• Lfrith@lemmy.ca
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    14 hours ago

    Linux seems to be common to run things like servers, but is that the case for consumer hardware?

    When I’ve looked at peripherals like keyboards and controllers linux support has been lacking. Of course, for keyboards I got out of my way to get qmk compatible ones to use via and vial instead so I dont need to run an exe of unknown origins.

    And how is it for games.

    • Joe@discuss.tchncs.de
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      8 hours ago

      There is plenty of consumer hardware that is supported on Linux, or will be as soon as a kernel developer gets their hands on it, reverse engineers the protocol if necessary, and adds support. For things like keyboards, there are often proprietary extensions (eg. for built-in displays, macros, etc.). It pays to check for Linux support before buying hardware though. Sometimes it’s not the kernel drivers, but supporting software (eg. Steam input) that might not support it.

      First class vendor support for Linux is more common for niche/premium hardware designed in the west, than cheap chinese knockoffs that follow it. Long term customer support is not their strong suit.

      • Lfrith@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        Linux has been good about getting hardware working.

        My wonder was more what is their level of native program support for Linux. Like 8bitdo to update firmware and set up extra profiles requires the Windows program to set up, but as a simple controller it will work on Linux just no real way to do extra stuff unless you dual boot.

    • moopet@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours ago

      What do you mean lacking support for keyboards and controllers? Maybe for doing weird custom stuff like RGB, but for anything else they’re standard HIDs and will work with anything, no “support” needed. You can plug a USB keyboard and mouse into your phone and it’ll work if you want.

      I’m currently playing Clair Obscur on linux through steam with a cheap fake xbox controller I got off ebay, and it works perfectly. I’m using an Nvidia card too, and I haven’t had to do any customisation or anything.

      Easy anti-cheat won’t work, so Valorant/Fortnite, etc. are out of the question for now, but any games that don’t use that kind of malware are probably fine.

      • Lfrith@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        I’m talking more about software and program level support. Not whether hardware itself is working on Linux.

        Like software to be able to update firmware on controllers, which doesn’t work on Linux. Controller itself will work. 8bitdo to update firmware they only support windows.

        • moopet@sh.itjust.works
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          2 hours ago

          Ah, makes sense. You’re right about firmware updaters, and I don’t know if I’d trust one running under Wine anyway tbh. Who knows what weird system calls they make assuming you’re running Windows 95 or whatever.