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xow is another fantastic bit of open source, enabling the use of an Xbox One wireless dongle on Linux to be a much nicer experience overall. Supporting what looks like most of the variations now, it's got some fun advanced features with input mapping being based on existing kernel drivers like xpad.

The latest release, xow 0.5, went up yesterday which further advances what's possible including external pairing mode activation using SIGUSR1 to communicate and there's also a new compatibility mode option to spoof Xbox 360 controllers. Why the need to spoof the gamepad name? Some games aren't built to work with or detect the Xbox One pad but they work fine with the 360 pad, this workaround enables you to use your Xbox One pad in even more games.

Multiple big bugs were fixed too including an incorrect MAC address for some dongles so they should work properly, wireless performance/range should see an improvement due to previously missing channel power configuration, "sporadic" segmentation faults should be a thing of the past and rumble should be improved too.

You can read more about it on GitHub and the official site.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Drivers, Hardware
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4 comments

randyl Jun 5, 2020
Quoting: PatolaThat trend of doing userspace/out of kernel drivers for devices (new-lg4ff, xow, sc-controller) should get some centralization. It could quickly go out of hand and besides being out-to-date with each other, could let some stuff lie in obscurity.
Would you mind expanding a little on how things could get out of hand and how centralization might work? This is something I don't know much about but sounds like it is important.
vipor29 Jun 5, 2020
i have the xbox 360 wireless controller with dongle will that work in linux somehow seeing the xbox one dongle is supported.
ElectricPrism Jun 6, 2020
I bought a dongle, honestly I miss my X360 controllers because they were so hazel free besides a fat USB dongle adding cordage. Too bad they're hard to buy now :\

Edit:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CJ6GVM8/

Just connected my controller, it didn't work last update but works now on Arch.


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 6 June 2020 at 6:00 am UTC
Mal Jun 11, 2020
  • Supporter
Is the steam link compatible with the dongle? Although the bt connections works perfectly it squeezes out the batteries quite fast. I'm thinking about upgrading to the dongle to reduce the amount of battery swap.
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