So I have been thinking about building a button box for LFS. First I thought about serial port: limit of 7 buttons = not enough. Then there are the USB boxes in which one can attach as many as 32 buttons: costs over 50€ + long waiting time = no thanks.

So what about buying an USB gamepad and using it to make a button box? Has anyone succeeded in this? Does LFS recognize this gamepad as second controller? So I can assign stuff like pit limiters and F9-F12 for it?

I am asking this here because it will be used only in LFS...

if you are on XP it will detect most controllers in a generic form so it should pick up all the buttons etc just fine.

LFS works fine with as many controllers as you have. I run DFP + Actlabs pedals + JS and can select any of the axis/buttons from any controller, not all sims/games are not the same though.

Just buy the cheapest USB gamepad on ebay you can find and rip apart

You can assign the buttons as you would any buttons on your wheel so pit limiter is ok.

Yes LFS will work with 2 usb controllers, I have MOMO and home made shifter(using cheap gamepad). And I would recommend "Gamez Joypad" If you can find it in Finland. I found it for 3$ in some american shop but I had to pay 8€ here in Finland for that, still quite cheap. The only thing that would come as problem is that it has only 10buttons.

Would it work if I bought 2 usb pads? = enough buttons!

I mean, 2 x 14€ pad with 12 buttons on each = 24 buttons!

So I had 3 USB controllers...

<moment type="dumb">Whats a button box?</moment>

(Other than a box of buttons...)

http://www.smay-racing.com/images/rig_2_36.jpg <<< That thing left to the wheel. That pic shows an old version of GrandSurf's racing rig (More pics? Click here).
That way you have big buttons to press for pit limiter etc, so you don't hit the wrong one. And it looks pretty cool.

Vain

Bulild your own USB-Controller. Mjoy16 is free for private use, its a 8x10bit axes controller +64 Pushbuttons +rotary switches +hatswitch.
Rewrite the Firmware and you can turn it into a buttonbox without axes and even more buttons, well i've did it without having a clue about programming. If you etch the PCB on your own it will cost you about 15,-€.

MJoy16 http://www.mindaugas.com/projects/MJoy16/

i did it and it works perfectly, in LFS and GTR, rfactor,....
i bought a very cheap saitek gamepad, which provides up to 16 buttons.
it comes with a keyboard mapping software, which allows to map any button with any combination of keyboard keys (including shift for pit, restart,...).
several game profiles allows to select different mappings for every game.

note that adding more USB controllers may induces some lag (display freeze).
i found that 4 devices is a maximum in my config (nforce2 chipset).

at the end this device is a must when racing online.

*moves into planning & designing phase*