The update of the HID subsystem has been sent to the ongoing Linux 5.16 merge window, and there will be some obvious improvements for Linux gamers. The most exciting news is that the Nintendo Switch controller driver has finally appeared! This kernel driver allows users of Nintendo Switch to work with the mainline kernel and is supported regardless of whether it is USB wired or Bluetooth connection, such as tactile vibration mode, LED and other functions can work normally.
It should be noted that this open-source Nintendo Switch controller driver does not come from Nintendo, but the free software community through reverse engineering. At the same time, Sony officially made improvements to their HID kernel driver that supports the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller.
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At the end of last year, Sony released an official PS5 controller driver for Linux. The drivers were added to Linux 5.12 and they can continue to work now. For Linux 5.16, Sony’s Roderick Colenbrander submitted the latest version of the PlayStation 5 controller support driver that brought improvements in LED processing. Another notable addition to HID this week is the support for Apple’s Magic Keyboard 2021 model, but as the Switch, the open-source HID driver is not officially supported by Apple. Linux 5.16 HID also adds support for NitroKey FIDO U2F.
This series of major changes to Linux 5.16 HID this morning was submitted through this pull request.