spacenav_node/Troubleshooting

Errors when using package

Error: Could not open the space navigator device. Did you remember to run spacenavd (as root)?

Example:

blaise@hya: /opt/ros/cturtle/stacks/joystick_drivers/spacenav_node $ ./spacenav_node 
connect failed: No such file or directory
[ERROR] [1288904194.289257379]: Could not open the space navigator device.  Did you remember to run spacenavd (as root)?
[ WARN] [1288904194.289311637]: Publisher on '/spacenav/joy' destroyed immediately after creation.  Did you forget to store the handle?

Solution:

Did you run spacenavd?
```
sudo bash
rosrun spacenav spacenavd
```
Did you run spacenavd via sudo? In some conditions, running
```
sudo rosrun spacenav spacenavd
```
does not work. Use the invocation above if you run into trouble.

Error: failed to grab the spacenav device: Device or resource busy

Example:

$ sudo ./spacenavd  -d
Spacenav daemon svn-r87
failed to open config file /etc/spnavrc: No such file or directory. using defaults.
using device: /dev/input/event4
failed to grab the spacenav device: Device or resource busy
device name: 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator for Notebooks

And spacenav_node publishes /spacenav/{joy,twist} with value of 0.

Solution:

This seems X server automatically detects space navigator, which results in the spacenav not getting USB events as described in http://spacenav.sourceforge.net/faq.html#faq11. I tried to follow the FAQ instruction but it didn't help(if someone know how to igonre spacenav mouse from X server, please add instruction).

What I tried is:

1) connect spacenav ( blue led is on : this means X server found the mouse)
2) run spacenavd
3) unplug and plug spacenav until it did not outputs "fialed to grab..." goto
4) start spacenav node