Thus far I have been playing on my XBox 360 wireless controller, but the rubber has worn off one of the sticks so far, i can feel the edge of the hard plastic beneath it when I play. The springs in the triggers are creaking as well.
So I am looking for a replacement.
Some people recommended the 8BitDo controllers. The 8BitDo Ultimate 2.4 Ghz Controller offers hall effect sensors and a loading dock for the same price as a regular Xbox or Playstation controller.
I found some posts about the compatibility with Linux. The BT+2.4 version seems to have more problems, but even the 2.4Ghz version needs some tinkering.
Does anyone have any experience with 8BitDo in general or the 2.4Ghz model in particular?
Are there other controllers I should look at? I mostly play rogue likes with controller and would like a XBox/Playstation style controller.
Thanks.
Edit: Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I used them and watched some reviews. I went from the 8BitDo Ultimate 2.4Ghz to the GuliKit KK 3 Max and finally landed at the Flydigi Vader 3 Pro. Ordered it from Aliexpress (not available at Amazon in Europe) for under 50€.
So I use an Xbox Series and their wireless receiver for the PC. It’s not plug and play for the wireless functionality, but there is a fantastic repo xone. Just clone the repo and follow the instructions and it works great.
I mostly play rogue likes with controller and would like a XBox/Playstation style controller
I’m assuming you dont need gyro or touchpad that you’ll get with PlayStation / Nintendo compatible controllers, however if you do want those features the Switch Pro controller & the DualSense (PS5) play nicely on my Linux computer (with steam)
Out of the two I’d probably recommend the dual sense since you’re used to Xbox / Western PS layout rather then Nintendo / Japanese PS layout.
I’ve heard good things about the 8bitdo controllers, but can’t comment on their compatibility or quality. The contemporary xbox wireless controllers I don’t personally like, the current ones have this extra grippy texture on the back and thumbsticks that doesn’t sit well with me and the lack of rechargeability ootb is disappointing for the price.
I use the 8BitDo Ultimate, the one with the Xbox button layout (A bottom, B right) as opposed to the Switch layout one.
It works out of the box under openSUSE Tumbleweed for example. Steam recognizes it (make sure you have steam-devices installed) just fine.
Keep in mind that 8BitDo’s firmware update tool isn’t available for Linux though. It might work via Wine but I didn’t try it. There’s a button remapping software also available for Windows. Didn’t try it under Linux either, but the profiles are saved to the controller so once set up, you don’t need the software.
I am on opensuse tumbleweed and just bought the gulikit kk3 max. I was worried at first but I enjoy it way more than my Xbox elite 2. Oh and the dongle wireless worked without issue.
I bought the GuliKit KK3 MAX and have nothing but good to say about it.
I use it with the Steamdeck via Bluetooth and wired with my desktop. You can also switch out the stupid Nintendo button layout for the normal one. Also, no proprietary software needed to configure or update it.
I have the Ultimate Bluetooth Controller from them and it’s been plug & play on everything I’ve tried. Fedora with KDE picks it up on 2.4GHz mode just fine (and Steam recognizes it too). My iOS devices recognize it as a Nintendo Switch Pro controller when using Bluetooth mode.
The 8bitdo ultimate you linked to is great. To be clear I have only used it with Windows.
But if you get it there is a hitch that’s not made clear anywhere- in order to use on 2.4ghz mode (with the dongle) with gyro enabled, you need to downgrade the firmware to an old beta version 8bitdo doesn’t host anymore. Someone uploaded it to google drive in that reddit thread I linked to.
Sounds like it’s not really a downgrade, but just an unreleased beta or test build? That seems a little less sketchy, and maybe it’ll be generally released at some point.
Yeah it is a beta, but the actual final update that was released lacked that gyro functionality over 2.4ghz that was in the beta. So yeah, you kinda do need to “downgrade”.
Hopefully they do release an update with that functionality enabled one day but it’s been well over a year now and they don’t even officially provide that beta version anymore. So it’s not looking hopeful.
