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/

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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

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 ?

adding the rule to the file for arch linux isn't working. lsusb can see the dock when the controller is docked, but picking it up removes it and the controller can never be detected while wireless.

It works while plugged directly in with a cord however.

I could never get this to work using 8BitDo Ultimate 3mode Xbox (Vendor: 2dc8 Product: 201b) over 2.4 wireless or plugged in. JSTest shows that the right stick moves up and down when I physically move the stick right/left. LT shows that it controls the right stick. It's a mess. Strangely, the controller works fine with SteamOS on the SteamDeck. It also works fine in Steam. Which leads me to wonder if Steam has its own input drivers that can not be used outside of Steam? It's frustrating becuase I use my laptop to play cloud based games streamed through a web browser and this controller does not work with that.

I have a cheap $12 controller that is 2.4 wireless and it works with everything. But this expensive controler only works with Steam. If only I could take out the guts of the cheap controller and put them inside of the 8BitDo controller. I could, but I should not have to. Gamepads should be standardized by this point with xinput.

BTW: I am using kernel 6.8.0-51-generic and Linux Mint 22.1

I could never get this to work using 8BitDo Ultimate 3mode Xbox (Vendor: 2dc8 Product: 201b) over 2.4 wireless or plugged in. JSTest shows that the right stick moves up and down when I physically move the stick right/left. LT shows that it controls the right stick. It's a mess. Strangely, the controller works fine with SteamOS on the SteamDeck. It also works fine in Steam. Which leads me to wonder if Steam has its own input drivers that can not be used outside of Steam? It's frustrating becuase I use my laptop to play cloud based games streamed through a web browser and this controller does not work with that.

I have a cheap $12 controller that is 2.4 wireless and it works with everything. But this expensive controler only works with Steam. If only I could take out the guts of the cheap controller and put them inside of the 8BitDo controller. I could, but I should not have to. Gamepads should be standardized by this point with xinput.

BTW: I am using kernel 6.8.0-51-generic and Linux Mint 22.1

Hi,

I managed to extract device ID while pairing the dongle on Win10 and dual-booting to CachyOS for 8BitDo Ultimate 3mode in 2.4Ghz - lucky strike I guess.

It did show up in lsusb as

Bus 001 Device 007: ID 2dc8:200f 8BitDo 8BitDo Ultimate 3mode Xbox

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo-xinput.rules

ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="200f", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe xpad", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 2dc8 200f > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/xpad/new_id'"

sudo udevadm control --reload

Seems to work well so far.

A newbie here, mostly on Windows my whole life, been distro hopping a bit till I settled for CachyOS for now.

Hope that helps as a fellow user of 3mode!

I've been scratching my brain for this one, since it has been connecting on and off on my CachyOS and I couldn't pin point why it is connecting and why it is not ;).

Just to add ... on my Debian 12 install with kernel 6.1.0-30-amd64, for an 8bitdo Ultimate 2C wireless controller connected via the 2.4G dongle I created /etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo-xinput.rules with content:

ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="310a", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe xpad", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 2dc8 310a > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/xpad/new_id'"
ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="310a", MODE="0666"

Then did:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

Controller is now picked up in evtest and responds to input.

On my other Debian 12 machine with kernel 6.12.9-1-amd64 installed from backports the 8bitdo Ultimate 2C wireless controllers connected via the 2.4G dongle worked out of the box.

With the help of /r/linux_gaming about CachyOS not picking up the 3mode, one of the users there has pinpointed the issue to the charging dock. Not CachyOS problem at all.

The dongle should be plugged into the charging dock at all times. I didn't read the manual that thoroughly, I use external charger for that one and I have the WiFi dongle plugged in directly into the PC, but thanks to this GitHub post my method works now too!

With the help of /r/linux_gaming about CachyOS not picking up the 3mode, one of the users there has pinpointed the issue to the charging dock. Not CachyOS problem at all.

The dongle should be plugged into the charging dock at all times.

So issue was PEBKAC, not with the charging dock.

I keep steam running in the background at all times (Steam is set to autostart on my desktop), and I never have problems with this controller. Steam keeps it alive.

