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Apple Businesses Entertainment Games

Use Xbox Controller on Mac OS X 56

Posted by pudge from the makes-it-easier-to-shoot-down-trolls dept.
JoeXboxer writes "I'm not sure why anyone would want to, but there's an open source driver to allow you to use your Xbox game controller on Mac OS X. In related news, McDonald's announced new Xbox-sized combos that will stretch America's bladders to the limit. One of these stories is a joke. It's hard to guess which one."
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Use Xbox Controller on Mac OS X More

Use Xbox Controller on Mac OS X

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  • Connection Hardware? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 19, 2003 @10:27PM (#5996326)
    I wish he'd tell us how to get the damned controller actually PLUGGED INTO the Mac...no hardware to my knowledge exists! Gold Brick for OS X, perhaps?

    • Re:Connection Hardware? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Enrico Pulatzo ( 536675 ) on Monday May 19, 2003 @10:29PM (#5996339)
      The XBox uses usb, all you need to do is make a cable from a usb cable and an xbox extension cable. Am unsure of the pin order, though.

      • Re:Connection Hardware? (Score:5, Informative)

        by capmilk ( 604826 ) on Tuesday May 20, 2003 @04:07AM (#5997278)
        The USB standard has 4 signals: +5, GND, D+, D-

        The Xbox controller connectors have 5 pins - it is assumed (but maybe not yet proven) that the extra pin is +12V for the rumble-pack-vibrator inside the controllers.

        Looking head-on at the front of your Xbox, with controller port "1" to the left, and port "4" to the right, if you look into one of the controller ports, you'll see 5 pins along the bottom half of the port (on the center piece of plastic, there's a small triangle on the left side pointing down to the first pin, which I'll call "pin 1"

        ___________
        |v |
        -----------
        1 2 3 4 5

        ("v" denotes the triangle pointing to pin 1)

        Here's what signals correspond to each pin:

        1 - +5V
        2 - D-
        3 - D+
        4 - ?? (probably +12V)
        5 - GND

        Pins "1" and "5" are longer than the other pins. This is just like standard USB connectors - the power/GND signals get connected first when you insert a connector, assuring a solid power connection before any of the other signals get connected.

        I've actually measured 5V across pins 1 & 5 while the Xbox was powered-on. NOTE: When Xbox is powered-off (but still plugged-in), I read ZERO volts across these two pins - this probably means that it would be impossible to make a remote-control that can power-up the Xbox.

        Pins 1 & 5 are common across all 4 connectors (Pin 1 on port 1 is connected to Pin 1 on ports 2/3/4, the same goes for Pin 5 across all 4 ports). This makes sense - it's just a fixed power supply.

        Pins 2&3 (USB D-/D+ differential data lines) are separate pairs to each port (this also makes sense - they have to be).

        Pin 4 (which is believed to be +12V) is NOT common across all for ports. This (along with the fact I can't measure 12V on it) probably means that it's not just a steady power-supply signal that a controller's rumble-pack can tie-into as needed, but a signal that the main CPU controls independently per port. It may be 12V that gets turned on programmatically, or it could be something else. Whatever it is, this signal seems to go out (on separate pins) off the USB daughterboard onto the main board (whereas the D+/D- pins don't - they go directly to the TI USB controller on the daughterboard).

        An additional bit of info (not helpful unless someone wants to hack at the USB daughterboard itself), here's where each ports' D+/D- signals connect onto the TI USB chip:

        Port 1's D+/D- go to TI's "DP3/DM3" pins.
        Port 2's D+/D- go to TI's "DP4/DM4" pins.
        Port 3's D+/D- go to TI's "DP1/DM1" pins.
        Port 4's D+/D- go to TI's "DP2/DM2" pins.
        • Um, that's nice. And a LOT of work. I don't know anyone who would do that much to just play with an X-Box controller with OS X.

