PlayStation 5 DualSense controller to get support for Linux

The DualSense controller is the latest in Sony’s controller technology which boasts features that  are used exclusively for the PlayStation 5, until now. Gamers who use the Linux operating system will now be able to use their DualSense controllers on their computer, with the help of a new compatibility ‘HID-PlayStation” driver.

Reddit user u/vladthetransilvanian posted an email from Roderick Colenbrander, the Director of Hardware & Systems Engineering at PlayStation. This email detailed a new compatibility driver that lets Linux users play games using the DualSense controller.

What is in the driver?

While you can connect your DualSense controller to a PC, you won’t have any of the amazing features that Sony has installed in it. With this new driver, these are the features you will be able to use on Linux

• HID: playstation: initial DualSense USB support.
• HID: playstation: use DualSense MAC address as unique identifier.
• HID: playstation: add DualSense battery support.
• HID: playstation: add DualSense touchpad support.
• HID: playstation: add DualSense accelerometer and gyroscope support.
• HID: playstation: track devices in list.
• HID: playstation: add DualSense Bluetooth support.
• HID: playstation: add DualSense classic rumble support.
• HID: playstation: add DualSense lightbar support
• HID: playstation: add microphone mute support for DualSense.
• HID: playstation: add DualSense player LEDs support.
• HID: playstation: DualSense set LEDs to default player id.

The only two unsupported features so far are the Adaptive Triggers and the VCM Haptic Feedback. “These features require a large amount of data and complex data structures. It is not clear how to expose these […] We hope to have a dialog on how to expose these over time in a generic way” stated Colenbrander. 

While gamers won’t have access to these features just yet, it does signal that we may be able to experience the full DualSense capabilities on PC sometime soon.