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IceEnclosure · Feb 15, 2003, 02:26 PM

yea... it's bad

I love the thing.. best 50 or so bucks I've spent in a long time..

Within 20 mins I had it programmed to do all sorts of stuff in all sorts of applications..

a quick click mutes the system sound... a long click opens the CD drive door... scrolling down long pages in my browser is tits now with the wheely-deal..

my favorite use.. prolly in Photoshop... a quick press of the Powermate saves my document...simple, fast, dope...

yea, so.. the powermate.. you got one? what do you do with it??

drew

Peter · Feb 15, 2003, 03:21 PM

I havn't got one, but I intend on buying one very soon. So you are pleased with it? I heard there were OS X problems, or are they know solved?

SwarmyCurve · Feb 15, 2003, 04:32 PM

There aren't any OSX problems that I know of. Its a very nice product. With unsanity's Cee Pee You, you can have the PowerMates light fluctuate according to your CPU usage.

As you know, its very customizable with the pref pane.

Peter · Feb 15, 2003, 04:38 PM

Originally posted by SwarmyCurve:
There aren't any OSX problems that I know of. Its a very nice product. With unsanity's Cee Pee You, you can have the PowerMates light fluctuate according to your CPU usage.

As you know, its very customizable with the pref pane.

that is so cool! can you have different settings for different apps? ie. finder will be volume, safari will be a scroller and so on?

AssassyN · Feb 16, 2003, 12:56 AM

Originally posted by PeterClark2002:
that is so cool! can you have different settings for different apps? ie. finder will be volume, safari will be a scroller and so on?

I can answer this one actually...yep, each application/program can assign the PowerMate's 5 functions to do different things, so depending on what program you're in, it'll do different things that you assign to it.

Peter · Feb 16, 2003, 09:42 AM

5?
Scroll left, down, click. What are the other two?

scaught · Feb 16, 2003, 09:43 AM

ive had my powermate for like a year i think. its a great great product.

AssassyN · Feb 16, 2003, 12:16 PM

Yep, 5.

1.) Scroll right
2.) Scroll left
3.) Click
4.) Scroll right + click
5.) Scroll left + click

Although the last two are a bit more difficult to execute, they *will* perform different tasks.

CheesePuff · Feb 16, 2003, 12:57 PM

Six, actually:

1) Click
2) Long Click
3) Rotate Left
4) Rotate Right
5) Hold & Rotate Left
6) Hold & Rotate Right

And the last 2 are not difficult to do as the last poster said though...

Burn · Feb 16, 2003, 01:08 PM

Originally posted by SwarmyCurve:
There aren't any OSX problems that I know of. Its a very nice product. With unsanity's Cee Pee You, you can have the PowerMates light fluctuate according to your CPU usage.

As you know, its very customizable with the pref pane.

Geez, those guys at Griffin, Unsanity and Arlo Rose/Perry Clarke (Konfabulator) are just killing me!! (CeePeeYou is a FREEBIE BTW!)

Friends (pc users and mac users) who see my machine point and say - WHAT'S THAT? WHAT'S THAT?? I do use all these things for functional purposes and not just eye candy.. but seriously - the candy is GOOD!

Only thing for me - my PowerMate has never pulsed during sleep. I have it in USB port 2 of my Ti. Apple Pro Keyboard in the other with a Logitech mouse plugged into that. Any idears?

AssassyN · Feb 16, 2003, 01:41 PM

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
Six, actually:

1) Click
2) Long Click
3) Rotate Left
4) Rotate Right
5) Hold & Rotate Left
6) Hold & Rotate Right

And the last 2 are not difficult to do as the last poster said though...

*Newbie stands corrected*

P.S. - Only added that "Difficult" part b/c when I read an online review that was a "Negative" for it, and thought it should be posted, but I guess it's all in the user.

CheesePuff · Feb 16, 2003, 01:44 PM

Originally posted by Burn:
Geez, those guys at Griffin, Unsanity and Arlo Rose/Perry Clarke (Konfabulator) are just killing me!! (CeePeeYou is a FREEBIE BTW!)

