Thinking what expansion ports to add for my upcomming update to Steam Controller adaptive triggers + LC3 audio (attachable wired headphones) mod. How about an OG 360 keyboard? Thoughts?
Wish it was rebindable like it used to be way back. Why tf are there multiple functions on the same buttons when there are multiple unused buttons that could be used instead? Just slows you down and makes it easier to make mistakes
Triggers act as both Enter and Shift when not touching the touchpads, and key selectors otherwise.
On the 2026 controller there are 8 buttons you could press without removing your fingers from the touchpads, not counting pressing the touchpads themselves. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to press Space, Backspace, Shift, Enter, and even bring up a frickin Emoji panel with all the buttons you can use. Also I see no reason why you shouldn’t be able to move the text cursor with the keyboard visible.
I get that they want parity between different controllers but it makes the experience needlessly tedious when it could be so, so much better (and used to be)
The trigger behavior can be disabled in Steam Big Picture under the Keyboard Settings, allowing for usage of Shift and Enter without having to let off of the touchpad
That’s something I guess, but still a great shame that I can’t bind however I wish, all those wasted buttons for no good reason. Plus I don’t like the layout they’re using.
Would really like the input keys to be the bumpers for more tactile input, touchpads for backspace & space. If I were to imagine a layout starting with that I think would be comfortable and really efficient it would look something like this:
Use joystick & dpad for arrow keys and Home/End instead of text selection, put Shift and Ctrl on back buttons and suddenly you can move around the text cursor or select text while typing, then use the other back buttons, triggers and stick buttons for remaining keys like tab, emojis, caps lock & paste on back buttons, maybe add Copy as well.
One of the weirder things I didn't expect switching to Linux to fix for me is the steam on screen keyboard. It's just better. Works more consistently, the lag is basically completely gone. It does sometimes do the thing where it's up without actually being up and you can't get it to show or go away. But in general it's like a 90% improvement in consistency and lag.
For real, Marvel Rivals on Steam Machine is significantly worse than ps5 becahse if I wamt coms I need to use my mic because the keyboard is such a crapshoot
Yup, use it constantly myself, but for those who are still a bit nostalgic and have their 360 chatpads laying around - why not give it a second life? That thing was pretty sick for its time!
I find it works great on desktop. But ever I bring up the keyboard overlay while I am in game it is super super laggy, like almost unusable. I have ever been able to figure out a fix.
And on Linux at least, there are a lot of ways to fix issues with the Steam Overlay like the keyboard and stuff. I can usually load stuff into gamescope and anything that wasn't working works perfectly fine again.
Aside from a recent regression with gamescope in Wayland that require some extra finagling.
I think I could get used to it and really enjoy it, but 50% of the time it opens in a mode where the trackpad moves an arrow cursor instead of letting me use both trackpads for the typing and I have no idea why it does that
Nope, we're now in the queue waiting for our order now mail, or in the waitlist waiting for our moved to queue mail. So we're still sooning™ all over the place.
Okay and how are you going to fit it on there? I know for a fact you can't fit a magsafe ring on it and expect to attach that keyboard. Also the magnets aren't very strong with the amount of leverage put on the keyboard with thumbs. Even on a mobile device you have to brace it to use properly, you can't do that on a controller.
That just seems too much. Have decent size hands, and my pinkies are already resting on the bottom of the controller comfortably. The only reason that won't work so well like it did with the 360 is because of the track pads. As much as I hated the Playstation version, that may be more applicable to this controller.
What about making it flip up? You could flip it up with your thumb to land over the trackpads and when not used it would be lowered just away until the next text message or search? Maybe this would work?
Flip up stuff is always janky. Even the high quality mechanisms break quickly, and are near impossible to replace. With stuff you use a lot, simplicity is key, less moving parts mean less things to break. I just don't see it working well on the bottom, especially as a flip up.
The latest update to the XBox Elite Controller 2 did not trigger if the keyboard was connected
I ran the update repeatedly and then I mentioned to the AI that I had the Chatpad connected...
Removed the chatpad and suddenly it pulled down the update...
Ohh well, no great loss because the keyboard wasnt being used by steamdeck anyway for a significant amount of time...
I may try plugging it back in after the update .
But 2 of my 4 Controller have keyboard installed for xbox and 1 is disconnected for update and being used on my alienware m18 and 1 is disconnected and used on my SteamDeck OLED (:doh: somehow the house sale money disappeared over the course of 3 years for some reason :doh:)
Remember early smart phones having a flip out keyboard like that? Make that on hinges and make it flip into the underside of the controller. That would be so fuckin slick. I loved that phone.... Htc something forget the model.
This is going to sound like boomer shit (cause it is), but I wouldn't mind a T9 style controller attachment with Steam Input handling predictive texts.
Hell, even without it, SInput can even segment the touchpads for it.
I just wish there was a steam keyboard with half the keyboard one colour and the other half another colour so I can tell which letters I can reach with each touchpad when typing. If that makes sense.
