All of these wed based uber-projects are built on Chrome. This is bad. This gives more control to google and strengthens their strangle hold over web technologies.
It’s also bad because why the fuck should a web browser have that much access to the hardware to begin with?!
You could already run the firmware updater with Proton/Wine though? At least I didn’t have an issue with that, but its obviously not helpful to everyone considering the many flavours of linux. Nice that they recognize and are at least trying to address the issue though
The windows applet works just fine through Proton.
They say they’re doing a webbased updater so that their software will work with all operating systems… not said is that their online updater only works with chromium based browsers… so…
https://web.8bitdo.com/browser-support
That’s actually a limitation on the Firefox side, they just flat out refuse to implement webusb. Any webapp that works with usb devices does the same thing. I’ve raged at Mozilla about this the last time they asked for my feedback and had no response.
WebUSB is absurd and shouldn’t exist. Web apps should not ever be able to work with USB devices! The core concept is wrong!
A website shouldn’t even be allowed to know if I have a USB port at all, let alone anything else about my hardware. I’m not even convinced it should be allowed to know the viewport size of the browser window! All these APIs just make the attack surface fucking gargantuan and open up infinite opportunities for browser fingerprinting. They should be Considered Harmful and abolished.
It is super helpful for flashing a pixel to GrapheneOS, especially for non technical folk
On the one hand I agree with the sentiment, but how else is a web based update app for a usb device supposed to work?! We can make an argument for fwupd or a custom built app but the webapp is a smaller barrier for a lot of hardware companies.
how else is a web based update app for a usb device supposed to work?!
It’s not! It’s a thing nobody in their right mind should want to do in the first place!
That question is like asking “how else is a shotgun-based dental pick supposed to work?” The things just don’t go together and you shouldn’t try to force them to!
Also, we already had an appropriate technology for this sort of thing (having a cheaply-made app that runs everywhere and doesn’t have to be pretty): it’s called “plain old fuckin’ Java.”
Yea it’s the same requirement that GrapheneOS has for their web installer. Definitely a Firefox issue.
Yeah it’s probably using webusb https://caniuse.com/?search=webusb
not said is that their online updater only works with chromium based browsers
Currently, it only supports Chromium-based browsers.
Second paragraph, yo.
pft, implying I read it and not just clicked the links…
I refused to install a Chromium based browser until recently, which was needed as a dependency for some software. At least it supports the base Chromium, which is free from all those bullshit of the other browsers its based on. I just recently updated the driver in a virtual machine with Windows 10 and their software installed. So using Chromium would be an improvement here. Still sad I have to use a different browser than Firefox, but Chromium will be just my “firmware-updater” and not my browser at all.
Good stuff 8BitDo. I’m currently a GameSir enjoyer, but this kinda stuff is why 8BitDo is still considered the gold standard for controllers.
A downloadable program would be better for if the website were to ever go offline.
Yeah, but a website should make this compatible with all operating systems, not just Linux. BSD should profit from this as well.
I’d prefer if they’d release it as a flatpak. Making it browser based chains you to chromium browsers, since Firefox decided a while back that exposing USB devices directly to the internet was too much of a security concern. Ran into that issue with my keyboard.
Firefox supports WebSerial now: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2026/05/web-serial-support-in-firefox/
Firefox already has a website permission system, weird they don’t just let users choose if they think the risk is worth it or not.
Absolutely but at least they’re doing something for us Linux gamers.
Or, if it’s what I’m thinking of, you are not using Chrome but Firefox, and Firefox cannot use the “JavaScript USB” thing.
it’s what you’re thinking of. It doesn’t work with Firefox. Only chromium browsers.
Fuckin finally, the Android app is garbage.
Where’s the difference? A program still has to fetch drivers and software from somewhere.
