Gamepads?

davidbrit2

Licensed Computer Geek
So what's the latest on getting USB gamepads working with OS X? I'm still mourning the loss of Input Sprocket, and my home-made arcade console is calling out "Why are you neglecting me?" I could really go for some MAME right about now, but it's certainly not acceptable with a puny keyboard.
 
OS X supports HID or human interface device. HID uses the same definitioned used in the standard USB HID specification (although you don't need to have a USB device to make an HID device, it could be ADB or whatever). HID is pretty low level and defines all kinds of input devices like tablets, joysticks, gamepads, whatever.

Most USB input devices ought to define themselves in the HID spec so no driver is really necessary. However if you want to configure a controller for a game which doesn't interface with HID we'll need a 3rd party utility which does this mapping.

I plan to write an ADB driver for my thrustmaster joystick once Griffin Tech releases an iMate driver. It will behave just like a USB joystick.
 
One other thing...

If you prefer Input Sprocket one could implement something similar which interfaces with HID. It would be analogous to the Quesa project which reimplemented QD3D for OS X. HID is lower level, like OpenGLor RAVE is to QD3D, they don't compete. In fact MacOS 9 uses USB HID to interface with Input Sprockets
 
It looks like we'll just have to keep our eyes open for some big announcement. Until then, my joystick will just have to collect dust.
 
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