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Linux support


gardotd426

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while I find that :> https://github.com/ckb-next has progresd in leaps and bounds I would still like to express my desire that Corsair would develop software and support my current hardware and GNULinux os(Arch)

 

Keybord K70plus mouse M65Pro

 

If you where to embrace Linux then I would gladly beta that software. For now though Long live Ckb-next from the url above.

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  • 2 weeks later...

HI,

 

I'm pretty new to the forum, registered solely because I would like to voice my need to have a linux driver for corsair products.

CKB-Next is great for what it is and helps people tremendously, however, with a wireless mouse (in my case an Ironclaw RGB wireless) it doesn't seem to work.

I know and understand that developing software can cost a lot, but there is clearly a demand for it. Even if it not a fully fledged version of iCUE, I would be more than satisfied if the wireless would work, along with slipstream and maybe some barebones rgb settings.

I think that is reasonable and it would be a great gesture towards alternative OS users, who also happen to love your products.

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I would also love to see some corsair support for linux. I love my corsair stuff, always have. However, it's aggravating to have this stuff and not be able to fully use it because I'm running entirely on linux instead of on windows. ckb-next is cool in what in can do for my mousepad, but that doesn't help me program my Nightsword mouse and get more than partial functionality. Corsair please, help us out here. We'll have functioning products, and you'll have a very large, loyal fan base to add to those running already supported systems because you'll have shown interest in us.
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I like Corsair Products. As OP says, though; I'll buy what I can use and if that means wired mic and headset from an audio company instead of the nice wireless VOID ELITE Headset then so be it. Please provide Linux support! Raspberry Pi is just the newest thing pulling users over and making it cheaper and easier to integrate your products into the IoT
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Another Linux user here.

 

For those trying Wine: It can't work because Wine doesn't have USB hardware access. What does work is using a Windows VM with USB pass-through but that obviously needs Windows albeit without the need of shutting down Linux...

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I wanted to add my voice here. I am mostly a Linux user, I poke my head into a Windows install, usually, when first setting up a system for better hardware monitoring tools. Personally, I don't care about RGB control as much as the ability to monitor system metrics. Like coolant temp, flow and pump/fan speeds. I am looking into a new build soon, and am considering the iCUE H150i

ELITE CAPELLIX. A commitment from Corsair to port iCUE to Linux would be a real nudge to make the jump.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello,

I'm a software developer for one of the biggest ISPs in Germany.

 

I was really surprised that there is no Linux support for the Corsair software, because in Germany, IT means Linux.

 

So let me give you a simple monetary reasons to support Linux:

Owning Germany as IT market.

 

Here is when and why Germany's IT market become a Linux world:

It began in 2012 with a huge media scandal shedding light on some evidence that proved Microsoft was bribing politicians and officials to use Windows instead of Linux.

As a result, Microsoft was pretty hated in Germany, because the software support contracts cost millions of the hard earned tax payers money.

That lead to Munich refusing another Microsoft contract for their city offices IT infrastructure in 2013. (Just google Munich Microsoft Balmer incident.)

 

That lead to literally dozens of city offices all over Germany switching to Linux because the citizens where enraged and all mayors that signed another Microsoft contract where instantly accused of taking Microsoft bribes.

Combine that with the insane pricing of nowadays Microsoft products (like the office suite) and you naturally end up with Linux.

 

Then came Windows 10 which was practically the nail in the coffin for Microsoft.

I am sure I don't have to lay down the huge issues with Windows 10 in detail, so let me sum them up:

Spying, rebooting without asking - making you lose literally hours or even days of work, trouble after updates.

But honestly, the spying of Windows 10 was the huge deal-breaker.

In 2016 the DSGVO ("Datenschutz-Grundverordnung") was declared in Germany (actually from the EU). In short: You may not leak any customer data at all without their direct and explicit consent. And the penalties are several million Dollars/Euros based on the yearly worldwide transactions -- breaking the DSGVO could easily destroy a strong company over night.

 

So the tech companies asked Microsoft for a non-spy version of Windows 10 and got told off. So beginning 2016, literally hundreds of companies started migrating to Linux because of the huge legal issues with Microsoft 10 and the DSGVO.

 

This continued and the Linux-migration has picked up pace even among regular PC users.

Knowing/using Linux as a normal PC user in Germany means you are "experienced" and more like a "tech wizard"/"computer pro" than a "regular gamer".

