xavier666

I have a question(s) regarding the various types of game controllers.

I need a wireless controller which supports PC (Steam Linux mainly and maybe Windows someday). While searching online, I see various types

1. xbox/ps5/switch controllers : These are for their respective consoles
2. Mobile/PC controllers : These usually connect via wire/bluetooth/2.4 GHz

Source: https://www.gamesir.hk

However, I see in the product specifications page of the console controllers that they also support PC. And the PC controllers sometimes support some of the consoles. The only real difference between controllers, from a technology perspective, is that is some of them support bluetooth/2.4 GHz.

So I have two questions:

1. If they are already cross-compatible, why even bother having different types?
2. How should I decide which type of controller I should buy? It should support PC, console-support is not essential.

Note: I am a novice in game controllers but aware of different network stacks.

Edit: Thanks for the amazing response! These are my key takeaways from all the comments

1. Hall-effect sensors are a must
2. Default console controllers usually have stick drift
3. If you need trackpad, take PS5
4. 8bitdo is a reliable brand, as per multiple responses
5. Most controllers have good support on Linux. But haptic feedback can be a hit/miss as it can be platform/game dependent
6. There are various connectivity wireless standards. Dongles are the most reliable but you lose a USB port.
7. Keep track of handsize/comfort and button layout
8. PS controllers have excellent support on Linux/Steam

This is a post I wish I never had to make. Forgive my grammar and spelling as I am a bit emotional.

My Steam Deck was stolen and I just had it for less than 2 months.

It has been more than 2 weeks since it happened but it still hurts the same. I wanted to make this post because it was a very costly mistake from my side and I don't want it to happen to anyone else.

<story>

It happened when I was shifting from one house to another house and there were lots of maintenance workers at the destination house. After I kept my luggage inside the house, I left to buy some essentials. My mom was the only person left who was watching over the stuff. By the time I came back, the workers had left. I thought I have some free time so decided to pull the Steam Deck out but it was missing.

<vent>

I was absolutely devastated; I can't even begin to explain in words what it felt like. I asked, through the person who hired the workers, if they took it. But all the workers refused. I was just crushed; I could feel my heart dropping into my stomach. Even now, as I am typing this story, that emotion is replaying.

</vent>

After this happened, I removed all payment methods from my Steam account (Steam Guard 2FA was already active). I saw after 5 days that the Steam Deck was online for a brief period of time, via Steam Guard. I purposefully didn't sign out of the device because I wanted the thieves to make the mistake of signing in and giving me some clue about their location; the Steam Deck was still inside my city. I took the IPs and submitted it to the police and asked them if they could track it. They said they will try their best since getting the customer details from an IP is a "lengthy and time-consuming process". But at this point, I can't do anything; it's not possible for me to visit all the worker's home individually and check as I don't have the authority. I gave up and convinced myself to move on.

</story>

This taught me a lot of things and I wanted to share with the community, now that I have slightly recovered mentally.

Secure your luggage when moving

When you are moving, you usually have a million thoughts in your head. This can cause you to neglect your luggage's safety. If you are going to unload your luggage temporarily, KEEP IT IN A SECURE MANNER FIRST and then do everything else.

A secure manner could mean

• Under someone's watch
• Putting it far away from the exit
• Putting a lock on the luggage
• Putting it inside a cabinet and locking it

Don't just unload the luggage and start doing something mentally involving.

Be wary of outsiders

Sometimes, there will be outside people in your home. It's crucial to keep the Steam Deck out of reach of everyone. Not everyone is a thief but different people have different moral standards. Don't create a tempting scenario for others. Keep it secure when there are guests/workers at your place.

Put some form of tracking on the device

The Steam Deck is like a traditional laptop; it has no SIM or GPS. Once it's lost, it's really hard to get it back. There are methods by which you can track the Steam Deck (Steam Guard) but it involves IP and it's not enough to get an exact location. Other than law-enforcement, no one can find the customer details associated with an IP address.

An alternate approach, which can be slight pricey, is to put a Tile tracker on the device. There are tutorials on how it can be attached to the device.

Note: I'm not associated with Tile in any way.

