[linux-audio-user] joysticks

[Nathaniel Virgo]

Hi,

I was wondering whether anybody has any experience of using gaming 
josticks as musical controllers on linux? 

I was thinking of getting a couple of cheap-ish but decent joysticks 
(the kind where you can rotate the stick to control three axes at once) 
with as many fire buttons as possible and learning to play using them 
both at once.  Ultimately I'd like to be able to play a gig without 
using keyboard, mouse or screen, just the joysticks and perhaps some 
MIDI foot pedals. 

Will this actually work?  Do all USB joysticks work in linux?  Are 
gaming joysticks accurate enough to use as musical controllers?  Which 
software supports them? (I know they're supported to some extent in ssm, 
galan and pd -- I'll probably end up learning to use pd as I want to be 
able to use the fire buttons to do everything from triggering samples to 
changing patches and pd seems to offer the most flexibility that way)  
Is there any software that supports using two at once or will I need to 
do some hacking?  Are there any major pitfalls I should look out for?

Thanks in advance for any comments,

Nathaniel.