          And besides, what for? Just about every game on OS X is better with a mouse/keyboard combo anyway! Warcraft III, SoF II, JK II, The Sims, etc. Personally, I can't even think of one game that would be enhanced with the X-Box controller. Seems to me like a case of "cuz it's there".

          • Re:Connection Hardware? (Score:2, Funny)

            by Anonymous Coward
            Seems to me like a case of "cuz it's there".

            So what! If you've got a Mac and an xbox controller, why not? I don't see your point. You do realize you're reading slashdot, right?

  • not sure why anyone would want to?! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BillYak ( 119143 ) on Monday May 19, 2003 @10:31PM (#5996345) Homepage
    Think about it. The success of a console relies /completely/ on people sitting and playing their games for hours. If you ship a console with a shitty controller, no one will buy it. A lot of money, research, and development goes into making a product people feel comfortable holding for hours on end.

    Compare it to, say, a Logitech gamepad. They sell keyboards, mice, trackballs. Hey, if they can make a few bucks off a game pad, it is worth it to them. Their entire operation is not based around people holding their control for hours at a time.

    Next time you see a made-for-PC gamepad, look at it, think of usability, and compare it to your favorite console controller. The console controller is /almost always/ more comfortable, more intuitive, and has more buttons that are easily accessible from the "standard" playing position.

    A lot of effort goes into making a good console controller. How is it bad, or surprising for that matter, that people want to apply it elsewhere?
    • Are you trying to tell me that the Xbox controller is "good?" Have you ever played a game with those awful things? The black and white buttons are nearly impossible to find when you need them and the thing is just overly large. Even the smaller version of the controller is poorly designed -- same ol' problem trying to find your buttons -- but at least there's not a huge amount of wasted plastic mass. Look at the PS2 or GameCube controllers -- they are both much more functional and easy on the hands. I t
    • For me the success of a console depends on how I can sit in front of it and watch movies or have my keyboard attached to it and get rid of that bloody controller-thingie.
      But I guess you were not talking of nerdy /. readers ;)

    • Ummm...

      Acutally, Logitech makes the best damned feeling gamepads I've ever held in my hands. Both their wireless XBox and wireless PS2 controllers are a wonder to hold, hands down better than other companies' for the same platforms.

      IMO, of course. But they are definitely worth checking out and I intend to use the Logitech wireless XBox gamepad with my macs.
    • You know, strangely enough, I have used a Dual Shock PS2 controller as my main gaming controller for years. I use a Yobo USB connector/adaptor that I picked up at a local gaming store about 3 years ago. (I can't seem to find a link online, but I'll go see if I can find one here.)

      Anyway, it works fantasticly. It has native plug and play support on versions of Win 98 and up, and is supported by every game I've found that uses a gamepad. I'd much rather use the Playstation controler than any other pad I'

    • Have you even read the Penny arcade comics on this?

      http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2001- 05 -20&res=l

      http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2001- 11 -28&res=l

      http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2001- 08 -29

      And the most important one:

      http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002- 03 -25&res=l
    • I was a Playstation afficionado for years (somehow, PS2 didn't catch my fancy - I am either too old for this, or modern consoles REALLY are too big and clumsy, compared to the natural beauty of the PSX). I loved the Playstation Dual Shock controllers. When I first heard of MacAlly iShock II game controller - which is basically a USB-equipped Dual Shock clone - I thought that this could be the game controller of my dreams.

      And guess what? I don't use it. There is something about the body position (console:

  • Fun fact (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    There's controller drivers for NES,SNES,PSX and much more in some branches of the development linux kernel. Offtopic - yes. Interesting - sort of.

  • Which One? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by General Sherman ( 614373 ) on Tuesday May 20, 2003 @12:44AM (#5996784) Journal
    It's really hard to tell which one is the Joke.
    I'd say the McDonalds one is, but they've gone for much more obscene things.
    I'd say the XBox controller thing because there's no way to connect the propreitary port to the mac, but people have done more useless things, such as put Linux on an iPod. (Sorry /.ers, but it doesn't help you that much unless you desperately need to play ogg files.)

