8BitDo Ultimate 2.4GHz wifi working in linux

8BitDoUltimateWifi_Linux.MD

FROM https://www.reddit.com/r/Fedora/comments/zmvkdj/8bitdo_ultimate_bluetooth_controller_working_in/

---

I've bought this new controller from 8BitDo and wished to use on linux, to my sadness the controller didn't work out of the box, neither by cable, the 2.4G dongle or bluetooth.

So I've tried a number of solutions and this one from u/GodOfEmus over in the 8bitdo community was the one to work for me:

1. Create a new file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo-xinput.rules
2. Paste this udev rule in there, then save and exit the file:

  ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="3106", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe xpad", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 2dc8 3106 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/xpad/new_id'"

3. Run the following command in a terminal: sudo udevadm control --reload
4. Unplug and replug the controller if it was already plugged in, it might take a second if you have the bluetooth version

It will basically "cheat" the OS to see the controller as an generic xbox device, so sadly no bluetooth nor gyro control if you care about that, but the rumbling is working for me.

Link to the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/8bitdo/comments/ykdsmv/ultimate_24_ghz_model_right_analog_not_working_in/

And link to the comment of u/GodOfEmus with the solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/8bitdo/comments/ykdsmv/comment/iv48s4k/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Sharing this solution here to spread the word in our community

@kody-oneill you also see it in your syslog as soon as you power the controller on:

input: 8BitDo 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless Controller Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.2/0000:02:00.0/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.1/0003:2DC8:310A.000B/input/input38

Does anyone know how extra buttons work with xpad though? I expected to see R4/L4 as additional joystick buttons, same with the mapping and star button, but they are not, there's only 11 buttons listed, those 4 seem to be missing.

Edit: L4/R4 can be remapped via the controller itself to other buttons, then they work, but of course acting as these other buttons. I was hoping to see two additional buttons for custom stuff like next/previous song.

For anyone who is looking to just make the controller work but not make it "cheat" the OS. You can use udev to give its input files read/write permissions.

1. create a `/etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo-xinput.rules` with your favorite editor

2. inside the file, add the following:
   
   1. `ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="3016", MODE="0666"`
   2. This gives the input file of any 8bitdo controller R/W permissions automatically when connected.

3. reload udev with `sudo udevadm control --reload-rules` or just reboot your computer.

This is helpful when you want to just read the controller's input according to SDL, not remapping to an xbox controller. Example use case is when you want it to work with ROS (https://answers.ros.org/question/384456/ros2-joy_node-debugging/)

Debian 12 Bookworm
I am using the 8BitDo Ultimate C 2.4G Wireless Controller
working file: /etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo-xinput.rules

So I tried to blindly use the original post code shown below to see if I could get this working ..

ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="3106", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe xpad", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 2dc8 3106 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/xpad/new_id'"

and then trying to either reboot or running udevadm control --reload with disconnecting and reconnecting the device, and that worked ..
however what I really want is this to work without hacky stuff .. so I tried what @Edwardius suggested, like so;

ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="3016", MODE="0666"

then I did a reboot and the whole udevadm control --reload with disconnecting and reconnecting the device .. didn't work .. so I did more research and after trying lsusb I found that my device is actually called out as 2dc8:3016. So how is it that the original setup works with the hacky stuff and the wrong idProduct but the controller is not recognized in MODE="0666" with the correct idProduct ? Any assistant is greatly appreciated :)

side note: is it possible that by doing the hacky version first I've screwed up the native support ? how would I reverse that ?