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Comments on: With knobs on http://blog.splittist.com/2007/09/28/with-knobs-on/ Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:26:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: pa http://blog.splittist.com/2007/09/28/with-knobs-on/#comment-48 pa Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:16:14 +0000 http://blog.splittist.com/2007/09/28/with-knobs-on/#comment-48 All the knobs and sliders and other interesting input devices are victims of the mass production of computers. When Sutherland did Sketchpad, he had to build the whole damn thing himself, so input was whatever he thought was best. The Xerox Alto had something like 1Kbit of address space entirely devoted to whatever interesting input devices (light pen, mouse, knobs, chordkeys, whatever) somebody wanted to build and write the microcode for. Same thing for personal computers up to (more or less) the Amiga. If you wanted to code it, the access was there. Now the access is much harder unless you can get a knob (like the Griffin) that puts out data in a form that a USB bus or a TCP connection can understand. and even then, the cost of everything else has fallen so much that customization seems prohibitive. Are you willing to spend the time coding the interface between your game controller and every piece of software you own? This may be changing again -- the cost of smart knobs, sliders and buttons is probably already down to a few bucks. No all we need is a whizbang interface so that you could actually use them. I wonder what the type would look like in CLIM... All the knobs and sliders and other interesting input devices are victims of the mass production of computers. When Sutherland did Sketchpad, he had to build the whole damn thing himself, so input was whatever he thought was best. The Xerox Alto had something like 1Kbit of address space entirely devoted to whatever interesting input devices (light pen, mouse, knobs, chordkeys, whatever) somebody wanted to build and write the microcode for.

Same thing for personal computers up to (more or less) the Amiga. If you wanted to code it, the access was there.

Now the access is much harder unless you can get a knob (like the Griffin) that puts out data in a form that a USB bus or a TCP connection can understand. and even then, the cost of everything else has fallen so much that customization seems prohibitive. Are you willing to spend the time coding the interface between your game controller and every piece of software you own?

This may be changing again — the cost of smart knobs, sliders and buttons is probably already down to a few bucks. No all we need is a whizbang interface so that you could actually use them. I wonder what the type would look like in CLIM…

]]> By: Peter Seibel http://blog.splittist.com/2007/09/28/with-knobs-on/#comment-47 Peter Seibel Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:18:07 +0000 http://blog.splittist.com/2007/09/28/with-knobs-on/#comment-47 Here's one: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/ Here’s one: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/

]]> By: Rob Myers http://blog.splittist.com/2007/09/28/with-knobs-on/#comment-46 Rob Myers Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:19:07 +0000 http://blog.splittist.com/2007/09/28/with-knobs-on/#comment-46 I kept a dials box and a key matrix from an old SGI Iris I once owned. Someday I am going to get them talking to a more modern system... I kept a dials box and a key matrix from an old SGI Iris I once owned. Someday I am going to get them talking to a more modern system…

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