    In the end, I think I'll go with the XBox Controller thing. MacAlley makes this great USB gamepad that looks exactly like a PS2 DualShock controller, rumble, analog sticks, X, O, Square, and Triangle. Useful thing for a PS emulator. XBox controller, because it sucks and if you're going to do that, do it with a GC or PS2 controller, not that terrible piece of molded plastic.

  • XBox-PS2 controller adapters (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Lachrymite ( 115440 ) on Tuesday May 20, 2003 @02:24AM (#5997052)
    This is good news for me, but not because I like the XBox controllers. I actually can't stand them, they're way too big and clunky for me. As a big fan of the PS2 controllers though, this is great because you can buy adapters that let you use the PS2 controllers on the XBox. I don't use a single regular XBox controller, just PS2 ones now. These [the-console-corner.com] are the ones I have, and I've never had any problems with them. I'd test them out with this driver, but I'm currently out of the country on business. Anyone have an adapter and interested in checking out if they work?
  • There's a driver for the dang XBox controler yet there's still no OS X driver for my Kennsington USB webcam. Go figure.

    • Re:Damn... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Kerouassady ( 550624 )
      Yes there is. Go to http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/. Then get ohphone at http://xmeeting.sourceforge.net/ for teleconferencing. Then try Bt Cam (http://ilearnat.com/MWebCam.html) for webcamming.

      Join the open source revolution. Woo-hoo!

  • better yet... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DrStrangeLoop ( 567076 ) on Tuesday May 20, 2003 @07:15AM (#5997670) Homepage
    buy an usb adapter [lik-sang.com] for the game cube controller from lik-sang [they need money for the lawsuit vs microsoft, so its the slashdot-correct option, too]. the gc pad is recognized as a HID device, and it works with mame right out of the box.

    --strangeloop
  • Hi,

    I just got the idea in my head that it would be very interesting to obtain data from a gamepad via an OS X terminal. Does anyone know where I could get started trying to figure out how to do this?

  • Missing the point (Score:4, Funny)

    by jeblucas ( 560748 ) <jeblucas@gmail. c o m> on Tuesday May 20, 2003 @10:04AM (#5998610) Homepage Journal
    Don't you see that this will make me the world's greatest Unreal Tournament 2003 player? After all, it was written with XBox's heinous controller [xmission.com] in mind (I heard this somewhere--linkage?). With this, and my Macintosh getting the UT2003 GotY GOLD edition sometime in 2005, I will never be killed!

    Anyone want to play UT1999 GotY GOLD edition with me until then?

  • OS X drivers for PSX Controller (Score:3, Informative)

    by bedouin ( 248624 ) on Tuesday May 20, 2003 @10:43AM (#5998884)
    With a PSX > USB adapter and this [versiontracker.com] free driver I can use my PSX controller with any game. Gamepad Companion [versiontracker.com] also will let you use a PSX controller, though it's not free.
  • Interesting I should see this post today...

    I was at a friend's house last night and he was making a converter to use his Xbox controller on his Dual G4. He couldn't get it to work correctly so he had me test it on my laptop. His pins were in the reverse order, but after he fixed it I was playing GTA Vice City with a Xbox controller! Neat! Perhaps he'll be able to play some Oni on his Mac with that controller now...I think I want to make a converter myself, too.

  • The fries included with McDonald's combos are quite a bit smaller in Canada than in the US. Canadian also has a significantly healthier menu. Or, at least, it has more low-fat options (such as my favorite sandwhich, a grilled chicken on whole wheat with light BBQ sauce instead of mayo, or a veggie burger which I'm afraid to try but I'm told by a vegetarian friend is very good).

    (This might be considered mildly OT, but I iamgine a few people would be somewhat interested in it and there aren't many stories r

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