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SC Controller driver and UI version 0.4.5 is out, last release for a while

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The amazingly useful SC Controller [GitHub] project, a third-party open source driver and user interface for the Steam Controller has a new release out. Sadly, the last for a while.

Here's what's new in 0.4.5:

  • On-screen keyboard can be now used with DS4 gamepad
  • Improved editing profile using controller
  • Allowed SVG custom menu icons
  • Allowed displaying multiple OSD messages, with different font size and display time
  • Bug fixes

In the release notes, the developer Kozec said this:

This is last SC-Controller release for a while. With all that mess happening around Linux this week, I've decided to move away as far as possible. I plan to finish all "enhancements" eventually, just not right now.

They went into further detail in a Patreon post, here's the gist of it:

As you probably already heard, earlier this week, Linux became part of political movement. It's movement that I strongly disagree with and wish to not be associated with in any way. Because of that, I don't feel welcomed in Linux community anymore.

Or, to write it like human being, with all this mess, coding is not fun at all.

So I'm throwing hands up and walking through the middle.

For those who don't really understand, it's likely as a result of the new Code of Conduct for the Linux Kernel. Something that has become a hot sticky mess in the wider community. Regardless of my own feelings about the CoC, I just hope people can find a way to get along and treat everyone with respect, regardless of who they are and where they come from.

I'm pretty sad about this, I use SC Controller practically every day for taming the Steam Controller outside of Steam and for those Steam games that don't detect it normally.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Apps, Drivers
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Erwhann Sep 23, 2018
Well, if he is not feeling welcomed in the Linux community because of a CoC, that doesn't apply to his projects, just saying "be nice and welcoming to others"… I can't help but imagine him as some kind of bully complaining that the other kids don't want to play with him :|.
gabber Sep 23, 2018
Sadly I can fully understand him. Sure this CoC sound fine. There will be amendments. There will be demands rolling in.( See Atheism+ / Gamergate etc. )
It is a power grab. The identity and feeling of the programmers will be valued more then the code they produce. This CoC is a stick to hit people with. People you disagree politically.
Politics should stay in politics, not be mixed into gaming and for sure not into coding. Just look at Python and their master-slave controversy.
Eike Sep 23, 2018
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Quoting: gabberSadly I can fully understand him. Sure this CoC sound fine. There will be amendments.

If it is fine, it is fine. If something would be added that's not fine, it would be not fine - than, not now, obviously.
tmtvl Sep 23, 2018
Yeah, the CoC literally says maintainers can, quote, 'ban temporarily or permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.' As well as: 'Representation of a project may be further defined and clarified by project maintainers.'

I can see how some people might disagree with a text that basically gives maintainers carte blanche to ban whomever they want at any time.
Leerdeck Sep 23, 2018
Quoting: devland
Quotewith all this mess, coding is not fun at all

Did the new Linux kernel CoC affect this guy in any way? It doesn't seem like the two are related.
The guy stopped working on his own project because he disagrees with the policy of another project? That doesn't make sense.

I can only talk about reddit but the /r/linux sub is a total utter shitshow.. I mean the sub was always a passive aggressive cesspool (that's why I stay usually away from it) but with the CoC everyone lost their marbles + I'm sure it got brigaded by certain kind of people.

Guess the dev belongs to the people who think now the "SJWs" will take over and everything goes down. Sadly that shows the kind of unprofessional behavior that I often associate with hobby open source projects.
gabber Sep 23, 2018
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: gabberSadly I can fully understand him. Sure this CoC sound fine. There will be amendments.

If it is fine, it is fine. If something would be added that's not fine, it would be not fine - than, not now, obviously.

Actually it's not fine:
Quote+This Code of Conduct applies both within project spaces and in public spaces
+when an individual is representing the project or its community.
and
Quoteor to ban temporarily or permanently any
+contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening,
+offensive, or harmful.

It's vague and not focused.
scaine Sep 23, 2018
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Quoting: gabberIt's vague and not focused.

Threatening, Offensive and Harmful behaviour? That's not vague. "Inappropriate" isn't as useful a word, but honestly, if you get to the point where there's any prospect of this line being used against you, it's likely that you've already thrown a few grenades and burned a few bridges on your way there.

I can see some issues where someone takes honest criticism the wrong way. Especially in text, it's hard to convey conviction without appearing aggressive. But not impossible.

Is anyone really, literally, against making the Linux kernel a more acceptable, inclusive space?!? If so, by all means quibble about specific language in it, but the moment you proclaim it to be a "political movement" to "grab power", you've lost me.
scaine Sep 23, 2018
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Quoting: tmtvlYeah, the CoC literally says maintainers can, quote, 'ban temporarily or permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.' As well as: 'Representation of a project may be further defined and clarified by project maintainers.'

I can see how some people might disagree with a text that basically gives maintainers carte blanche to ban whomever they want at any time.

As maintainers, they had that power all along. Kolivas maintains his own patches as a fork literally because Torvalds told him to take his patches and fuck off. Kolivas called his patches the "brain fuck kernel" for years as a stab at Torvalds & co.

This isn't the Steam Forums. It's the Linux Kernel and its mailing list. It's long overdue some "be excellent to each other".
Tuxee Sep 23, 2018
This is the most retarded "excuse" I've ever heard for abandoning a project. Being an open source contributor myself it has never occurred to me that some CoC for the Linux kernel has anything in the farthest to do with my work. This dude is working on a GUI tool written in Python - is he aware that the Python project has had a CoC for ages?
Shmerl Sep 23, 2018
QuoteThis is last SC-Controller release for a while. With all that mess happening around Linux this week, I've decided to move away as far as possible.

What does that even mean? And what about using upstream kernel driver for the controller?

Requiring a code of conduct is not a political movement. It's simply keeping jerks in check. Which should be a requirement for any remotely big and professional project.


Last edited by Shmerl on 23 September 2018 at 3:23 pm UTC
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