I could never get this to work using 8BitDo Ultimate 3mode Xbox (Vendor: 2dc8 Product: 201b) over 2.4 wireless or plugged in. JSTest shows that the right stick moves up and down when I physically move the stick right/left. LT shows that it controls the right stick. It's a mess. Strangely, the controller works fine with SteamOS on the SteamDeck. It also works fine in Steam. Which leads me to wonder if Steam has its own input drivers that can not be used outside of Steam? It's frustrating becuase I use my laptop to play cloud based games streamed through a web browser and this controller does not work with that.
I have a cheap $12 controller that is 2.4 wireless and it works with everything. But this expensive controler only works with Steam. If only I could take out the guts of the cheap controller and put them inside of the 8BitDo controller. I could, but I should not have to. Gamepads should be standardized by this point with xinput.
BTW: I am using kernel 6.8.0-51-generic and Linux Mint 22.1

Hi,

I managed to extract device ID while pairing the dongle on Win10 and dual-booting to CachyOS for 8BitDo Ultimate 3mode in 2.4Ghz - lucky strike I guess.

It did show up in lsusb as

Bus 001 Device 007: ID 2dc8:200f 8BitDo 8BitDo Ultimate 3mode Xbox

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo-xinput.rules

ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="200f", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe xpad", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 2dc8 200f > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/xpad/new_id'"

sudo udevadm control --reload

Seems to work well so far.

A newbie here, mostly on Windows my whole life, been distro hopping a bit till I settled for CachyOS for now.

Hope that helps as a fellow user of 3mode!

I've been scratching my brain for this one, since it has been connecting on and off on my CachyOS and I couldn't pin point why it is connecting and why it is not ;).

This seems to get it to work over bluetooth and jstest-gtk now shows that the buttons and joysticks are mapped correctly. However, the mapping is off when using xbox cloud gaming. My guess is that it only works with xbox controllers or controllers that use the xbox drivers.

With the help of /r/linux_gaming about CachyOS not picking up the 3mode, one of the users there has pinpointed the issue to the charging dock. Not CachyOS problem at all.
The dongle should be plugged into the charging dock at all times.

So issue was PEBKAC, not with the charging dock.

I keep steam running in the background at all times (Steam is set to autostart on my desktop), and I never have problems with this controller. Steam keeps it alive.

Hmm,

Riddle me this, I removed the 99-8bitdo-xinput.rules, plugged it in as manual states.

The controller now connects but only when games are turned off, this is regardless if I have xinput.rules files or not - oddly enough Discord, CoreCtrl, Steam, Heroic Games Launcher don't interfere with it.

Or if I use any recording software whatsoever in the background it won't connect, like GPU Screen Recorder - if Replay Buffer is turned on it won't connect, nor through the dongle, nor wired - when I turn Replay Buffer off it connects then I can turn RB on, turn any game on and it works both wired and through the dongle.

The only mode I can turn it on when it disconnects and I have any game on or Replay Buffer on is through 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2 in Android BT Mode... It always connects.

This is so weird for me, I guess I could keep it alive like you with Steam and have it always on in the background but I Just wanted to point this out and also ask if any user who has 3-mode has the same issues? Should it be like this?

I now know more about this controller than ever before - it has it quirks on Linux for sure.

I just wanted to share.

I bought a second 8BitDo controller 2,4Ghz which is 2C like a two weeks ago.

This one always connects regardless of open apps and games through 2,4Ghz dongle.

I guess 3-Mode is just that weird, at least for me.

I might sell 2C in a while since 8BitDo just released Ultimate 2 controller with 1000Hz TMR joysticks and gyro - and I don't quite like vibrations on 2c plus feel of the grip/shell.

If I buy this new controller I will gladly share how it behaves under Linux for me.

You can also try using this drivers instead of xpad
https://github.com/atar-axis/xpadneo or
https://github.com/medusalix/xone/

@ammuench, thank you so much for making this guide! I just bought 8bitdo ultimate 2c, and was kinda hoping it'd just work out of the box, so I got scared when it didn't :c found this gist and got hope!... but it didn't work anyway... \ but that's where @gemantzu came in! I just blindly copy pasted the udev rule, but didn't think to check my model number! mine was 81HD (it's on the back of the controller). changed 3106 in both places in the udev rule to that, reloaded, and the controller worked!! :D thank you both!!

On OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, KDE Plasma, Wayland (2025-MAR-26 update level), the 8bitdo Ultimate (2.4 Ghz+BT) worked out of the box with the 2.4 Ghz USB dongle in Steam, no extra configuration was needed.

When switching the Controller to Bluetooth mode and paired, it is recognized as a keyboard and it doesn't work at all in Steam or elsewhere.

Is there someone who use the new 8Bitdo Ultimate 2 Wireless? Does the rumble/vibration work on linux? What about the extra button?