Today I Learned @lemmy.world immarcbtw @iusearchlinux.fyi 10 mo. ago

TIL that Xbox Controllers can have firmware updates.

Settings -> Devices & connections -> Controllers & headsets -> (Select your controller) -> (Three dot menu) -> Update now.

(Blanked out the reflection of my garden)

59 comments

Not just Xbox controllers, ~all controllers.

Nintendo hides them really well from you but there's a menu options to go look for updates. My two 8bitdo controllers get quite regular updates, they have their own update tool for it.
- I never thought about it but it makes total sense. Thanks for teaching me something today!
Most things that are powered have microcontrollers in them these days, and that usually means firmware of some kind - it's not always "field updatable". A product I was involved in the development of used a fairly standard li-ion battery pack, and part of the manufacturing process involved making sure the firmware on the batteries had been updated correctly
i mean, is it hardware?

if yes, then it has software that translates physical actions to software. that requires firmware.
- Holy shit, you just helped me realize why it's called firmware.
  
  The layer between hard and soft. It shouldn't be, but my mind is blown.
  
  Dafuq? How didn‘t i think about it in that way before? I always associated „firm“ with company. Makes much more sense now, lol
  
  That is literally why it's called firmware.
- Not all hardware involves a microcontroller.
All new (first party) controllers have firmware updates these days. Sony has almost identical prompts and used to require you to plug them in via USB to update before they eventually figured out how to do it through Bluetooth. Even PS4 controllers going back almost 11 years now used to prompt for firmware updates from time to time. And Switch controllers will update as well, but usually very subtly.
This doesn't look like Arch Linux.
- Archwiki says install windows :)
  
  https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Gamepad#xpadneo
  
  For this controller to work wirelessly, you need a windows vm for the first pairing, if you are already there, you can update the firmware
  
  Who'd have guessed a Microsoft hardware product works like garbage in Linux.
- I wish.... Very tempting to completely wipe my Xbox and install a Linux distro (Arch obviously) but there's just a few games that I can only get on Xbox, plus the multiplayer aspect of the few remaining local multiplayer games.
Damn, now I want to know what’s worth hiding in your garden
- (that's what he calls his penis.)
  
  Weird… “edible friend” is what I call mine
  
  Shhh! That's onlyfans only! Geez...
- Pretty sure he just doesn't want to get doxxed...
  
  Yes, thanks for killing the joke
For Steam Deck users, my Xbox controller worked like shit on it until I updated it, but to update it I had to use either an Xbox (didn't own one) or a Windows computer (also didn't have one), so I had to borrow a mate's laptop just to update it and play some multiplayer games.
- Steam deck has the best controller built in. Why go through the trouble to use an inferior one? If I'm playing with friends, I can just connect my steam controllers.
  
  Plugged in to TV maybe?
  
  Great, I don't have "steam controllers".
  
  I have a monitor above my bed that I connect the deck to with a hub. It's pretty chill.
  
  IIRC there are firmware updates for older Steam controllers that are also required to work in certain cases with Steam Decks.
I had to install a firmware update in my Nike trainers not long after I got them. Welcome to the future.
- Damn that sounds pretty dystopian to me. I don't think I would ever let a company literally track my every footstep.
  
  And yet, we all have smartphones in our pocket tracking our every footstep.
  
  Phones are generally able to do that, right?
- To what end? Why is there a computer in your shoes?
  
  To teach the computers who's boss with each step
- Huh??!?
My vape has firmware updates.
Of course! It's too hard to write the firmware correctly the first time.
- That’s not stopping most car manufacturers from never fixing bugs in their software.
- only at microsoft
  
  Amazon, too
If that surprises you wait until you learn what happens if you have an Xbox Controller and do not update the firmware for some time. It might just start crashing your window manager (component of the Windows operating system) at random times for some reason and the games you are playing just suddenly minimize one or two times per hour.

Have I mentioned I try to use Linux wherever the software I want to use is available for it?

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/dwmexe-crash-ismdll-fault/b435d32c-f827-4c23-8f27-2b52f4187de9
- Dammit, I shouldn't have updated it then. That would have been funny as!
Yes they can, and I updated it mine, which I bought only to play with my Android phone (I don't have an xbox) and then Call of Duty Mobile didn't detect it anymore.
What's the benefit of updating a controller?
- The same as any other piece of hardware+software:
  
  New features
  
  Vulnerability patching
  
  Bug fixes
  
  You forgot:
  
  ° bricking the device when the manufacturer feels like you should buy the new thing
  
  Yes, thanks... for nothing?
  
  Obviously speaking specifically to the case of a controller here (whereas the typical had been a fixed product that more or less functioned as expected for a lifetime).
  
  "New features" is meaningless drivel on its own... what are the "New features" that can and have been delivered to main platform game controllers solely from OTA firmware updates? What are the bugs that have been fixed, specifics amigo...
- The triggers now go to eleven.
  
  But, why not just update them so that 10 is higher?
- Had to do it recently, because my Steamdeck couldn't use it. One firmware uodate and it worked like butter.
  
  I would really hate if my controller worked like butter.
  
  Guess it depends on the game.
- Compatibility to newer consoles or other hardware in general, for example.
- Updating to BLE and breaking old wireless adapter support, looking at you Xbox
- Xbox controllers may need a firmware update to work on Linux.
My TV remote had an update the other week! Sony Bravia Android TV
Did this to my GameSir hall effect pad too on the very first day.

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