Heads Up on the New Steam Controller
Just got my new Steam Controller, and it is pretty awesome!
But just as a heads up, it has an issue updating firmware on Mint at the moment (as of 22 May). It will register that the controller is connecting and ask to update the puck's firmware. After a while of a loading bar, it comes back with an error saying that it cannot update the firmware.
The fix I found was related to a couple of missing libraries, and the need to add udev rules.
So, in the name of posterity, what worked for me was installing the libraries with: > sudo apt install libhidapi-hidraw0 libhidapi-libusb0
And then editing /etc/udev/rules.d/60-steam-controller.rules to contain the right bootloader for the controller firmware update. Add the following lines to the above file by running: >sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/60-steam-controller.rules
# Steam Controller bootloader
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="28de", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="28de", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="28de", MODE="0666"
Then either reload the rules or reboot the system, and it might work. It did for me at least. Of note, your /etc/udev/rules.d/60-steam-controller.rules file might be blank, mine was, since I do not use controllers often. Just add it to the file that is created.