Linux 6.8 HID: Steam Controller Driver Fixes From SteamOS, Nintendo NSO Controller Support

The HID driver updates for Linux 6.8 include some useful additions primarily for Linux gamers or those otherwise making use of modern game controllers for other input purposes.

First up, there are several fixes to the Steam HID driver (hid-steam) that are picked up from Valve's downstream in the latest SteamOS beta builds. This is the driver for supporting both the original Steam Controller -- in wired or wireless modes -- as well has handling the input controls on the Steam Deck handheld game console.

For Linux 6.8 the HID Steam driver fixes include no longer overwriting the smoothing parameter, cleaning up the locking code, better handling for the serial number reporting, supporting the gamepad-only mode switch by holding options, and other changes. The gamepad-only mode is for disabling mouse and keyboard mode compared to the "desktop" mode with gamepad disabled. This hotkey using the options button is similar to the behavior of the official Steam client. As part of that patch is adding support for haptic pulses as also done by Steam when using the hotkey.

The other notable HID work in Linux 6.8 is adding support for the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) controllers. The Nintendo HID driver is adding support for these NSO controllers that match some of their classic controllers like for the Nintendo, Super Nintendo (SNES), and Nintendo 64 (N64) consoles.

The HID subsystem in Linux 6.8 is also seeing support for custom sensor-hub sensors like hinge angle sensors that previously weren't working, Ilitek ili2901 touchscreen support, and various other HID driver updates. See this pull request for the full list of HID updates for the Linux 6.8 merge window.