructions at:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Xbox360Controller

And it turned out to be easy. It's just misleading when you're sitting with a recent distro and it has the same type of driver already bundled in. That was what caused me trouble