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Just got 2 in. E-Bay.. I paid $17(shipped) for one and $21(shipped) for the other.
It's pretty handy. I wish i could change the cord placement to the bottom, as I want to mount these in the truck whenever I get the system setup.
Anyone know of any other controllers like the powermate? I knew there was maybe an "Explorer" one. Looking at whatever is available, even though I do like the Powermate.
What version drivers are you guys using? i cannot get this thing to work for the life of me. xp, and it just keeps seeing it as a HID compliant mouse and refuses to let me change the driver.
the cd that came with the powermat didnt work for me. I had to download the drivers/software from griffins site...latest oneQuote:
Originally Posted by Lithoss
And if you are looking for the old drivers that seem realy hard to find I have them hosted here:
http://gooki.orcon.net.nz/car_audio/...ate_1-5-3D.exe
Wow, digging this tread out thats been buried since 2007....anyways. powermates are not 19 bucks any more. I just got one for 40.00 with shipping.....this thread was so far buried it was in china...lol
I cannot get the Powermate to work with Windows 7 unless the Powermate application is the active window. Probably going to gut the internals and substitute them with a mouse wheel.
stick to XP when it comes down to CarPC's. Vista is crap and windows 7 is still new.
Hi all,
I thought I'd share my tale of getting a Griffin PowerMate working under Windows Vista, since it was a very non-obvious way to go about it...
I was considering buying a Griffin PowerMate to run under Linux, actually, so a friend with a couple spare loaned me one to try out. Keen to try it at work, under Windows Vista, I did the obvious thing and downloaded the PowerMate 2.0.1 "drivers" from the Griffin site (http://www.griffintechnology.com/sit...e_v2.0.1PC.zip) via the PowerMate Support page (http://www.griffintechnology.com/support/powermate).
I installed the software, went to Start / All Programs / Griffin Technology / PowerMate, clicked the PowerMate and was greeted with the following:
************** Exception Text **************
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: Access is denied
at Griffin.Devices.Device.Open(String devicePath, FileAccess access)
at Griffin.Devices.Device..ctor(String devicePath, FileAccess access)
at Griffin.PowerMate.Device.HIDPowerMate.InitializeHI D(String devicePath)
at Griffin.PowerMate.Device.HIDPowerMate.GetAll()
at Griffin.PowerMate.App.PowerMateApp.FindPowerMates( )
at Griffin.PowerMate.App.PowerMateApp.Main(String[] args)
The management application was trying to open the PowerMate USB device directly, but was getting this exception because Windows Vista already had it open as a HID-compliant mouse. That explains why the mouse cursor would move left and right when I turned the PowerMate and clicked the left mouse button when I pressed the device.
After more digging around I discovered that the PowerMate 2.0.1 "drivers" don't even come with device drivers! It's just a Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 application to manage the devices and invoke Windows events on their behalf. Griffin probably assumes that you have had a previous PowerMate application installed (with drivers) and so don't even include drivers in the 2.0.1 package. Plugging a PowerMate into a virgin Vista machine will result in two devices appearing in the Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) with Vista's own default drivers:
1. Human Interface Devices / USB Human Interface Device
2. Mice and other pointing devices / HID-compliant mouse
I eventually got the PowerMate working with the following convoluted procedure:
- I located the older version 1.5.3 management software and drivers (PowerMate_1-5-3D.exe)
- I started the installer but did not let it progress beyond the first page.
- In Windows Explorer I went to my Temp folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp) and found the folder the installer had extracted all of its files in to (_is3D40 in my case, but this is probably random) and copied the "PowerMate Driver 1.5.3.msi" file out to my regular Install folder.
- I cancelled the installer.
Now, I right-clicked on the PowerMate Driver 1.5.3.msi file and using 7-zip extracted it to a folder "PowerMate Driver 1.5.3". This folder contains the needed PowrMate.inf file and a series of PowrMate.sys files (including two groups of identical files - go figure). In the Windows Device Manager (devmgmt.msc):
- NOTE: this procedure does not work on the "HID-compliant mouse" device.
- I double-clicked on the appropriate "USB Human Interface" device (look for VendorID 077D and ProductID 0410 in the Details / Hardware Ids property)
- On the Driver tab I clicked Update Driver...
- Click Browse my computer for driver software
- Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
- Click Have Disk... and open the PowrMate.inf file you extracted above.
- Windows will give you a security warning because the driver isn't signed - install it anyway.
If all has worked well so far, in Device Manager you should see a "Griffin PowerMate" device under the Universal serial bus controllers category.
Run the PowerMate application again and you should finally have control of your PowerMate!
NOTE: If you don't see the PowerMate icon in the task tray you'll need to find the PowerMate.exe process in Windows Task Manager, End Process it, and start it again.