RiftLinux tracks both Oculus Touch controllers optically from every sensor, fused with each controller’s own motion sensors, and hands SteamVR and OpenXR applications the same inputs and poses the Oculus driver gives them on Windows. Pairing works on Linux too; no Windows or Oculus app is needed.

Pairing a controller (no Windows needed)

Controllers that came with your headset, or were used with it on Windows, are already paired with it. A new, replacement or second-hand controller has to be paired once:

  1. Close SteamVR (the headset restarts into pairing mode, which SteamVR must not hold).
  2. Run riftlinux-setup pair in a terminal.
  3. On the controller, hold the Oculus button and Y (left controller) or B (right controller) until its light blinks.
  4. The tool says when the controller is paired. Pair one controller at a time; run the tool again for the next.

The headset goes back to normal by itself afterwards. Pairing follows the same steps as the Oculus software (checked against USB captures of it on Windows), and has been tested with both Touch controllers. The Oculus Remote uses the same pairing, but it has not been tested yet.

Waking a controller

Controllers sleep when they lie still. Press any button to wake one. If one does not show up after you put the headset on, a notice says which: press a button on it, or check its battery.

Batteries

Each Touch controller takes one AA battery. The Rift tab’s Display & status page shows each controller’s battery level as the controller reports it, and SteamVR shows it at the controllers too.

Buttons, sticks and touch sensors

In SteamVR the controllers appear as Oculus Touch controllers with the same input profile as on Windows, so games use their usual Touch bindings: A, B, X and Y; both thumbsticks (moved, clicked and touched); triggers and grips; the thumbrests (touched); and the capacitive sensors on the buttons. All of them reach SteamVR, checked one by one.

The right Oculus button opens the Rift tab, held for a second it recentres the view; the left menu button opens SteamVR’s dashboard.

OpenXR applications in RiftLinux’s own runtime get the Oculus Touch interaction profile.

Finger poses and haptics

  • Finger poses: a hand skeleton estimated from the controllers’ touch sensors, the same kind the Oculus driver gives SteamVR on Windows. Games with SteamVR hands show your fingers resting, pointing or gripping (VTOL VR’s hands work).
  • Haptics: vibration in both controllers, tuned to SteamVR’s short pulses.
  • Grip and aim poses match the Oculus driver’s, so held objects and laser pointers sit where they do on Windows.