Nimbus SteelSeries Nimbus SteelSeries brings a Bluetooth gaming controller for your Mac. This MFi-certified controller gives you a real wireless console experience on your Mac and other iOS devices. Pressure-sensitive buttons allow you to play games for hours without causing finger cramp.
Best Bluetooth Controller For Mac
- Connect a wireless PS4 controller with a Mac. Press and hold the PlayStation button and Share button to put the controller into pairing mode. On your Mac, go to Bluetooth settings either.
- Wii U Pro controller is excellent, connects wirelessly by Bluetooth on my Mac and works great for OpenEmu, decent buttons and dpad is reasonably comfortable. Only weakness is no analog triggers, so I also have PS4 DualShock 4 which easily connects to Mac with micro usb NOT wireless Bluetooth.
Note that on the Pi 3 to use on-board Bluetooth you may need to install Bluetooth first with sudo apt install pi-bluetooth but fair warning, the on-board Bluetooth has been known to freeze up the Pi (on RetroPie 3.7 or under), but it can be fixed.
Pi 3 Bluetooth Freeze Fix (for RetroPie 3.7 or below)
If it asks you anything about the /etc/udev/rules.d/99-com.rules configuration file, type Y to overwrite.
If you want to use a bluetooth dongle with the pi3, you should first disable the onboard BT controller by adding dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt to /boot/config.txt, then rebooting and plugging your dongle, which should now work.
The simplest way of setting up a Bluetooth controller is through the Bluetooth Configuration menu of the RetroPie Setup script. There are also manual methods that may vary depending on what Bluetooth controller you are using, some of which are described further below on this page.
You can access the bluetooth configuration menu from the RetroPie Menu of EmulationStation. It can also be accessed from RetroPie-Setup Script >> Setup >> Configure Bluetooth Devices
1.Register and Connect Bluetooth Devices: You can select your bluetooth device's mac address from here
You will get a window popping up telling you if the connection was successful or not. If it was not successful make sure that you chose the correct mac address, if it still doesn't work you may have to configure it manually (see below).
2.Disconnect Bluetooth Devices: You can disconnect your bluetooth device from this menu
3.Display Registered & Connected Bluetooth Devices: This will display the current bluetooth devices connected.
Best Bluetooth Controller For Mac
- Connect a wireless PS4 controller with a Mac. Press and hold the PlayStation button and Share button to put the controller into pairing mode. On your Mac, go to Bluetooth settings either.
- Wii U Pro controller is excellent, connects wirelessly by Bluetooth on my Mac and works great for OpenEmu, decent buttons and dpad is reasonably comfortable. Only weakness is no analog triggers, so I also have PS4 DualShock 4 which easily connects to Mac with micro usb NOT wireless Bluetooth.
Note that on the Pi 3 to use on-board Bluetooth you may need to install Bluetooth first with sudo apt install pi-bluetooth but fair warning, the on-board Bluetooth has been known to freeze up the Pi (on RetroPie 3.7 or under), but it can be fixed.
Pi 3 Bluetooth Freeze Fix (for RetroPie 3.7 or below)
If it asks you anything about the /etc/udev/rules.d/99-com.rules configuration file, type Y to overwrite.
If you want to use a bluetooth dongle with the pi3, you should first disable the onboard BT controller by adding dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt to /boot/config.txt, then rebooting and plugging your dongle, which should now work.
The simplest way of setting up a Bluetooth controller is through the Bluetooth Configuration menu of the RetroPie Setup script. There are also manual methods that may vary depending on what Bluetooth controller you are using, some of which are described further below on this page.
You can access the bluetooth configuration menu from the RetroPie Menu of EmulationStation. It can also be accessed from RetroPie-Setup Script >> Setup >> Configure Bluetooth Devices
1.Register and Connect Bluetooth Devices: You can select your bluetooth device's mac address from here
You will get a window popping up telling you if the connection was successful or not. If it was not successful make sure that you chose the correct mac address, if it still doesn't work you may have to configure it manually (see below).
2.Disconnect Bluetooth Devices: You can disconnect your bluetooth device from this menu
3.Display Registered & Connected Bluetooth Devices: This will display the current bluetooth devices connected.
Connection issues (input lag & ghost inputs) (especially if you connect more than one BT controller)
- Try reducing distance from your controller to Raspberry (helps sometimes)
- Try to disable internal WiFi - this helps to extent signal strength, you can use this script to disable/enable Wifi on the fly (several users report PS3 controller connections problems are vanished since)
- Try forcing a lower baud rate in
/usr/bin/btuart, on line 22:$HCIATTACH /dev/serial1 bcm43xx xxxxxx noflow - $BDADDR. Smaller values of 115200 and 230400 have been known to alleviate input lag / ghost input on a Pi 3B. - Buy a new BT adapter and put it to your Raspberry. Add
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-btin/boot/config.txtto disable internal BT module (ultima ratio, speeds up communication, extents range and speed depending on your BT adapter model)
Manual Bluetooth Configuration
!!Please note this is for pre v4.0 RetroPie - New 8bitdo details here!!
