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Valve have now updated the Steam Client and the firmware for the Steam Controller to allow Big Picture Configuration editing and more.

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Adjusting what happens when you press the middle Steam button, the "Chord" button while pressing another is a very nice addition. It opens up yet another button to be used for other things.

You could make it so pressing X and the Chord button minimizes Steam Big Picture, shut down your PC, turn volume up or anything like that.

They added in a new screen-zoom option, apparently it works on SteamOS and other desktops are possible too, but I haven't been able to get it to work on Ubuntu Mate. Not that I can ever see a need for it personally.

You can now power off the controller, or the system using the controller. Turning off the system from the controller is a pretty nice addition. Especially if you're using it for some sort of media centre, or in bed and a quick tap of a button.

What I would really like them to fix, is the on-screen keyboard not actually working on Linux. You can get it to appear, but not actually give any input to an application when using it. Making it useless on Linux. I opened a bug report for it in March, still not fixed or even replied to by Valve despite them marking it as "reviewed". To be clear I am talking about desktop Linux, not SteamOS.

See the full changelog here.

What is annoying me right now, is for some reason unless Steam is open I now can't even use my controller on the desktop as a mouse. Not sure if I'm missing something from when I installed Ubuntu Mate ages ago, or if the new firmware has messed up the desktop use outside of Steam. Has anyone else noticed anything? Upon more investigations, it appears to work fine if plugged in via USB. But when it's in wireless mode, nothing works without Steam itself open. To be clear again I am talking about desktop Linux, not SteamOS.
Edit: I've had this issue confirmed be others now. Bug report here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Beta, Hardware, Steam
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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17 comments
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dubigrasu Sep 1, 2016
Hm, the screen-zoom and the keyboard, I have them both working here.
Oh, and the controller working with steam closed, that one is working too. And I mean that is always working, even in the motherboard's bios or while using the grub etc.


Last edited by dubigrasu on 1 September 2016 at 8:04 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Sep 1, 2016
Quoting: dubigrasuHm, the screen-zoom and the keyboard, I have them both working here.
Oh, and the controller working with steam closed, that one is working too. And I mean that is always working, even in the motherboard's bios or while using the grub etc.
Really the "Toggle Magnifier" option actually works for you?

What distro and desktop are you on?
dubigrasu Sep 1, 2016
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: dubigrasuHm, the screen-zoom and the keyboard, I have them both working here.
Oh, and the controller working with steam closed, that one is working too. And I mean that is always working, even in the motherboard's bios or while using the grub etc.
Really the "Toggle Magnifier" option actually works for you?

What distro and desktop are you on?
I'm on SteamOS. I tested a bit the zoom option and what it does is scaling a bit the image (I couldn't find an option to increase/decrease the zoom) and you cam move it around with the right pad.
Liam Dawe Sep 1, 2016
Strange, so it works in SteamOS, but not in desktop.
dubigrasu Sep 1, 2016
As for the the keyboard input you can see here at min 1.05 opening the keyboard and entering the name "test":
View video on youtube.com
Liam Dawe Sep 1, 2016
To be clear, I am not talking SteamOS here, but desktop Linux.
Mohandevir Sep 1, 2016
The problem I have is something else... In BPM, when I try to read the description of a game via store, I can't scroll into the pop up window... Did I broke something, is it a long standing problem that I just noticed or is it new since last controller update?
Nyamiou Sep 1, 2016
About Valve not responding to bugs on GitHub, they don't use GitHub for bug tracking, they use their internal tracker (JIRA) and just copy them from here and mark them as reviewed. Because of this we don't have any information about bug priority, expected milestone and bug resolution progress.
dubigrasu Sep 1, 2016
Quoting: liamdaweTo be clear, I am not talking SteamOS here, but desktop Linux.
Ay, my bad.
dubigrasu Sep 1, 2016
Quoting: MohandevirThe problem I have is something else... In BPM, when I try to read the description of a game via store, I can't scroll into the pop up window... Did I broke something, is it a long standing problem that I just noticed or is it new since last controller update?
Probably something new, I can't scroll either. But you can add the up/down arrows to the left pad in the Big Picture Configuration (default section), or the scroll wheel etc.
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