Friends (pc users and mac users) who see my machine point and say - WHAT'S THAT? WHAT'S THAT?? I do use all these things for functional purposes and not just eye candy.. but seriously - the candy is GOOD!

Only thing for me - my PowerMate has never pulsed during sleep. I have it in USB port 2 of my Ti. Apple Pro Keyboard in the other with a Logitech mouse plugged into that. Any idears?

Do you have it checked to pulse at sleep in the preference pane, and is the slider over to pulse faster?

dccski · Feb 16, 2003, 02:59 PM

can you set it up to blink if you get new mail in .mac

G4ME · Feb 16, 2003, 03:02 PM

i still can't justify spending 50 bucks for somthing that i can use the key board/ my scroll wheel.

also can you set global actions/ actions that do the same key command in every app?

Agent69 · Feb 16, 2003, 03:07 PM

How many people have ever played Tempest in the arcade? All it had was a spinner nob and a couple of fire buttons. I think that the Powermate would be great with MacMame and Tempest.

silverghost · Feb 16, 2003, 03:44 PM

i had one of the silver ones when it came out, but for me after a month with it i found that i hardly used it. my mouse had some of the funtions built in( im using the mouse that came with my wacom tablet).

its great that some people found a use for it, but for me i couldnt justify having it, so i ebay'ed it.

aloha

AssassyN · Feb 16, 2003, 04:25 PM

Maybe if you're stuck with an Apple Pro Mouse with a whopping one button it would come in handy, but nearly any other 3+ button mouse can be macro'd the same way, eliminating the real need for one...thought it still looks cool.

Burn · Feb 16, 2003, 06:18 PM

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
Do you have it checked to pulse at sleep in the preference pane, and is the slider over to pulse faster?

Thanks CheesePuff,

Yes, tried the slider all the way to the right and left and box is checked.

I never have contacted Griffin about it, last time I emailed them the Marketing mgr emailed me back - how's that for support?

Thought maybe someone else ran into this.. any other idea's?

CheesePuff · Feb 16, 2003, 06:53 PM

Originally posted by G4ME:
i still can't justify spending 50 bucks for somthing that i can use the key board/ my scroll wheel.

also can you set global actions/ actions that do the same key command in every app?

Actually a lot of places you can find it for $39.95

G4ME · Feb 16, 2003, 11:47 PM

still, can you set it for global actions?

bc i am using that PTH iTunes thing, and it has global key strokes, and if i could config the powermate to play pause, volume up/down, next/ previous song then i would get one just so it would always control itunes, no matter what app is upfront

toobiloo · Feb 17, 2003, 02:20 AM

I like mine too, find new uses all the time. One thing I've found handy was to back up the prefs list, so I dont have to re-enter the settings for every app if it gets messed up. Its at: /Library/Application Support/Powermate/com.griffintechnology.PowerMate.plist

erw · Feb 17, 2003, 05:59 AM

I too can't get it to pulse when sleeping, possibly because my machine goes into 'deep' sleep?

I have also had to stop using the mute function as it 7 times out of 10 whacks the iSub up to full volume. I think this may be a jag problem. The iSub has never been to stable with jag.

Never thought of using it to save thats cool...

how do you get it to plse with new mail???

Other than hat a great product...

Burn · Feb 17, 2003, 10:59 AM

Originally posted by toobiloo:
I like mine too, find new uses all the time. One thing I've found handy was to back up the prefs list, so I dont have to re-enter the settings for every app if it gets messed up. Its at: /Library/Application Support/Powermate/com.griffintechnology.PowerMate.plist

Oh my god, everyone do this. Trust me - if it hasn't happened yet, it will. Even a software update *could* kill those settings...

I remember back when I had a Kensington Turbo Ball Mouse thing.. what was it called - big ball, four buttons? anyway.. the settings for that thing were incredible. However - once I lost alllll the settings I created from a bad conflict - never set it up the same again.

Burn · Feb 17, 2003, 11:14 AM

Originally posted by G4ME:
still, can you set it for global actions?

bc i am using that PTH iTunes thing, and it has global key strokes, and if i could config the powermate to play pause, volume up/down, next/ previous song then i would get one just so it would always control itunes, no matter what app is upfront

G4ME,

Yes, absolutely - global actions.. there's a game mode (haven't tried that one) plus you can customize settings for every app you have.

