The Joypad That Became A Rotary Controller

jaromil writes "Speaking of human/computer interface, so simple, so neat, a usb knob to switch among desktops can give us quite some feeling about operating a machine... how about such controls around the monitor?" The knob in this case is switching between different effects possible with EffecTV. This make me wonder what creative uses people are putting Griffin's PowerMate to.

ummmm

[way2trivial]

Virtual Desktop Manager from microsoft

Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/pow ertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

Re:Some notes on USB interfacing...

[Solder Fumes]

I've written USB firmware from scratch for the 68HC908JB8 microcontroller...yes, it is tough. But once you get everything working, you don't have to do much to change from one type of device to another. The problem is that there isn't a huge amount of free USB firmware out there for all the various USB microcontrollers. That's because most people, like me, finally got around to writing firmware when it became their job to do so.

However, USB is powerful and should be adopted by hobbyists. If you really need a serial port, there are many premade serial-to-USB converters and chips.

ActiveWireInc.com

[MacFury]

ActiveWireInc.com [activewireinc.com]

Makes a USB controller card for a very reasonable price. They even make add on boards to easily control motors and such. You should check them out. I talked to the owner of the company and he was very helpful in answering questions about the board, and helping me plan the design of my computer controlled camera mount.

Re:Oh right on!

[igrp]

Y'know what'd be better - Apple putting the (presumably patented, since we haven't seen it on anyone else's hardware) iPod scroll wheel into a keyboard or even on a standalone USB panel.

That's an interesting idea. According to this article [mp3.com], Apple did not invent the iPod scroll wheel though. Apparently it was designed by Synaptics [synaptics.com].

Apple does, however, have a patent that covers mice with a rotary dial [uspto.gov].

That's nice, but...

[jlanthripp]

The Contour ShuttlePro [contourdesign.com] is nicer. My stepdad, a retired cinematographer and photographer, is into video editing and uses one on his PC. All the buttons and the wheel itself are programmable and so forth. Definitely worth the ~$100US price tag IMHO, if you're constantly editing video. It should be quite nice for gaming as well, though I haven't tried it for that yet.

Re:Some notes on USB interfacing...

[khrtt]

Anyone who's ever written (or tried to write) USB interface code knows that's Hell to work with.

From personal experience, serial interface code is even usually more of a hell to work with than USB. The personal experience I'm talking about includes about 20 of each of USB and serial interfaced devices, both firmware and drivers.

You see, USB has some structure to it, control and data channels (called "pipes"). Control channels define a standard format for messages. Both control and data channels support error control by retransmission, and some other nifty features. You don't have to re-invent anything, the whole protocol has been designed for you, OSI layers 1 through 6 for custom devices. Standard device classes that have a device class defined for them effectively have application layer defined too. You can use your valuable design time to concentrate on functionality. Implementation is non-trivial, but you can easily lift most of it from some sample code that the USB chip vendor gives you with their SDK.

With serial ports, on the other hand, you have to design and write the whole darn thing, layers 2 through 7, every time over again. The first time you do it, it's fun, almost like a class project from school. Then it grows old quickly. For a data channel, you basically need a simplified version of TCP/IP. For control you need guaranteed delivery of command packets. Not rocket science, but consider that USB does it all for you right off the bat.

Besides, you rs232 geeks should know that you can by a USB-to-serial adapter chip for, like, 50 cents. Stick it on your board, hook up to USB, and voila - you got yourslf a serial interface on both the host OS and the firmware ends, only much faster. Highly recommend:-). Can't give you a reference off the bat, but I think TI makes one of these.

Haptic interfaces, kinetic perception.

[torpor]

In the field I work in (synthesizers), the perceptive nature of our customers (musicians) when relating to a user interface is indeed a tricky and wonderful force to behold. Rotary knobs, and the general 'feel' of a system as a result of simple interface kinetics, is fairly well-established in this field.

I've always viewed the standard computer interface (keyboard/mouse) as being curiously unburdened by progress and change; you cannot say the same for the synth business, where there is no one standard for how you ought to use knobs.

I've got two PowerMates, both on each side of an Apple extended keyboard, they are without doubt among the most precious peripheral I have on my desk. I've also got a couple of faderfox boxes, an LV1 and an LX1, which are also awesome primary/secondary interfaces, as well offering endless rotaries for various nefarious uses..

The attempt by Microsoft to commodotize their 'peripheral assets' (MS Natural keyboard) while providing pitiful support (beyond HID) for application authors, and the tendency of other interface mfr's to vector off into 'cool but ultimately useless plastic hack' (anyone remember the Cyberman?) is fairly common. Once again, its all about the operating system.

But you know, if you want to know more about endless uses for rotary knobs, look no further than the audio/synth/pro-media tool markets. Especially of the 80's and 90's .. a veritable wasteland of proprietary hack after propietary hack, all with their own individual utility lifespan, designed to give muso's a haptic kick or two.

Physical User Interfaces

[Tony.Tang]

Phidgets (http://www.phidgets.com/ [phidgets.com]) is something that has recently become extremely cheap and accessible to software guys like me who HATE hardware. Phidgets make it really easy to build physical user interfaces (think nobs, switches, pressure sensors, etc.) without needing to do any hardware stuff yourself.

They are extremely easy to use, as you can see by these undergrad projects (http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/phidgets/gallery /index.html [ucalgary.ca]).

Full disclosure: I am a member of the lab from which this stuff was developed.

Built into my keyboard already :)

[PontifexPrimus]

I have a Logitech Cordless Desktop MX [logitech.com] connected to my linux box, and using Hotkeys [freshmeat.net] I can easily set the volume with the spinning disc in the top center of the keyboard. This is very useful since I often watch movies with large volume ranges and I can very quickly and very precisely adjust the loudness that way. I especially like the fact that the disc doesn't have a fixed "start" and "end" position but rather spins freely, making it similar to the iPod scroll wheel.