Mac Bluetooth Update
The following guide is geared to using a controller from 8bitdo but should work with a range of bluetooth devices.
The examples below are assuming you have just a keyboard and bluetooth dongle plugged into your Pi.
Controller Firmware
Make sure you have the latest firmware for your controller. You will need a USB cable to do this. The firmware for 8bitdo controllers is here: http://8bitdo.com/Support.html
This section is for Jessie based RetroPie (version 3.4 and later)
Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4K3h4CIJwA
Step 1 - Pair and connect to controller
Quit Emulation Station with F4 and type this at the command line:sudo /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh
'U' Update RetroPie-Setup Script
'3' Setup
'Configure Bluetooth devices'
Make sure your controller is turned on in the correct pairing mode (Power on for FC30 Pro, Start+R for SFC30), then choose:1 Register and Connect to Bluetooth device
Follow the prompts and your controller should connnect
This is shown by a solid blue light on the 8bitdo controllers
Quit out of the setup script
Step 2 - Manual file edit for 8bitdo controllers
At the command prompt, typesudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules
In that file add
SUBSYSTEM'input', ATTRS{name}'8Bitdo SFC30 GamePad Joystick', MODE='0666', ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}='1'
Note: The value in the name field should read exactly as your controller reports it.
Step 2.5 - Forcing the Pi to reconnect to the controller
If you find your controller doesn't automatically reconnect when you restart the Pi, this process should force the connection.
Adobe premiere pro cs4 free. download full version for mac. Some users have reported it will work without this if you wait for Emulation Station to fully load before turning on your controller - this is possibly model or firmware specific.
sudo nano /bin/connect-bluetooth.sh
In that file add#!/bin/bashsudo bluetoothctl << EOFpower onconnect [MAC Address]exitEOF
Save that file.
Make it executable
sudo chmod +x /bin/connect-bluetooth.sh
Then create a new filesudo nano /etc/systemd/system/connect-bluetooth.service
Add this text:[Unit]Description=Connect Bluetooth
[Service]Type=oneshotExecStart=/bin/connect-bluetooth.sh
[Install]WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save that file.
Then run this command to enable that processsudo systemctl enable /etc/systemd/system/connect-bluetooth.service
Video Guide for this: https://youtu.be/RsybSJEPZJM
Step 3 - Configure controller for Emulation Station and Retroarch
Now reboot your system, turn the controller on just before the RetroPie splashscreen appears and the controller will connect (solid blue led light) and ES will prompt to configure it.
This section is for Wheezy based RetroPie (pre version 3.4)
Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiDJFdWXweI
Step 1 - Download and install the Bluetooth packages
Quit Emulation Station with F4 (stop it restarting by pressing another key within 5 secs) and type this at the command line:sudo apt updatesudo apt install bluetooth bluez python-gobject
Step 2 - Pairing and connecting the Bluetooth controller
Set your Bluetooth controller to pair in 'joypad' mode. For example, for the FC30 Pro, you do this by holding the power switch for 3 secs. The guide is here: FC30 Pro Manual
Type this at the command prompthcitool scan
This should find your controller and show its name and MAC address
Pair the controller with this command, replace the XX data with your MAC addresssudo bluez-simple-agent -c DisplayYesNo hci0 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Tell the system to trust your controller so you dont have to pair every timesudo bluez-test-device trusted XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX yes
Then connect to your controller withsudo bluez-test-input connect XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Your controller should then connect, with the 8bitdo controllers this is shown by a solid blue light that will begin to glow. Mac lipstick chart.
Step 3 - Making sure the connection attempt automatically starts when you reboot your Pi
You may find the controller connects on startup without issue, but if not try this. There are different ways to do this, but this should work to start the connection attempt when the Pi starts up.
Edit this startup filesudo nano /etc/rc.local
above the line 'exit 0' add
bluez-test-input connect XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Save the file with Ctrl-X and press Return to confirm the filename.
Now reboot the Pi.
Step 4 - Configuring the controller using Emulation Station
Now the Pi is restarting, make sure your controller is turned on, and trying to pair (I tend to turn the controller on just before the RetroPie splashscreen appears), it should connect about when the Emulation Station splashscreen appears. Then Emulation Station will display with the '1 Gamepad Detected' message.
Hold a button down on the controller and follow the instructions to input your buttons.
When the is done, you click the 'OK' button with the 'A' button on the controller to enter Emulation Station.
This process will have configured your controller for navigating ES. It will also have created a controller file for RetroArch to use when you play games (If you are using at least RetroPie 3 beta 3).
However, the content of that file may not have the correct buttons mappings (I'm not sure why this doesn't always work, as its fine with most other controllers). So we will update that file correctly now.
Step 5 - Updating the controller file for RetroArch
Press F4 to quit Emulation Station, and at the command prompt typecd /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads/ls -lah
This should display the configuration file you created, delete it (although the next steps should overwrite this anyway) with:rm {filename}
for examplerm 8BitdoFC30Pro.cfg
Now we will recreate this using the retroarch controller script, typesudo /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh
--- This section is no longer accurate for Newer Releases of RetroPie- Please update these instructions. thanks----
Choose the 'Setup' option, then 'Configure input devices for RetroArch' (Do not choose the 'Install RetroArch joypad autoconfigs)
Then choose the 'Configure joystick/controller for use with RetroArch' option
Follow the on-screen prompts to press the buttons when prompted.
