A Linux-focused firmware for the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W that turns it into a latency-optimized USB-to-Bluetooth bridge for the Sony DualSense (DS5) controller — reproducing the wired experience (speaker, microphone, and native HD haptics) over Bluetooth. Windows works too, but the project's priority is getting it right on Linux / SteamOS (Bazzite).
☕ Support this project on Ko-fi · 📖 User guide · 🎮 Decky Loader plugin
Opinionated Linux fork of awalol/DS5Dongle. A downstream fork that tracks awalol's excellent upstream firmware and adds Linux-specific fixes and tuning. Not an official release of that project. All upstream work is credited under the MIT License — see License & Acknowledgement.
v2.3 beta availability: Features labeled v2.3 beta below are currently available only in the latest pre-release. Download it from Releases, or enable Include pre-releases on the config page's Update tab before installing over WiFi. The BETA label on the existing multi-controller and OTA features describes their maturity; both are also included in the stable v2.2.1 release.
- 🎮 Full wireless controller emulation — DualSense Bluetooth reports → standard USB HID gamepad at up to 1000 Hz. Supports DualSense (DS5) and DualSense Edge (DSE), including DSE PS-app profiles.
- 👥 Multiple controllers (local co-op, opt-in) — BETA — up to 4 DualSense pads connected at once, each as its own USB gamepad with per-player LEDs. Off by default (a web-page toggle enables it; the default behavior is unchanged single-controller). Audio and HD haptics are single-controller features (not enough Bluetooth airtime beside a second pad); classic rumble and adaptive triggers work for everyone. v2.3 beta: a config-page action can power off all connected pads without forgetting their pairings. See the user guide.
- 📳 Wireless HD haptics — recreates the cabled audio-based haptic feedback over Bluetooth, streaming the dedicated haptic waveforms to the controller's voice-coil actuators. Compatibility mirrors the wired experience.
- 🔊 Wireless audio (speaker + mic) — speaker/headphone playback and microphone upload over standard USB Audio Class — full quality, no Bluetooth headset-profile (HSP) downgrade. v2.3 beta: controller microphone upload is disabled while no host application has the microphone stream open.
- 🔇 Layered hardware mic mute — v2.3 BETA — driverless local mute via the
physical Mute button and host sound-panel mute remain independent, so
releasing either cannot override the other. The orange LED follows the
effective mute state, while active host drivers (e.g. Linux
hid-playstation) retain ownership. - 🌐 Web config over WiFi + bond management — the adapter joins your home WiFi and hosts its own configuration page at http://ds5.local/ (no app, no WebHID, any browser). First-run setup is a phone-friendly captive portal. Adjust settings and manage remembered controllers, connected or not.
- 📶 WPA3 and resilient WiFi recovery — v2.3 BETA — onboarding supports an explicit WPA3-only choice. If the saved network is unavailable, gameplay continues offline while WiFi retries. Three consecutive authentication failures reopen onboarding automatically; for other failures, power controllers off and click BOOTSEL three times to reopen it without erasing the old network.
- 🎮 Decky Loader companion plugin — a Decky Loader plugin surfaces controller status and settings in the Quick Access Menu, talking to the same on-device API as the web page.
- ⬆️ Over-the-air updates — BETA — one click on the config page installs the latest GitHub release over HTTPS (pinned CA roots, SHA-256-verified against the release manifest) with no PC involved. The download is staged in spare flash, so a failed/interrupted download changes nothing. Pico 2 W and Waveshare boards; the Pico W's 2 MB flash is too small. See the user guide.
- 🖥️ Wake-on-LAN — press the controller's PS button to wake a sleeping or fully-off PC (even S4/S5) by sending a magic packet over WiFi. Wakes up to two targets (e.g. your PC and a TV), with a one-click "Find MAC" helper.
- 🔌 Wake from sleep (S3) — an optional USB wake keyboard (a web toggle) lets a controller press wake the host over USB on boards that don't do WiFi WOL. Off by default, so the adapter looks like a plain DualSense over USB. The DualSense also auto-powers off after the host sleeps/shuts down to save its battery.
- ⚡ Low-latency performance — Bluetooth/USB/audio hot paths run from RAM
(
.time_critical) to avoid Flash XIP cache thrashing, with tuned scheduling and pipelines to minimize latency and eliminate audio stutter. - 📡 USB 3.0 RF-noise watchdog — auto-retries Bluetooth connections stalled by 2.4 GHz interference from USB 3.0 ports (USB 2.0 ports recommended).
- 🚨 Visual notifications — POST LED pattern, solid LED on a live link, a once-per-second low-battery blink (≤10%), and, in v2.3 beta, a continuous 2 Hz blink during WiFi onboarding.
📖 See the User Guide for flashing, pairing, the config page, and OS-specific (Linux / Windows) behavior and troubleshooting.
