Steam Controller Linux Kernel Driver Updated To Work Happily With The Steam Client

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Steam Controller Linux Kernel Driver Updated To Work Happily With The Steam Client

Last month we reported on a kernel driver being worked on for Valve's Steam Controller but it wasn't coming from Valve developers but rather an independent member of the community. That hid-steam driver continues to be hacked on...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Steam-Controller-HID-V6

[moilami]

Great work, at the moment I would not recommend Steam Controller even to my worst enemy! It is just a complete mess in actual use.

[Nille_kungen]

Great work, at the moment I would not recommend Steam Controller even to my worst enemy! It is just a complete mess in actual use.

I actually think the steam controller works pretty good, but i often modifies the profiles to suit me better.
I do welcome this work since i do want to use the steam controller without steam client.
What's the big mess you have with the steam controller?

[moilami]

I actually think the steam controller works pretty good, but i often modifies the profiles to suit me better.
I do welcome this work since i do want to use the steam controller without steam client.
What's the big mess you have with the steam controller?

It does not work out of the box like for example Logitech controller. Outside Steam it does not work unless you download some utilities for it. If you use Steam with Wine, then the controller does not work too. And last but not least, it can happen that it wont even work with Steam (under Linux) unless you modify a config file.

A controller should just work, like Logitech controllers work, or like a mouse or keyboard work, or how controllers work in consoles. Linux is in sad state regarding gaming, I can get used to it, but it means nothing if I can get used to it because majority of people would never ever become used to it, and as you very well know, it is majority what matters in this case.

[M@GOid]

There is something about the Steam Controller (SC) that I call "The first five minutes of desperation". This is more or less the time people will take to love it or hate it.

Some people like to embrace new things and do not walk away if things are not the way they are accustomed. Those tend to like the SC.

Others will discard anything they are not familiar with or if they think are hard to use, like changing from Windows to Linux. Those tend to put the SC on Ebay after the 5 minutes.

I generally am to the second group, but from time to time I choose to learn new things. When I bought my SC, I almost succumbed on those first 5 minutes. I thought I made a (expensive here in Brazil) mistake.

But I persevered, and I'm happy that I did. Those things are unbeatable on first and third person shooters, and will hold their own on other types of games.

I know it is not for everyone, I understand that. The analog stick is with us for more that 20 years now, and people tend to stay where they are comfortable. But I am from a time where the analog stick was not the standard input, and I remember people were not all that thrill when it was introduced on the N64 (yeah yeah, but it was first on a mainstream console). But people learned how to handle it, because the games of the N64 were designed around it. So with time it became a natural thing.

It took me a few weeks to feel comfortable with the SC, and about a year to master it. But I'm glad I did. Today is my main controller, and all the other in my collection, the Logitech F710, XB360/One Controller, Dual Shock 4, are on the closet. They are all good (except the F710) on their on, but for the majority of the games I play, the SC is hands down the best.

[M@GOid]

It does not work out of the box like for example Logitech controller. Outside Steam it does not work unless you download some utilities for it. If you use Steam with Wine, then the controller does not work too. And last but not least, it can happen that it wont even work with Steam (under Linux) unless you modify a config file.

A controller should just work, like Logitech controllers work, or like a mouse or keyboard work, or how controllers work in consoles. Linux is in sad state regarding gaming, I can get used to it, but it means nothing if I can get used to it because majority of people would never ever become used to it, and as you very well know, it is majority what matters in this case.

I also feel your frustration. You can thanks Canonical for choosing not to support the SC out of the box, because of that config file. And even on Windows it will not work without Steam.

[Ardje]

A controller should just work, like Logitech controllers work, or like a mouse or keyboard work, or how controllers work in consoles. Linux is in sad state regarding gaming, I can get used to it, but it means nothing if I can get used to it because majority of people would never ever become used to it, and as you very well know, it is majority what matters in this case.

I've never had a controller that worked out of the box. The issue with controllers is, is that games are locked to either mouse/keyboard, or the very limited console controllers.
And I can assure you it took a long time before mouse and keyboard worked out of the box.
Anyway, you would find a lot of people that prefer the steam controller above any console controller. It's like the spawn of mouse accuracy and controller analog things.. But the thing is: it has so many possibilities, you need to configure it to your own likings. Not a lot of games accept both mouse-like and analog-stick like input.