Get the official Serial Number and MAC ID of the device

It will help you to uniquely identify the device IF it gets stolen. You may find the serial number on

• The bill of purchase
• Inside the Steam Deck settings section
• On the Steam Deck package
• You can ask Steam support for the serial number once it's associated with your account The MAC ID is present on the Steam Deck settings page (and also on your access point logs if it has connected even once).

I hope this post is educational and makes you wary of the physical dangers around us. Please keep your handhelds or any valuables safe

<vent>

What hurts even more is that the Steam Deck, which was the 1 TB OLED model, was a gift from a very special person and I feel like I have betrayed that person by losing it. I had lots of plans with the device, like making a couch plug-and-play setup, a retro gaming setup, a productivity device by using desktop mode, etc. But all my plans were shattered in an instance. I'm now convincing myself to move on to something else.

</vent>

Edit: As of 20th August, I can see via Steam Guard that the device was logged into a few hours ago (2 weeks post the burglary). I know the risks involved in keeping my device signed in. I'm counting on the person's stupidity. Any proper thief would have formatted the device.

I have been a PC gamer for the majority of my life. But before that, i was a console player on the NES. But NES mainly had platformers, and no 3d games. So i am not used to movement and camera controls simultaneously at all.

I have purchased a Steam Deck OLED and it's phenomenal at playing platformers and twin stick top down games. However, i am absolutely sucking at FPS games on it. Can't make shots on the controller which are like muscle memory on my PC. I'm also having a slightly hard time on 3rd person over the shoulder games (not as bad as FPS though). It's probably because of my age (30+) I guess.

My question is that is there a way to improve other than 'git gud'? Example, is there an easy FPS game where I don't have to move or shoot too fast? Or a sample controller exercise game, like we have AimLabs for mouse movement.

Thanks.

I was thinking about the anti-cheat scenario and this popped on my mine. Consider the following scenario.

Valve comes out with an alternate OS for the Steam Deck called "Steam OS Secure" which supports anti-cheats. Special proprietary blobs were added to the OS, in collaboration with the game devs, which allow it to monitor metrics at the kernel level. These anti-cheats will only be able to run on an unmodified Steam Deck which gets disabled the moment you "modify" your Deck.

(I'm unsure what "modify" means here. Maybe if the user creates a root password or if a new layer has been added on top of SteamOS)

This will come pre-installed with the Deck (Steam Deck 3 maybe), but a seperate OS without the proprietary blobs is also available and can be downloaded/installed right from the Deck itself. This can be switched anytime but it's a lengthy procedure. Obviously, the one without the anti-cheat performs better.

What do you think about this? Would you approve this? Will your perception towards Valve change? Will it be better for gaming over all?

Edit: I can understand the dislikes. No one wants RING-0 anti-cheat on Linux. But I just want to have a discussion on this. I don't see game devs making exceptions their game only on Linux in the near future.

https://files.catbox.moe/eb4wvp.png

I have never seen this anywhere. This could be as rare as 5-6 tall cactus.

Edit - Check comments for seed/coords

Many people complain that there should not be a level-limit to anvils. However, I have never encountered this issue IF I'm using it properly. I have made the perfect armor / tools with all the best enchants multiple times (on vanilla), and if you combine the books in the correct order, you never reach the limit.

I am using a Dell Latitude 3420 (Ubuntu 22.04.3) and it uses a slightly older OEM kernel 5.14.0-1048-oem. The generic kernels keep getting upgraded but are never used. The current generic that I have is 6.2.0-26-generic and 5.15.0-79-generic.

So I have 2 questions

1. Should I leave the kernel as it is? Some threads online say it's better to leave it as it is as an OEM kernel is better for Ubuntu-certified laptops
2. If I should change the kernel, what would be the best way? I don't want to hard-code the kernel version.
   • If I have issues in the latest generic kernel, I should be able to roll-back to the OEM kernel.

Related links

1. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1395080/which-kernel-should-i-use-for-my-hardware-oem-or-generic
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/XPS/comments/rif7wo/ubuntu_after_installation_oem_kernel_instead_of/
3. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1387979/removing-a-oem-installed-kernel