I don’t have a new-fangled Steam Controller (because I don’t really game much) — but I adore its design.

What properly holds me back from buying one is the fact I need to use Steam to use the controller, and the few games I do play aren’t available on Steam (e.g, SuperTuxKart, MAME, etc).

Worry me not ‘cos a new open-source — and entirely standalone — Steam Controller Driver is in development.

This driver has the potential to open the gamepad to a wide variety of other uses — and users!

And although it’s early days for the driver it is already working in two:

XBox 360 gamepad emulator

Desktop (mouse & keyboard) mode

The devs say:

“The final purpose is to have support for custom mapping created with a stand-alone tool or imported from steam vdf files. The initial target is GNU/Linux, but I’ll welcome any contributor that want to port input generation for other OS (OS X, Windows, *BSD, Android/Linux, …)”

As our buddies over at Gaming on Linux note: the open-source driver does not currently work alongside the standard Steam one. If you plan on installing the free driver remember to disable it after testing.

You will find further info on the open-source driver on the Github project page, along with full install instructions and a link to known issues.

Open-Source Steam Controller Driver on GitHub