If ALL of those steps you want have keystrokes assigned to them (which I think they do) - you can assign them to the Powermate. It's a matter of a few keystrokes to set that. For you I think you would have to configure it to send the commands to "that PTH iTunes thing". Maybe not..

What I would really like to see but may be impossible is this - I would like the PowerMate to control the app of whatever window the cursor is over.

So - surfing with Safari, iTunes window open in background playing. While browsing the web I want to switch tracks in iTunes - what if I could simply place the cursor over the iTunes window and send the command without actually switching to iTunes? In the same way that with multiple web browser windows open, you can scroll the window in the background.

Ok I haven't had my coffee yet, Ii do not think I am making any sense.. back for an edit in a bit.

G4ME · Feb 17, 2003, 11:43 AM

its genreal key commands, apple option space pauses, apple option forward arrow next song and such, it works with any app up front, even while playing games really handy

TomHMeredith · Feb 19, 2003, 06:54 AM

still, can you set it for global actions?

bc i am using that PTH iTunes thing, and it has global key strokes, and if i could config the powermate to play pause, volume up/down, next/ previous song then i would get one just so it would always control itunes, no matter what app is upfront

Hey

I am using the PTH iTunes thing as well, and no matter what program I am in, it works fine. The trick is to set up the PowerMate first, i.e. set it that right twist is F12, and then tell PTH that F12 s the button for next track.

I've got my PowerMate at the end of a 4metre extension cable, stuck on the wall by my bed. It's really good for using iTunes while reading and stopping it playing when I want to go to sleep.

Tom

ryju · Feb 20, 2003, 06:55 PM

DUDE that is like better than tits thats like BIG FAT OPRAH TITS - eric cartman.

G4ME · Feb 20, 2003, 07:27 PM

Originally posted by TomHMeredith:
Hey

I am using the PTH iTunes thing as well, and no matter what program I am in, it works fine. The trick is to set up the PowerMate first, i.e. set it that right twist is F12, and then tell PTH that F12 s the button for next track.

I've got my PowerMate at the end of a 4metre extension cable, stuck on the wall by my bed. It's really good for using iTunes while reading and stopping it playing when I want to go to sleep.

Tom

nice now i will seriously think about the powermate

aaanorton · May 23, 2003, 07:44 PM

Just curious... Anybody ever try plugging two of these things in? One for global, one for active application(s) or something like that. Basically, can you control 2 of them individually?

LeeG · May 23, 2003, 08:41 PM

big fat oprah tits indeed.

I have a (for shame) a micro$oft 5-button mouse (which I might add has worked flawlessly for 3 yrs), but stringing a griffon to the nightstand is so sweet.

My wife and I always argue - you go turn off itunes....

Lee

G4ME · May 23, 2003, 09:33 PM

well i have had mine for about 2 months now and i have to say i love it, got my music right here at my finger tips no matter what app is up front, i am playing through my entire music collection and just skip over songs that i don't like.

KP* · May 24, 2003, 11:11 PM

I love my PowerMate. I even have it on an iceMate from MacMice.com, which is a circular chunk of acrylic that the PowerMate fits on top of. It makes the PowerMate sit about 3/4" higher, which I find is easier to grab... and, well I'll be honest -- it makes the blue light look cooler.
If you'd like to see one, http://www.macmice.com/icemate_1.html

As far as programing it, I use it primarily for scrolling in pretty much every application, but my favorite custom use is in Photoshop having the click & twist set to zoom in and out.

emdash · May 26, 2003, 02:17 PM

As far as programing it, I use it primarily for scrolling in pretty much every application, but my favorite custom use is in Photoshop having the click & twist set to zoom in and out.

Say, since you mention Photoshop, can you get the PowerMate to move sliders in Levels, Color Balance, Hue/Saturation/Value (etc.) dialogs? I'm curious about how it behaves with windows that have several sliders; can you select a slider somehow and then slide it with the PowerMate?

<pause> Hmm, I think I answered my own question. Looks like you would just use Tab to move among the various sliders, and then program the powermate to do up and down arrows to move the sliders back and forth. Wow, that would be cool. I've started to really dislike dragging sliders with the mouse (but using the arrow keys doesn't quite get it, either).

