Linux 6.4 To Fix Bug Where Nintendo Controllers Could Indefinitely Rumble

For those Linux gamers making use of Nintendo controllers, a few notable fixes are on the way for the upcoming Linux 6.4 kernel cycle.

The HID subsystem has been queueing up patches for Linux 6.4 as the "-next" cycle. With for-6.4/nintendo a few bug fixes for Nintendo controllers on Linux are worth mentioning.

First up, there is a fix for a situation where the Nintendo controllers with rumble functionality could be left rumbling... indefinitely. Rumble queue overruns could occur that would leave the Nintendo controllers with the hid-nintendo Linux driver left rumbling non-stop. Fortunately, for the next kernel cycle, that will be fixed.

"Make sure that we never throw out the most recent rumble setting, opting to overwrite the prior queue head instead. This prevents instances where we could get rumble stuck on if there were an overrun at the wrong time."

Also from Daniel Ogorchock is a fix for a Bluetooth disconnect issue with Nintendo controllers on Linux.

"It's been discovered that BT controller disconnect events correlate to erratic input report timestamp deltas.

In experimentation, it's been found that ensuring that multiple timestamp deltas are consistent prior to transmitting a rumble packet drastically reduces the occurence rate of BT disconnects."

Thus look forward to these Nintendo controller improvements with Linux 6.4 this summer.