 

Since then in Germany, the IT world has pretty much become a Linux world.

I mean the core IT community in Germany was always ~20% Linux, but now it's more like 65% Linux, leaving some stragglers, but that's it.

 

I could see this in my company as well, where if you use Windows your colleagues go like "you use Windows??? But ... Why?"

 

Windows is pretty much in the extinction-phase in Germany.

 

Germany's biggest IT news site heise.de published several articles in the last 3 years "why you should switch to Linux".

Hell, even the beloved Linux desktop environment KDE was developed in Germany.

 

 

So to sum in all up:

If corsair ever wanted to land big on the German IT market and somehow draw the German tech community into their product eco system: Well, here's your chance.

 

The first company (especially now with Corona, keyboard manufacturer) to have a working Linux driver for their hardware will find their sales in Germany skyrocketing, because here, you'd be literally without competition.

 

Strictly speaking about mechanical keyboards and mice:

None of the big players released a Linux driver so far, meaning the one who does it first, sets the standard and owns the market.

Edited by KuroSenshi
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Well Corsair mainly targets the consumer market, not corporate/enterprise, so that's that.

The core audience is in the gaming/enthusiast crowd, not really in businesses.

 

Here too (France) Linux is becoming pretty much standard in administrations, more and more, but for a computer enthusiast brand, linux is less than niche market.

 

Would be nice to see a linux iCUE tho... once the Windows version is finished *coughs!*

You don't want a power hog running in background of your workstation :)

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Use an AppImage, Snap, Flatpack, or An executable not deb or rpm installation file. but make an iCue for Linux... RPM and DEB are specific to Debian or Red Hat, where as the other four are used more universally. I want a corsair keyboard but cannot use it with Linux. I have used Linux since 1995, can not think of any reason to switch back to windows except an RGB keyboard? No. I just won't buy an RGB keyboard. Either create an iCue for Linux or release the information needed for the open source community to write the software.
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  • 1 month later...

had to register but adding my +1 to this request.

Kubuntu for me (although i might go back to Fedora w/KDE)

 

I've a number of corsair products; k55rgb (and i use macro keys fairly often), commander pro and corsair rgb ram but cant do anything with them in linux since corsair dont provide iCUE for it. tbh i dont care for RGB as thats low on my list but the other bits like macros and fan control are the most desirable parts.

 

gaming is becoming more prominent on non-windows OS's. there's a fair amount of Steam games either native or via proton that runs on linux now and the list seems to be expanding like Metro Exodus recently supporting linux & osx natively.

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  • 4 weeks later...
ubuntu base linux mint user here. my wife says my pc looks like a disco club, cannot change it. neither of the options listed here seem to work with my setup. also cannot set DPI on my corsair mouse. flatpack would be totally fine. thanks!
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I think those of you asking for Linux support don't understand how this business works.

 

As far as I can tell, Corsair is not an equipment developer. They are an integrator. They buy equipment from other designers, sometimes with some customization, test it so that it fulfills their requirements (taken from market competitive analysis,) put their logo on it, and put all of their money in marketing to get the message out. They likely also work with actual manufacturing/fulfillment houses to make sure the process is reliable (THIS IS HARD!) and low cost (this is actually easier than reliability.) They may do final assembly, perhaps, although my guess is that that's outsourced, too.

 

Now, consumers like low prices. This means that Corsair will use the lowest bidder that meets the required specifications. Typically, these are small development shops, who are small enough that they couldn't sue a big company if that big company decided to screw them over. Two guys in a bedroom, or five ladies in a converted garage kind of companies. These companies also make more money on non-recurring engineering charges (NRE) than they make on per-item sales -- if they get anything per item at all.

 

This means that the hardware and software that Corsair sells, generally is built based on design files and source code that Corsair doesn't own, and doesn't have access to. Also, because NRE charges are involved in changing anything, it means they will go to great lengths to re-package previous solutions rather than invest a lot in new development. The drivers they use for their hydro coolers are called "SiUSBXp" (although they're re-branded as "Corsair USB Xp" in the UI) and the "XP" there means ... you guessed it, Windows XP! It's a twenty years old code base!

 

Now, iCue changes with some frequency, because they need things to look pretty on the screen, and each time they add more products, they need to add another twenty megabytes of product shots and HTML to make it show up in the UI. This is likely developed in-house, but with approximately zero ability to actually change any of the underlying hardware, firmware, or protocols, unless they get the original designers to do it for them.