Any other PowerMate/Photoshop users care to chime in?

KP* · May 26, 2003, 04:30 PM

Originally posted by emdash:
Say, since you mention Photoshop, can you get the PowerMate to move sliders in Levels, Color Balance, Hue/Saturation/Value (etc.) dialogs? I'm curious about how it behaves with windows that have several sliders; can you select a slider somehow and then slide it with the PowerMate?

I just tried what you said and it works. I think I'm going to leave it set like that, it's really handy. I programmed the left & right turn to the left and right arrow keys, and the click to Tab. The PowerMate software also allows you to set the repeat rate for each function to set how far the knob has to be turned to move something a given amount. The default in this Photoshop example had the arrows moving too slow, but stuff like that is easily fixed and customized for personal taste. It's really cool how much control it gives you.
The only thing it's lacking for me is that you can't use the button for a mouse click or control-click, command-click, etc. And you can set it to the CD eject button, but not option-eject to open the secondary CD tray (why Apple gave that function a key combination that requires two hands is beyond me). Hopefully these things could be easily fixed with an upgrade to the software.

aaanorton · May 26, 2003, 05:28 PM

Originally posted by KP*:
I just tried what you said and it works. I think I'm going to leave it set like that, it's really handy. I programmed the left & right turn to the left and right arrow keys, and the click to Tab. The PowerMate software also allows you to set the repeat rate for each function to set how far the knob has to be turned to move something a given amount.

So, if you spin it, it increase/decreases the slider by 1s? Can you shift-spin it for increments of 10? I'm beginning to think there is a PowerMate in my near future. Now if I could only get my other question (above) answered...

rm199 · May 26, 2003, 06:56 PM

It isn't all that stable if you put the laptop to sleep alot, but despite problems such as that I consider it a mandatory purchase.

RM

emdash · May 26, 2003, 09:07 PM

So, if you spin it, it increase/decreases the slider by 1s? Can you shift-spin it for increments of 10? I'm beginning to think there is a PowerMate in my near future. Now if I could only get my other question (above) answered...

I ordered mine this afternoon.

turk.o · May 26, 2003, 11:48 PM

wow, i wonder how many powermates this thread has sold? that photoshop stuff alone did it for me. i just ordered mine from OWC.

KP* · May 27, 2003, 12:48 AM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
So, if you spin it, it increase/decreases the slider by 1s? Can you shift-spin it for increments of 10? I'm beginning to think there is a PowerMate in my near future. Now if I could only get my other question (above) answered...

Well to give you an idea, the way I have it set it took me on average 7 rotations of the wheel to get all the way from the center of the slider to one side (on the hue/saturation window). It is acceleration-sensitive, though, so a really fast spin made it to the side in 4-5 turns. And it still is sensitive enough to make easy adjustments in increments of 1. I now have it at its fastest repeat rate setting, so I'm not sure if it can go faster. I was thinking you could just set the click & turn motion to a faster repeat rate, which you could in theory, but it's already maxed out in this case. Unless there was a key combination in Photoshop to advance the slider in 10s, then it would be easy. As it is, I think it's fast enough to be useful, and besides, I'm sure you could think of plenty of other fun things to do with the click & turn function.

As for your second question, which I believe was about hooking up more than one, I don't know, but I don't see where the current software could distinguish between the settings for the two. That would be really cool if they did support it in future releases.

phrenzy · May 27, 2003, 04:55 AM

They need to figure out a way to make a MIDI driver for this thing.

I would LOVE to use this to control filters / volume controls / other knobs in Apps like Reason and Logic it would be SO perfect for this.

engaged · May 27, 2003, 06:11 AM

Right, this is one club I gotta join...

Will be in Chicago from Friday, for ten days or so, and it's on the shopping list; $43.69 at CompUSA in Chicago vs. �45.00 in the UK; about $75.00... May even see if I can get me one of those black ones!

emdash · May 27, 2003, 07:25 AM

I was thinking you could just set the click & turn motion to a faster repeat rate, which you could in theory, but it's already maxed out in this case. Unless there was a key combination in Photoshop to advance the slider in 10s, then it would be easy. As it is, I think it's fast enough to be useful, and besides, I'm sure you could think of plenty of other fun things to do with the click & turn function.