Sounds like many ppl might like it, but I already enjoy the touchpad keyboard. I just wish it didn't have to take up so much screen space. I'd like some textured sticker/skins for the touchpad that just show a legend of where all the keys go so I can type by sense of touch or while looking at the controller instead of the screen and not having to visually bring up the keyboard.
They are going to be software defined, so any profile you like! (I will be using small brushless motors with FOC, the torque do to their size is limited but it looks like I will be able to make them work)
That sounds sick if it works! I'm not comfortable with mods that extensive (all I've done is move the grip sensors), so I'd either pay someone to do it or not do it at all, but I look forward to hearing about it nonetheless!
You could totally do it by yourself if you already had enough courage to take off the back shell of your Steam Controller! I am working to make the kit drop-in, no soldering or modifying the controller needed. You would disassemble the controller, take some parts out, place some parts in and that's it!
Only issue would be price, the motors are 20€ each, the flex pcb about 30€/unit (with assembly) for small orders and the ESP32-S31 chip is 5-10€ as well, so in total it could even reach 100€ for the kit :(
If it really would be that easy to install then I'd probably consider it even at $100+, but I would definitely wait and see if extremerate is going to do anything similar. Better grip sense by making capacitive back buttons instead of those ambiguous strips, mouse click trigger stops, and dual stage click is like, my dream mod kit. I don't expect them to deliver on all that but I want to at least see what they do
Yeah, about that... I do not approve ID verification on the interwebs only when it is strictly needed to function. Reddit does not need it. All future updates will be pushed to my github, you can star the repo and fallow the progress over there.
I've been trying to see if this it is possible to do by having a custom keyboard that come next to the USB-C port instead of needing to use a Bluetooth connector and using the controller connection instead but so far, it doesn't seem possible. If anyone can figure it out, that'd be cool.
this is something i've wondered for quite some time, has anyone noticed the layout of the keyboard on steam controller being similar to the xbox 360 controller keyboard?
I personally think the track pad keyboard is fine enough, significantly better than standard dpad keyboarding. I think adding a whole keyboard to the already chunky controller is overkill.
A lot of people would want a keyboard thing like that on the controller.
I personally wouldn't be that into it but I typically don't need to type much. On the deck I can use the touch screen keyboard and on PC I'd already have one plugged in. A few times on the deck I've plugged in one of a dozen keyboards I have laying around.
The controller add-on would shine for a living room setup. I kinda like the idea if making a Frankenstein thing in the spirit of that GameCube keyboard but with a 40-50% ortho layout and Xbox style inputs.
i want to like the on-screen keyboard better but atm this physical keyboard is better than it
apart from it just not popping up half the time and being laggy, my big gripe with the on-screen keyboard is that i wish each side had more overlap. i could type like 40% faster if each trackpad just covered more of the other side. you'd think setting the sensitivity higher would do that, but it doesn't really :/ i really like it otherwise
i'd even like to try and see how it is with both trackpads covering 100% of the area. then i could always alternate between left and right!
I loved my keyboard on my ole 360 controller. It added considerable heft tho. If they can make it light, and not weigh a ton i'm in. Maybe possible with touchscreen vs membrane keys.
It’s not ideal, and it takes a bit of practice.
But in WoW, I know most of the keybindings, and it works perfectly fine for chat.
I didn't like how the keyboard blocked half the screen
I often couldn't see what I was typing because the input field was behind the keyboard.
Sure, you can move the keyboard up, but then I can't see enough of the game.
To be honest, I only use the D-pad on the keyboard attachment. I’ve tried using the touchpads, but I was too slow.
Here is the controller setup I used before the Steam Deck/Steam Controller:
The DualSense with the keyboard attachment and an 8BitDo Micro attached to the back with Velcro.
I saw this setup on a YouTube channel.
i just have an riix8 on the side. i think having a separate mini keyboard is better than attaching one. it's pretty cheap and helps out whenever i can't use my steam controller to do something or would just prefer the riix8. just my preference.
I just want Valve to make the SteamOS on-screen keyboard have all the buttons of a standard 101 / 102-key keyboard. They don't even need to make them super obvious, just give me a way to hit Ctrl-C somehow. Add a tiny "more keys" button if you're worried about the UI being overwhelming.
Would be cool. It's a main reason why I still prefer an elite 2 on PC. Mouse input profile and the keyboard create a very relaxed setup.
I wish they updated the PS3 keyboard idea. The PS3 chatpad had keys that doubled as mouse movements when you pressed a certain key. So the same keyboard you type on could also be used to navigate.
I feel that would have saved space on the steam controller and increased the utility. IMO that would have truly made it the ultimate pc controller.
Tried couchside because you spammed about it everywhere, but gotta say I hate it. Nothing wants to connect with anything. Uninstalled after 20 minutes of fiddling on my phone and steam machine.
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u/YankeyManc 24d ago
I find the trackpad keyboard so good. As long as it loads and layers correctly on the game.