this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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If you have bluetooth on your PC you can use any Xbox controller (from Xbox One up). They are the perfect standard. Grab some rechargeable double As and the controller will last literally forever and is compatible with everything. Or a battery pack even from third party brands. I know many people complain about it using double As but its actually a great thing, double As last 20x longer than any battery and you can use rechargeable ones and don't worry about your controller dying as it ages.
My Xbox Wireless Controller couldn’t connect with Bluetooth until after a firmware update. The update required a Windows machine and the Xbox Accessories app (VM didn’t work) or an Xbox One (360 didn’t work).
Damn how old is your controller? My series X controller worked from day one. Zero configuration needed. Nobara Linux. I use it almost everyday for hours, zero problems
I looked it up and it seems to be the 2020 version. I recently got it with a Steam Deck that I bought second hand.
I can't get Xbox controllers to work over Bluetooth.
You mean you have an Xbox controller that supports bt but you can't get it to work on Linux, or you have an Xbox controller and it doesn't seem to support bt?
Because they started adding bt to xbone controllers half way through their cycle, so not all of them have it. Refer to msft's picture to tell them apart.
IMO Xbox controllers are the way to go. BT works fine for me on Linux these days. Not sure if it's steam doing it or what.
Has bt. Linux says it's connected. But the Xbox light doesn't stop blinking. Then just goes dark...
Ok, I definitely had that happen before. I'm trying to remember what I did to fix it. Are you trying to use one of the xpad or xboxdrv packages? I think the solution that's currently working for me is not using either of them. I removed them and I think it must be steam that's making it work for me.
Or if you're not using either of those, then maybe try them out lol. It sucks how finicky it can be to get it working, but I still prefer Xbox controllers.
The latency with Bluetooth is really bad.
I play Dirt Rally 2, I'm not seeing any issues.
If it doesn't bug you, more power to you. Maybe it's because you're playing a racing game where an input doesn't immediately hit the screen anyways. Hitting the gas takes time to accelerate, steering is about gradually modifying your lines, etc.
But it's definitely there, in both windows and Linux.
Sim racers are pretty demanding on reaction time, rally in particular, where all controls have to work instantly (including gear shift, handbrake and clutch).
Also, what else am I going to play on controller? Racing and platformers are the most demanding games for it, I'm not going to play shooters with controller. 🙂
This is mostly a myth with modern controllers. Either your pc Bluetooth is very old, or you are using very old controllers. Modern bluetooth controllers connected to modern bluetooth receivers do not give any noticeable latency.
No, I am not. I have used the current Xbox controllers on both windows and Linux on multiple modern systems with Bluetooth and they're completely unusable without the dongle every single time. I've never had anyone not notice.
The latency is obscene.
Out of curiosity, are you using WiFi, and what frequency?
A little while ago I had an issue where my controller would interfere with my 2.4GHz WiFi and make my computer basically unusable for online games. This isn't really the same situation but I imagine something similar could happen in reverse.
Otherwise I've never had any issues with controller latency though. It's weird that it's so significant for you.
Multiple physical locations and network setups. It doesn't matter.
Bluetooth is substantially higher latency and lower stability than the proprietary adapter. It's fine if you can tolerate it, but the performance isn't the same.
I had compatible issues with an Xbox series controller via Bluetooth. Even after installing all the proprietary drivers and such.
Well I use one Series X original controller that came with my Xbox series X on my Nobara desktop almost daily. Zero issues. Maybe it depends on the distro or kernel version. I didn't have to install any drivers whatsoever