Shift-up arrow or shift-down arrow will move the sliders by 10s (as aaanorton alluded). I presume that if you have the powermate set to do the arrows when you spin it, you can modify that by pressing the actual shift key on the keyboard, right? I'm not usually flinging the sliders around that much, but it could come in handy.

This could be fun in Curves, too (though it could also be way too complicated...). I can't wait for this thing to get here!

SeSawaya · May 27, 2003, 08:59 AM

own mine for ALMOST a week and I love it. SO dang programable it border lines confusing!

Very stylish and convientent too, very glad I spent the money!

Cheapest place I found on the net was Smalldog Small Dog electronics $39 + shipping.

I'm sure you can get a for a couple of dollars cheapere out there. (ebay always has a couple)

icruise · May 27, 2003, 10:07 AM

I'm curious about what a previous poster asked -- can you have it pulse in a distinctive way when you get mail? I know there are ways to have entourage execute an applescript when you get mail, so if it is scriptable, that might do it (don't have one but am considering it).

As for the "not pulsing during sleep" thing, are there any powerbook/ibook owners who do get it to pulse during sleep? I thought that the portables didn't really supply power to peripherals in sleep (for example, while the iPod will continue to charge when a tower is asleep, it won't on the powerbook).

SeSawaya · May 27, 2003, 10:20 AM

it pulses fine in sleep mode with my ibook 700 combo

rm199 · May 27, 2003, 01:12 PM

It does not pulse during sleep properly for me on a ti667, and fails to work at all after a few sleeps. Either way I still think it is great.

RM

mrwalker · May 27, 2003, 02:05 PM

Has anyone ever managed to get their powermate working as a steering wheel in macmame?

-mrwalker

KP* · May 27, 2003, 08:21 PM

Originally posted by emdash:
Shift-up arrow or shift-down arrow will move the sliders by 10s (as aaanorton alluded).

Ah, I forgot to try shift. Well in that case....

I presume that if you have the powermate set to do the arrows when you spin it, you can modify that by pressing the actual shift key on the keyboard, right?

Actually all you have to do is select to use a modifier key in the same menu where you set the key you're assigning to the PowerMate. You can choose from Control, Option, Command, or Shift, or any combination of them. So in aaanorton's case, you would set the regular spin of the wheel to send a keystroke of the down/up arrows, and set the click & spin to the keystroke shift-down arrow/shift-up arrow. I just tried it and it works really well. Incidentally, pressing the actual shift key while the PowerMate sends the arrow key also works, so you can use the keyboard to modify whatever the PM is sending.

KP* · May 27, 2003, 08:34 PM

Originally posted by Icruise:
I'm curious about what a previous poster asked -- can you have it pulse in a distinctive way when you get mail?

That's an interesting idea. I don't know a whole lot about scripting, but I do know that the PowerMate pulsing can be controlled by AppleScript. It comes with a few examples which change the intensity of the light or control the rate of pulse.

For example, the script to set the brightness to high goes like this:
tell application "PowerMateDriver"
get brightness
set brightness to 255
end tell

I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing could make this do a lot of interesting things. I already have Entourage throwing a party with music and dancing icons every time I get important mail, so I don't really need that feature, otherwise I would try to write it myself. Right now I'm trying a little freeware program called Cee Pee You which dims the PowerMate in response to CPU usage. If that stops being fun I might see what I can make Entourage do.

aaanorton · May 28, 2003, 06:32 PM

From: "Jeff Pack" <[email protected]>
Date: Tue May 27, 2003 8:26:38 PM America/Los_Angeles
To: "'xxxxx xxxxxx'" <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: 2 PowerMates

We're working on a version of code for that...due in a few weeks.

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx xxxxxx [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2003 10:05 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: 2 PowerMates

Hi,
I was just wondering... Is it possible to have 2 PowerMates connected
and configured individually? I was thinking you could then have one for
global and one for current application(s).

Thanks for any info,
xxxxx