Linux 6.9 Adds Support For Snakebyte Gamepads

The input subsystem updates were merged on Sunday for the in-development Linux 6.9 kernel merge window, among various other input changes is adding support for Snakebyte GAMEPADs to the XPad driver.

The input updates for Linux 6.9 include a new driver for supporting Goodix Berlin I2C and SPI ctouch controllers, Imagis IST3032C and IST3038B touchscreen support, dropping the old Synaptics Navpoint driver as it's unused since the removal of kernel support for an old HP iPAQ device, and then adding initial support for Snakebyte GAMEPADs to the XPad driver.

Snakebyte is a German manufacturer of gaming peripherals. The initial Snakebyte devices to be supported by the XPad input driver are the Snakebyte GAMEPAD BASE X and Snakebyte GAMEPAD RGB X controllers.

These are Xbox focused, wired gaming controllers now supported by the common XPad driver now that the necessary vendor/device IDs are in place. These controllers are sold by the likes of Amazon (affiliate link) in the ~$30 price range for those looking at new Linux gaming controllers.

For those interested the full list of input feature patches for the Linux 6.9 merge window can be found via this pull request.