It’s not every day that a piece of discontinued gaming hardware rises from the depths of tech history to get new life, but that’s exactly what’s happening to the Logitech G13 gameboard. Released in 2009 and retired years ago, the G13 is suddenly back in the spotlight thanks to a newly proposed Linux kernel patch.
The G13 was a quirky and ambitious gadget in its day — a one-handed gaming keypad with 25 programmable keys, a small joystick, RGB backlighting, and even a tiny monochrome LCD screen. For Linux users back then, support was possible but awkward, requiring unofficial, out-of-tree drivers maintained by the community.
Fast-forward 16 years, and open-source developer Leo Schwab has posted a patch to the Linux kernel mailing list aimed at improving support for the G13 within the mainline kernel. The update adds input event generation for every key and the joystick, while also giving Linux full control over the device’s LEDs.
It’s not a massive rewrite, but at more than 400 lines of code, it’s a significant step toward making the G13 truly plug-and-play for Linux gamers — even if those gamers are now more likely to find their G13s in dusty drawers than on store shelves.
Whether this is an act of nostalgia, open-source dedication, or just a love letter to eccentric gaming hardware, it shows that in the Linux world, no gadget is truly forgotten. Sometimes, even in tech, the past comes back to play.
