x52output(1)

✨ x52output(1) ✨

okay so bestie, you've wandered into the General Commands Manual and honestly? you're in the right place. this is the page for x52output, and it's giving command-line-frontend-for-a-whole-library energy. let's get into it 💅

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💖 NAME 💖

x52output — command line frontend for the x52pro library 🎀

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

x52output text 0 'First Line'
x52output text 1 'Second Line'
x52output text 2 'Third Line'
x52output bri 0 40
x52output bri 1 50
x52output led 1 1         # not available for old X52
x52output time 1 12 20
x52output date 7 10 17
x52output second 30       # YOKE only
x52output offset 0 1 0 90 # set 90 minutes offset on time display 2

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

x52output is a command line frontend for the x52pro MFD library. it's made for debugging and/or scripting purposes, no cap. 🫶

the x52pro MFD library gives you access to the display/LEDs of the following SAITEK pro flight devices:

• X52 Pro Flight Control System
• X52 Flight Control System
• X52 Pro Flight Yoke

and now for the main character moment — x52output has these sub-commands:

• text line text — Outputs a single line of text to one of the three lines on the x52/x52pro MFD. line is a number from 0 to 2, and text is an alphanumeric text of length 16. some graphical characters are also supported, but no work has currently been spent on charset compatibility, so like… don't expect a whole aesthetic font situation. 😭
• bri mfd brightness — Sets the brightness of either the button LEDs (x52pro only) or the MFD. mfd=0 selects the buttons and mfd=1 selects the MFD. brightness is a decimal value in the range from 0 to 127.
• led led-idx color — Sets the led color of one of the x52pro buttons. led-idx is a value from 1 to 19. the meaning of the led-idx values is specified in the next paragraph, keep scrolling bestie ⬇️
• time h24 hour minute — Sets the time shown on the MFD. h24=0 displays the time in AM/PM notation, h24=1 displays the time in 24 Hour notation. hour is a value from 0 to 24 while minute is a value from 0 to 60.
• date year month mday — Sets the date shown on the MFD. year, month, and mday are just values from 0 to 99. using this order will show as YY-MM-DD on the MFD, but it is possible to use the three values in any order preferred. your date, your rules ✨
• second second — Sets the second value shown on the Pro Flight Yoke MFD. can be a value from 0 to 59.
• offset offset — Sets the time offset of the secondary and tertiary time display of the x52/x52pro MFD. idx=0 selects the secondary display while idx=1 selects the tertiary display. neg=0 sets a positive offset, neg=1 sets a negative offset. offset is in minutes from 0 to 1023.

led-idx for the led sub-command can be one of the following values:

1. LED(s) of Fire Button
2. Red LED of A Button
3. Green LED of A Button
4. Red LED of B Button
5. Green LED of B Button
6. Red LED of D Button
7. Green LED of D Button
8. Red LED of E Button
9. Green LED of E Button
10. Red LED of T1 Switch
11. Green LED of T1 Switch
12. Red LED of T2 Switch
13. Green LED of T2 Switch
14. Red LED of T3 Switch
15. Green LED of T3 Switch
16. Red LED of Coolie Hat
17. Green LED of Coolie Hat
18. Red LED of i Button
19. Green LED of i Button

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okay so real talk 🫶 x52output needs write access to the raw x52 USB device. this package is supplied with udev rules for providing write access on the SAITEK MFD joysticks to the plugdev group members. if x52output fails, permission problems can be checked by means of running it with sudo.

ngl if it's not working, it's probably a permission vibe check. run it with sudo and see. 💀

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💀 EXIT STATUS 💀

if the joystick/yoke is not found, x52output will return a status code of 1. in every other situation it will return a status code of 0. this includes malformed command lines. yes bestie, even when you fumble the syntax it's still gonna say 0. iconic behaviour honestly.

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🙈 BUGS 🙈

x52output can currently control only a single SAITEK mfd device. if there are more than one devices attached to the system, the first will always be used. no choosing, no picking favourites, just ✨the first one✨. periodt.

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Written by Eduard Hasenleithner <eduard@hasenleithner.at> 🎀

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and that's the whole page, bestie — this was x52output(1), page one of one of the General Commands Manual, and if you were wondering about the version and the date, they're not printed anywhere up in here, so just know this is x52output(1) and go slay your flight sim setup. mwah 💅✨