Master your gamepad on Linux – effortlessly.

DSTX turns your PlayStation DualShock 4, DualSense, or Nintendo Switch Pro controller into an Xbox 360 gamepad that works with any game. Tweak LED colors, rumble strength, deadzones, remap buttons, and more.

Download DSTX View on GitHub

What is DSTX?

DSTX is a system‑level daemon and a modern GTK4 graphical interface that brings full control over PlayStation DualShock 4, DualSense and Nintendo Switch Pro controllers on Linux.

DSTX creates a virtual Xbox 360 controller that is recognized by almost every game, solving compatibility issues for titles that only support Xbox controllers.

But DSTX goes far beyond simple emulation: it gives you granular control over LED lighting, rumble intensity, deadzone calibration, stick sensitivity, Y‑axis inversion, button remapping, and full profile management.

The app runs as a persistent background service – your settings stay active even after you close the window. Connect up to 4 controllers at once via USB or Bluetooth.

DSTX is 100% free, open source (GPLv3), and privacy-first: no telemetry, no tracking.

⚡ Engineered for performance

🎮 Powerful Feature-rich controller emulation with granular LED effects, rumble tuning, custom profiles and much more.

⚡ High-performance Lightning‑fast C code, shared memory, low overhead, real‑time scheduling. Zero lag, pure responsiveness.

🪶 Lightweight The core binary is smaller than 1MB. No heavy dependencies, instant startup.

🚀 Easy to install Wide variety of ready‑to‑install packages: Flatpak, .deb, .rpm, AppImage, and binary tarball. Get started in seconds.

What you can do with DSTX

Native gamepad support

Works with DS4, DualSense, Nintendo Switch Pro — USB or Bluetooth. Creates a virtual Xbox 360 controller recognized by any modern game.

Full LED control

Static color, dynamic effects (breathing, rainbow, wave, battery status). Adjust brightness and speed on the fly.

Rumble adjustment

Turn rumble on/off whenever you want and dial in the perfect intensity.

Button remapping

Remap any button, swap AB/XY for Nintendo Switch layout, or restore Xbox layout. Create and save custom profiles.

Stick sensitivity

Choose from 8 stick sensitivity presets – from precision aiming to fast FPS movements.

Profile management

Save your custom settings and load anytime, creating as many custom profiles as you wish.

Themes & accent colors

Light, dark, and exclusive custom themes with accent palette. Choose the look you love.

Run in the background

Runs as a background daemon. Use the modern GTK4/libadwaita interface or the terminal TUI. Your settings persist after closing the window.

Free as in Freedom — 100% Open Source

DSTX is built on the principles of free software and open collaboration. Released under the GNU General Public License v3.0, the complete source code is publicly available on GitHub — fully transparent, auditable, and free from proprietary traps. No telemetry, no ads, no paywalls. This project thrives thanks to a passionate community of gamers and developers. You are invited to inspect, modify, share, and contribute. Free software, forever.

GPLv3 Licensed Fully Transparent Code Community Driven No Tracking / No Telemetry

View it in Action

DSTX main window showing a connected Nintendo Switch Pro controller

Main dashboard with connected controller

LED effects – static & dynamic modes

Button remapping interface – swap AB/XY, custom layouts

Remap buttons, Switch/Xbox layouts

Theme selection – light, dark, and custom accent colors

Your desktop, your vibe — themes that adapt to you

Terminal-based TUI – full control from the command line

Terminal UI – full control from the command line

Get DSTX

Flatpak

Flatpak (recommended)

Core package + GUI

Installation Guide

Debian / Ubuntu

.deb package

Core package (terminal-only, no GUI)

Download .deb

Fedora / RHEL

.rpm package

Core package (terminal-only, no GUI)

Download .rpm

tar.gz

Portable tarball

Core package (terminal-only, no GUI)

Download .tar.gz

AppImage

Run anywhere, no install

GUI-only, core package must be installed separately

Download AppImage

Source code

Build from source

GitHub →

⚠️ After installing, please log out and back in – this applies the necessary group permissions for your controller to work.
All binary packages are fetched from the official DSTX GitHub releases.

📦 Installation Instructions

Choose your preferred format below and follow the detailed steps.

Flatpak (recommended for most users)

Flatpak provides sandboxed, up-to-date packages that work on any distribution.

Add DSTX flatpak remote:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists --gpg-import=https://flatpak.dstxapp.org/flatpak/dstx-flatpak-repo.asc dstx-remote https://flatpak.dstxapp.org/flatpak

Install DSTX:

flatpak install dstx-remote org.dstx.gui

Create the "dstx" system group:

sudo groupadd -r dstx

Add your user to the "dstx" system group:

sudo usermod -aG dstx $USER

After installation, launch DSTX from your applications menu or run:

flatpak run org.dstx.gui

Flatpak version includes all dependencies. Install core package in-app. Log out & back in after first install.

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

Install the native .deb package for a system integration experience.

Download the .deb package:

wget https://github.com/a-lameira/DSTX/releases/download/v0.7.0-beta/dstx-0.7.0_amd64.deb

Install the package:

sudo dpkg -i dstx-0.7.0_amd64.deb

Add your user to the "dstx" system group:

sudo usermod -aG dstx $USER

After installation, you might need to log out and back in.

Fedora / RHEL (.rpm)

Native RPM package for Fedora, RHEL and derivatives.

Download .rpm package:

wget https://github.com/a-lameira/DSTX/releases/download/v0.7.0-beta/dstx-0.7.0_x86_64.rpm

Install using dnf:

sudo dnf install ./dstx-0.7.0_x86_64.rpm

Add your user to the "dstx" system group:

sudo usermod -aG dstx $USER

After installation, you might need to log out and back in.

Portable tar.gz (binary archive)

The package contains the binaries and an installation script.

Download the package:

wget https://github.com/a-lameira/DSTX/releases/download/v0.7.0-beta/dstx-0.7.0_x86_64.tar.gz

Extract the tarball:

tar -xzf dstx-0.7.0_x86_64.tar.gz

Enter the directory:

cd dstx-0.7.0_x86_64

Run the installation script:

sudo ./setup-dstx.sh

After installation, you might need to log out and back in.

AppImage

No installation needed, just download and run on any Linux distribution.

Download AppImage:

wget https://github.com/a-lameira/DSTX/releases/download/v0.7.0-beta/dstx-gui-0.7.0.AppImage

Make the AppImage executable:

chmod +x dstx-gui-0.7.0.AppImage

Run it:

./dstx-gui-0.7.0.AppImage

For system integration, you may need FUSE support:

# On Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install libfuse2

# On Fedora:
sudo dnf install fuse

AppImage provides only the GUI, you still need to install the core package separately.

Build from source

Compile DSTX yourself — recommended for developers and advanced users.

Detailed instructions in the repository.

Support the Project

DSTX is and will always be free and open source. If you appreciate the work and want to help keep development active, cover server costs, and bring new features, consider donating. Every contribution — small or large — makes a difference.

Ko-fi

Support with coffee ☕

Donate on Ko-fi

PayPal

One-time or recurring

Donate on PayPal

GitHub Sponsors

Sponsor the developer

GitHub Sponsors

PIX (Brazil)

Key: dstx@dstxapp.org