[Suggestion] SteamOS 3.0 should include xone driver

[genna87]

xone is a Linux kernel driver for the Xbox wireless adapter. I plan to use my Steam Deck docked from time to time and having the proper driver already there would be great.

I know I'll be able to install it myself, but SteamOS 3.0 uses an immutable filesystem. So every update will erase it.

This is the Git repository of the project: https://github.com/medusalix/xone

It's already packaged for AUR, so it should be trivial.

[kisak-valve]

Hello @genna87, ideally, this package should gain mainline support in Arch before being evaluated for downstream inclusion in SteamOS 3.0.

[genna87]

@kisak-valve Otherwise it won't even be considered?

[kisak-valve]

The main detail here to answer is if the package has widespread testing and support over a long term, there's a higher chance that a mainline package will present minimal to no additional overhead to maintain by SteamOS devs compared to an AUR package.

[AesaraB]

This was mentioned in the xpadneo discord community, but to rehash it here the, the xone devs are planning to push for inclusion of the xone driver in the upstream Linux kernel once it is complete/stable. Please refer to this spreadsheet for more information about the various Xbox peripheral device drivers. (It's a bit out of date as of xone 0.2).

As it stands right now, I don't think this issue is something relevant for SteamOS' issue tracker (unless xone doesn't get accepted into the kernel upstream).

[alucryd]

It would be highly appreciated indeed. I used to be able to install it manually on the steam deck, but GCC 13 is completely broken regarding kernel modules so it's no longer possible unfortunately. If having the driver in the official arch repos is a requirement, I'm happy to push it there, will do in the following days. I'm using it extensively on all my arch machines anyway.

[alucryd]

Redistributing the dongle firmware is probably going to be problematic though, and will most likely need written agreement from Microsoft :/

[SavageCore]

@alucryd FYI I maintain a script that installs this driver for you, it's still working fine.

https://gist.github.com/SavageCore/263a3413532bc181c9bb215c8fe6c30d

[genna87]

@alucryd FYI I maintain a script that installs this driver for you, it's still working fine.

https://gist.github.com/SavageCore/263a3413532bc181c9bb215c8fe6c30d

@SavageCore I installed your script yesterday after someone posted it on the xpadneo Discord channel.

It's great. THANKS!!

Do you plan to add the desktop launchers for starting/stopping pairing mode?

[SavageCore]

@genna87

Do you plan to add the desktop launchers for starting/stopping pairing mode?

Good idea, re-run from the desktop and it'll update and download them :)

[genna87]

@genna87

Do you plan to add the desktop launchers for starting/stopping pairing mode?

Good idea, re-run from the desktop and it'll update and download them :)

Worked like a charm, thanks.

I'd still prefer the functionality embedded in SteamOS, but that's a pretty accessible workaround

[alucryd]

@SavageCore The script does what I've been doing manually so it fails as well. Note that I'm on the preview channel, and GCC 13 makes it impossible to build xone right now. I guess the stable channel still uses GCC 12, which is why it's working for other people.

[SavageCore]

@alucryd Have you run as debug? That forces a recompile/reinstall. I'm running Preview 3.5.6 and it's OK. It's also possible the script is failing to git pull the latest changes to xone which I made to fix compilation. Anyway, let's move this chat over to the gist or you can find my Discord link there!