So I use an Xbox Series and their wireless receiver for the PC. It’s not plug and play for the wireless functionality, but there is a fantastic repo xone. Just clone the repo and follow the instructions and it works great.
I’m running EndeavorOS with Plasma.
I’m assuming you dont need gyro or touchpad that you’ll get with PlayStation / Nintendo compatible controllers, however if you do want those features the Switch Pro controller & the DualSense (PS5) play nicely on my Linux computer (with steam)
Out of the two I’d probably recommend the dual sense since you’re used to Xbox / Western PS layout rather then Nintendo / Japanese PS layout.
I’ve heard good things about the 8bitdo controllers, but can’t comment on their compatibility or quality. The contemporary xbox wireless controllers I don’t personally like, the current ones have this extra grippy texture on the back and thumbsticks that doesn’t sit well with me and the lack of rechargeability ootb is disappointing for the price.
I have the BT version which worked great with the workaround, but it’s not needed anymore, at least on EndeavourOS (Arch)
Was there an issue on the desktop? I just use wired because I don’t need my desktop (Fedora) to be wireless.
Yea, it was something about wireless. I believe it affected 2.4 GHz and BT, was easily fixed with some udev rules though.
You have the option to buy some cheap thumb grip replacement. 8Bitdo Pro 2 with Xbox buttons is a great controller for Linux.
I use the 8BitDo Ultimate, the one with the Xbox button layout (A bottom, B right) as opposed to the Switch layout one.
It works out of the box under openSUSE Tumbleweed for example. Steam recognizes it (make sure you have steam-devices installed) just fine.
Keep in mind that 8BitDo’s firmware update tool isn’t available for Linux though. It might work via Wine but I didn’t try it. There’s a button remapping software also available for Windows. Didn’t try it under Linux either, but the profiles are saved to the controller so once set up, you don’t need the software.
I am on opensuse tumbleweed and just bought the gulikit kk3 max. I was worried at first but I enjoy it way more than my Xbox elite 2. Oh and the dongle wireless worked without issue.
I bought the GuliKit KK3 MAX and have nothing but good to say about it.
I use it with the Steamdeck via Bluetooth and wired with my desktop. You can also switch out the stupid Nintendo button layout for the normal one. Also, no proprietary software needed to configure or update it.
Gotdamn, back-paddle buttons? Now I regret buying the Kong Pro 2 controller a year ago
Thanks for the recommendation. Will take a look and see if the extra money is worth it.
Sony has committed official drivers for PS5 controller under Linux. The experience with it is really plug-and-play… just that you don’t plug it in.
Some people don’t like the layout others prefer it. I use it myself on my Linux computer. So I wanted to name this option here.
I have the Ultimate Bluetooth Controller from them and it’s been plug & play on everything I’ve tried. Fedora with KDE picks it up on 2.4GHz mode just fine (and Steam recognizes it too). My iOS devices recognize it as a Nintendo Switch Pro controller when using Bluetooth mode.
It’s not the 8BitDo controller, but I have a GuliKit King Kong 2 controller and I bought the Xbox button kit. Works like an absolute dream on Linux.
The 8bitdo ultimate you linked to is great. To be clear I have only used it with Windows.
But if you get it there is a hitch that’s not made clear anywhere- in order to use on 2.4ghz mode (with the dongle) with gyro enabled, you need to downgrade the firmware to an old beta version 8bitdo doesn’t host anymore. Someone uploaded it to google drive in that reddit thread I linked to.
Sounds like it’s not really a downgrade, but just an unreleased beta or test build? That seems a little less sketchy, and maybe it’ll be generally released at some point.
Yeah it is a beta, but the actual final update that was released lacked that gyro functionality over 2.4ghz that was in the beta. So yeah, you kinda do need to “downgrade”.
Hopefully they do release an update with that functionality enabled one day but it’s been well over a year now and they don’t even officially provide that beta version anymore. So it’s not looking hopeful.
I have the non-hall version and it worked out of the box on Pop! OS. I already had the dock plugged in when I installed Pop, so ymmv