Of course, a PS3 controller would work fine on a PS3, as there are no alternate controllers. But if you mix PS3 and XBOX on a PC or android, games already get confused.
GTA-SA on my android always changes it's button layout because then it thinks it's a PS3 controller layout, and then it thinx it's an XBOX controller layout.
I have less problems with another bluetooth controller. But in all cases I have to configure this or that. Even my flight stick is a hell to configure. And my steering wheel, no... that really is a lot of work. For *each* game. There really are no working controllers, unless the game has a build in database of controller id's, or that your controller has a perfect emulation of a specific controller (including id).
Now Valve is coming with a good solution to fix all that, but it would only really work if that would be independent from Valve/Steam and would be an open source external API.

[uid313]

This is great!
Too bad it wasn't done years ago though. 😢

[Patola]

It does not work out of the box like for example Logitech controller. Outside Steam it does not work unless you download some utilities for it. If you use Steam with Wine, then the controller does not work too. And last but not least, it can happen that it wont even work with Steam (under Linux) unless you modify a config file.

A controller should just work, like Logitech controllers work, or like a mouse or keyboard work, or how controllers work in consoles. Linux is in sad state regarding gaming, I can get used to it, but it means nothing if I can get used to it because majority of people would never ever become used to it, and as you very well know, it is majority what matters in this case.

You are completely out of your mind. The Steam Controller is the BEST biometric device for translating quick movements to game or serious applications motion in almost any case. It is a complex device by nature and although there are sensible defaults (like mouse + keyboard or regular gamepad-like), they are by no means universal, which means you always have to choose from where you want to start. Once you did that, you have infinite flexibility to customize it to your liking. As a southpaw, its keyboard emulation completely freed me from games which insisting of using WASD for movement (some which aren't even configurable). Its gyroscope allowed me much finer aiming in first-person shooters or to use it as a steering wheel in driving games. Its dual touchpads allow me to smoothly control 4 different axes at the same time (which I use even to 3d modelling, mind you) and even typing with the on-screen keyboard, faster than in a tablet or mobile phone. And the small stick is more than enough for 2d movement.

And you don't really need steam for it. sc-controller (on github), an open source steam configuration utility and driver, is more powerful than steam, and works anywhere in Linux (yes -- you could even use it in text mode with scc-daemon). It works in all wine games, because it provides xbox emulation.

I usually only read news here at phoronix. But I couldn't stand you badmouth souch a wonderful invention. the Steam Controller is not a mere gamepad. It is an incredibly powerful and useful device for much more than games.

[moilami]

You are completely out of your mind. The Steam Controller is the BEST biometric device for translating quick movements to game or serious applications motion in almost any case. It is a complex device by nature and although there are sensible defaults (like mouse + keyboard or regular gamepad-like), they are by no means universal, which means you always have to choose from where you want to start. Once you did that, you have infinite flexibility to customize it to your liking. As a southpaw, its keyboard emulation completely freed me from games which insisting of using WASD for movement (some which aren't even configurable). Its gyroscope allowed me much finer aiming in first-person shooters or to use it as a steering wheel in driving games. Its dual touchpads allow me to smoothly control 4 different axes at the same time (which I use even to 3d modelling, mind you) and even typing with the on-screen keyboard, faster than in a tablet or mobile phone. And the small stick is more than enough for 2d movement.

And you don't really need steam for it. sc-controller (on github), an open source steam configuration utility and driver, is more powerful than steam, and works anywhere in Linux (yes -- you could even use it in text mode with scc-daemon). It works in all wine games, because it provides xbox emulation.

I usually only read news here at phoronix. But I couldn't stand you badmouth souch a wonderful invention. the Steam Controller is not a mere gamepad. It is an incredibly powerful and useful device for much more than games.

2 posts but since you took effort to write so much I answer to you that I did not criticize design. I criticized integration to the Linux system.

I recommend you to think more next time before writing something.

Edit: And there is no hostility in my posting, so don't become offended. You wrote good facts, and it is good you wrote them so that those not aware of the facts can know the facts.