If you make a mistake, just run it again, it happily overwrites the file it needs to.
There should be no need to edit the retroarch.cfg to get your controller working.
That should be all you need. Now when you start your Pi, set the controller to connect and it should be detected by Emulation Station and RetroArch based emulators.
Troubleshooting
If you have installed other bluetooth programs, perhaps to support a PS3 controller, you may find there are conflicts and the above steps produce an error when you try to pair. One way around this is to uninstall the sixad program with:sudo apt purge sixad
If you are unsure your USB Bluetooth dongle is detected with the Pi, you can list the USB devices with:lsusb
The 8bitdo SFC30 controller appears to prefer to start with START + R (Right Shoulder) pressed to get into joystick mode.
Sometimes there can be issues with the pairing process, to start that again you can remove the joypad like this bluez-test-device remove XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Keep bluetooth scanning
This should keep the Pi scanning for bluetooth devices in case the pair is lost.sudo nano /etc/init.d/rc.localadd 'sudo hciconfig hci0 up piscan' (without the quotes) above the line that says 'exit 0'ctrl xyentersudo reboot
Some useful threads
http://blog.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/8bitdo-bluetooth-controller-setup-retropie-v3/
http://blog.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/the-old-story-setting-up-2x-8bitdo-nes30-bluetooth/
http://forum.8bitdo.com/thread-328-1-1.html
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth#Bluetoothctl
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth_keyboard
http://8bitdo.com/Support.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/4d5hcf/how_to_setup_8bitdo_nes30_fc30_pro_controllers_on/
https://github.com/libretro/retroarch-joypad-autoconfig/tree/master/udevhttps://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/20303/rpi-3-b-tricky-bluetooth-problem-with-multiple-ps3-controllers/
Video game consoles are just computers that have been custom-built for a very specific purpose. So it's not a huge leap to make a console controller play nice with your desktop or laptop.
It's especially easy if you're talking about plugging an Xbox controller into a Windows machine. Obviously. But even Mac users can take advantage of Xbox controllers for their gaming, albeit with a pretty notable limitation. Setup is very easy though.
First, know that it doesn't matter too much which generation of console controller you want to use, unless we're talking about an original Xbox controller. Those plugged in using a proprietary connector, so you'd need to buy an adapter like this to make the connection. (That adapter doesn't officially support MacOS or Windows 10, either.)
Beyond that, every Xbox controller since the Xbox 360 days relies on a USB connector. So using them with your computer of choice is as simple as plugging into a USB port. If you're using a Mac, know that may need to take the extra step of installing a freely available custom driver. (Try it without the driver first. I unfortunately don't have an older controller to test this with myself.)
That's really it. All you need for wired gaming with an Xbox controller on PC is the USB cord you use to charge your controller. Plug it into a free USB port on your computer and you'll be off to the races. Yes, it's that simple.
Best Bluetooth Controller For Macbook Pro
Wireless gaming is a little bit trickier. For one, you'll need an Xbox controller that features Bluetooth support. This is a feature that wasn't introduced until 2016, so it's very possible you don't have the right model of controller. Fortunately, it's easy enough to tell the two apart.
Pick up your controller and look at the round Xbox logo-bearing 'Guide' button situated in the center. Is the plastic around that button part of the controller's body, or does it look more like a separate piece that connects to the two shoulder buttons (LB/RB)? The latter is only the case for older controllers, the ones that don't have Bluetooth.
For the newer controllers that offer built-in support for Bluetooth — which includes all Xbox Series X|S controller — all you really need on the computer side is a Bluetooth receiver, whether it's built in or delivered via USB dongle. This goes for both Windows machines as well as MacOS machines.
To pair your Bluetooth controller, simply turn it on and press and hold the pairing button on top for a few seconds. It's situated right next the controller's USB port and you'll know it worked if the Xbox Guide button starts to rapidly flash on and off. (If it's not paired with anything when you first turn it on, the Guide button will still flash but more slowly than when it's in pairing mode.)
SEE ALSO: 16 Xbox, PS5, and Nintendo Switch gifts for your gamer friends and fam
From there, go into your computer's Bluetooth settings menu, which you should be able to locate easily using the Windows Start Menu search or the MacOS Finder. Go through the process of pairing a new device and, regardless of which operating system you're using, you should see 'Xbox Wireless Controller' pop up as one of the available options. Click on that and the flashing Guide button should go from flashing to steadily on; that's how you know it worked.
The older, first generation Xbox One controllers require a bit of extra hardware for wireless play, and it only works with Windows machines. You'll need an Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows 10, which connects via USB. Pairing is simple, though. Once you've got the adapter plugged in, first hit the pairing button on your controller and then hit the sync button located on the adapter. The controller should pair a few seconds later.
Congrats, you're now ready to game.
