That's been my experience. Steam controller, Xbox One controllers, 8bitdo sn30, 8bitdo ultimate mg have all worked fine for me on 3 different laptops, desktop, and steam link.

I think a lot of thje problem is just wanting a cheap controller, and cheap controllers typically arent well made and have problems that can be mistaken for linux issued when used on linux.

Its why I ended up just buying a official PS5 controller on black friday for 50% off, wasnt cheap.. but doesnt have any of the problem the cheap PoS's have either.

What are you talking about? These controllers already "emulate switch pro controllers" right out the box. No additional configuration is required.

With Yuzu, all you have to do is set the connected controller type to Pro Controller.