 

Do I work at Corsair, and am spilling secrets here? No, not at all. Never set a foot there. I just know how integration, distribution, and maketing companies work in general, from industry experience, and everything I see from Corsair fits that model to a T.

 

If you want Linux support, be one of those small development houses, build Linux support, and then offer it to them for a price that they believe they can make a profit on. Then they would happily bundle it into their systems! They very likely have no internal capability to do this on their own.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I think those of you asking for Linux support don't understand how this business works.

 

As far as I can tell, Corsair is not an equipment developer. They are an integrator. They buy equipment from other designers, sometimes with some customization, test it so that it fulfills their requirements (taken from market competitive analysis,) put their logo on it, and put all of their money in marketing to get the message out. They likely also work with actual manufacturing/fulfillment houses to make sure the process is reliable (THIS IS HARD!) and low cost (this is actually easier than reliability.) They may do final assembly, perhaps, although my guess is that that's outsourced, too.

 

Now, consumers like low prices. This means that Corsair will use the lowest bidder that meets the required specifications. Typically, these are small development shops, who are small enough that they couldn't sue a big company if that big company decided to screw them over. Two guys in a bedroom, or five ladies in a converted garage kind of companies. These companies also make more money on non-recurring engineering charges (NRE) than they make on per-item sales -- if they get anything per item at all.

 

This means that the hardware and software that Corsair sells, generally is built based on design files and source code that Corsair doesn't own, and doesn't have access to. Also, because NRE charges are involved in changing anything, it means they will go to great lengths to re-package previous solutions rather than invest a lot in new development. The drivers they use for their hydro coolers are called "SiUSBXp" (although they're re-branded as "Corsair USB Xp" in the UI) and the "XP" there means ... you guessed it, Windows XP! It's a twenty years old code base!

 

Now, iCue changes with some frequency, because they need things to look pretty on the screen, and each time they add more products, they need to add another twenty megabytes of product shots and HTML to make it show up in the UI. This is likely developed in-house, but with approximately zero ability to actually change any of the underlying hardware, firmware, or protocols, unless they get the original designers to do it for them.

 

Do I work at Corsair, and am spilling secrets here? No, not at all. Never set a foot there. I just know how integration, distribution, and maketing companies work in general, from industry experience, and everything I see from Corsair fits that model to a T.

 

If you want Linux support, be one of those small development houses, build Linux support, and then offer it to them for a price that they believe they can make a profit on. Then they would happily bundle it into their systems! They very likely have no internal capability to do this on their own.

 

Who developed the iCUE software? Whether or CORSAIR did the development in-house, or paid a 3rd party to develop it, they are still the entity that needs to be convinced and motivated to develop a Linux version.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

I would definitely like to see Linux support.

I own a Corsair K95 keyboard and have two 16 gb DDR4-3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB Memory sticks.

I have been using Linux for servers and now looking to switch from Windows to Linux for my desktop. After seeing Microsoft the shady stuff Microsoft has been pulling with Windows 11, I may stick with Windows 10 for a while but I do intend to move over to Linux. So yes, I would definitely be interested in seeing Linux support for the ICUE software. If I have to, I'll just upgrade my memory to non-rgb hardware and will consider keyboard alternatives when I move over to Linux.

 

Edited by tessierp8084
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+1 on Linux support. I've had it with Windows, and the only reason I can't switch to Linux is because of my Corsair devices. Wouldn't be able to control my AiO cooler and fans, nor the lighting for anything. Linux support would help a lot of people make the switch to Linux possible. And I'm guessing a lot of people will as Steam is actively working on Linux support to for a large number of games.

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I've recently switched to GNU/Linux (Manjaro/Arch) over windows and would appreciate some official support for my Corsair products under GNU/Linux.

  1. K95 RGB
  2. Sabre RGB Pro
  3. MM800 RGB Polaris
  4. Virtuoso SE
  5. VOID USB
Edited by -Daniel-
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  • 3 weeks later...

+1 I'd really want to switch to a linux distro, but sadly both ICue and Logitech G Hub is holding me back.

Alternatively making the specs for the usb packets public would help some open source project add support on other platforms. I have seen people able to control the rgb of corsair products on linux through some open source projects, but I haven't seen the ability to control the fans nor able to use more advanced features of corsair devices, things that actually improve the product quality.

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