- Flash — hold BOOTSEL on the Pico 2 W, plug it into USB, and drop the
.uf2onto the mountedRP2350volume. - Onboard WiFi — the first time, the adapter opens a setup network named
DS5-Setup-XXXX. Join it from your phone or laptop, browse to http://10.55.55.105/, pick your home WiFi, and enter its password. v2.3 beta also offers a WPA3-only choice for networks that require it. The adapter reboots and joins your network. - Pair — put the DualSense in pairing mode (hold Share + PS until the lightbar double-blinks). The adapter detects, pairs, and connects; the onboard LED goes solid.
- Configure (optional) — once on your WiFi, browse to http://ds5.local/ to change settings, set up Wake by USB or Wake-on-LAN, and manage paired controllers.
v2.3 beta: if the saved WiFi is unavailable later, controller operation continues normally while WiFi retries. To change networks, power off every controller and press and release the Pico's BOOTSEL button three times within four seconds; the setup network reopens for one boot.
Full details, including onboarding, Wake-on-LAN, adding a second controller, and per-OS audio notes, are in the User Guide.
What's different in this fork (vs. upstream awalol/DS5Dongle)
These are the deliberate departures from upstream that define this fork's direction (upstream is actively developed and excellent — this isn't a list of things it gets wrong):
- 🌐 Web config over WiFi instead of WebHID. The adapter joins your home WiFi
and serves its own config page at
ds5.local— works in any browser on any OS, no WebHID (which never worked in Firefox). Includes bond management. - 🖥️ Wake-on-LAN. Press the controller's PS button to wake a sleeping or fully-off PC over the network — including S4/S5, which USB wake can't reach.
- 🎮 Decky Loader plugin that drives the same on-device API.
- 🕵️ Plain-DualSense USB face by default. Over USB the adapter presents only the controller — no keyboard, no network device — so anticheat sees a normal DualSense. The optional USB wake keyboard is a web toggle, off unless you turn it on.
- 🎚️ Lightweight boxcar/linear resampler for haptics and the 512→480 speaker resample instead of WDL — cheaper on CPU, tuned to match cabled intensity.
- 🔈 Volume fully yielded to the host — held in RAM only, never written to flash.
- 🐧 Linux-first integration & docs —
hid-playstationjack-detection wiring and kernel-version-aware stereo-audio notes (see the User Guide).
The build defaults to Release. Building Debug (-O0) causes audio
crackling — only do so when actually debugging.
- Ensure the Pico SDK is configured and its
tinyusblibrary is up to date. - Compile with the standard Pico CMake configuration:
mkdir build cd build cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release .. make - Handy CMake toggles:
-DENABLE_WIFI_WOL=OFFbuilds a smaller firmware with no WiFi config page or Wake-on-LAN;-DENABLE_BATT_LED=OFFdisables the low-battery LED blink;-DENABLE_WAKE_HID=OFFdrops the wake machinery entirely.
The default build targets the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W (RP2350). Two other boards are supported via CMake options (mutually exclusive):
| Board | Configure with | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W (RP2350) | (default) | Full feature set. |
| Waveshare RP2350B-Plus-W | -DWAVESHARE_RP2350B_PLUS_W_BUILD=ON |
USB-C, 16 MB flash, RM2 wireless. Ships its own board header (the RM2 module is on different GPIOs than the Pico 2 W) and forces boot2 XIP setup for its Puya flash. A convenience script lives at boards/build_waveshare_rp2350b_plus_w.sh. |
| Raspberry Pi Pico W (RP2040) | -DPICO_W_BUILD=ON |
Legacy RP2040; no audio (gamepad + haptics only). |
The release builds publish UF2s for the Pico 2 W (standard + verbose) and the Waveshare board.
There is no USB serial port. USB-CDC serial was removed because it shares the USB stack with the audio isochronous endpoints and perturbs the very timing you need to measure.
Diagnostic output goes to UART0 instead, which is independent of USB:
- Pico GP0 (pin 1) = UART TX → connect to your USB-serial adapter's RX
- Pico GND (pin 3) → adapter GND
- Settings: 115200 baud, 8N1, no flow control (3.3 V logic — do not feed 5 V into GP0)
For louder logs, build the verbose variant with -DENABLE_VERBOSE=ON (the CI
also publishes a ds5-bridge-debug.uf2 built this way).
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 — see LICENSE.
DS5-Linux-Bridge is a fork and continuation of the original DS5Dongle project created by awalol, which is MIT-licensed. Portions of this source originate from that MIT work; the original MIT notice is preserved in LICENSE-MIT as that license requires. The project as a whole is now distributed under GPLv3. This fork continues to track upstream improvements (such as the RAM-relocation infrastructure and DualSense Edge profile support).