Thread: Is the PowerMate any good?

i use the powermate to control Front Row on my mac and I love it. I've used it on my PC too without issues, but I've read several cases on here where people had trouble with their powermate in windows. I'd say buy it and try it out. If it does work without too much drama then i think you'll come to love it too.

The only upside to the Powermate is its looks. It fails in every other respect--it's bulky and most do not have a good place for it in their car (and even when they thnk they do, it still looks stupid in a car), it doesn't have nearly enough different inputs, and it's been known to be problematic with hibernation. Also, you want to avoid running girder if possible as it requires a lot of system resources.

The Shuttle Express is vastly superior because you can mod it and make it an OEM-looking knob on your dash (just that middle part). I found a tutorial on this on this board somewhere a while ago and did it myself.

Edit:
Also, this is not the right forum for this.

I use my powermate with RR and have never gotten it to do more than volume. When I was using frodoplayer, it was easy to use the powermate to scroll up and down through lists, select songs to play, and even pause the music. However, RR doesn't seem to use keyboard shortcuts (at least, as far as I know) so the powermate doesn't interact well without considerable tweakage.

If someone else knows how to better integrate the powermate with RR, by all means please let me know.

Originally Posted by deus ex machina

The only upside to the Powermate is its looks. It fails in every other respect--it's bulky and most do not have a good place for it in their car (and even when they thnk they do, it still looks stupid in a car), it doesn't have nearly enough different inputs, and it's been known to be problematic with hibernation. Also, you want to avoid running girder if possible as it requires a lot of system resources.

The Shuttle Express is vastly superior because you can mod it and make it an OEM-looking knob on your dash (just that middle part). I found a tutorial on this on this board somewhere a while ago and did it myself.

Edit:
Also, this is not the right forum for this.

Thanks for telling me about that one... I agree on the fact that Powermate doesnt look fully OEM in a car... but hey, so isn't a computer...

I think it is the right forum since I wanted to know if it was as hard as I thought getting it to work with RR... then why not in the RR forum...

[edit]
Just read that the Shuttle express is 4.25" big... thats freaking huge compared to the Powermate... think it would be easier to fit that one...

Originally Posted by maxxell

I use my powermate with RR and have never gotten it to do more than volume. When I was using frodoplayer, it was easy to use the powermate to scroll up and down through lists, select songs to play, and even pause the music. However, RR doesn't seem to use keyboard shortcuts (at least, as far as I know) so the powermate doesn't interact well without considerable tweakage.

If someone else knows how to better integrate the powermate with RR, by all means please let me know.

Well as I understand it one way is to use girder, there is a RR file for that one with all the different commands from RR, then u just need to learn them into the Powermate or something like that... I tried getting my mouse to work just to figure out the functions in Girder...

@maxxell: Geez man, that's like slander... you can do so much with it, you'd be surprised, come on just do a few searches. There's people that control literally everything with the powemate, lists, volume, even selection and pressing of buttons -- you can assign clicks, double-clicks, tripple-clicks and even press-n-hold from what I saw... you just have to configure it propperly -- no pain, no gain:

Must i use girder to operate my powermate?
How to use Girder with Road Runner (this one is a STICKY!)

and for the record, RR can use as many keyboard shortcuts as you want, just define whatever you want in keytbl.ini and it will be available to you, though

I use the powermate for volume ,scroll the music, pauze, enqeue and esc

the girder file I have used is this one, very easy to configure to your own settings.

How to use Girder with Road Runner


guino,...

A powermate and a touchpad in a car not so stupid "deus ex machina" said !

i don't use RR or Girder but Mediacruiser and Destinator PN.

The powermate is sufficient for most actions except using virtual keyboard to type an adress.

The problem with Hibernation can be solved : you must cut +5V alimentation of your powermate when the PC hibernate.

Use a USB Hub, paste a "scotch" on the USB Cord between motherboard and Hub and use a +5V alim for the hub only when your PC is turned On (I't's easy with M1 or M2 ATX using remote ampli to command a relay)

Thanks for both those links... I never realized I would have to edit the keytbl file like that... so I guess since it looks like I'm buying one thats all the changes I need to do to RR files...

@Grave
nice setup there with the PowerMate btw... good to see one from "the real world" and not only from their site... u cant see the real size of it there...

I'll probably put mine infront of the doorhandle in my Volvo... already found a spot for it there...

Originally Posted by grave

A powermate and a touchpad in a car not so stupid "deus ex machina" said !

Originally Posted by deus ex machina

...and even when they thnk they do, it still looks stupid ...

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