NuLOOQ Navigator and tooldial -- Yowza!

MINI4cathy · 02-23-2006, 10:32 AM

The NuLOOQ Navigator ($150) is intended for use with Adobe software, but could be used with its popup UI as a front end for a carputer as well.

The top is touch-sensitive for sliding and tapping, rather like the iPod's ring, and you can assign at least three of the five virtual buttons. The gray band around the side is a wheel you can twist and also nudge up or down, so the ring alone may be the equivalent of Griffin's PowerMate.

It also has a round UI menu called a tooldial that you can customize with 8 commands, and control with the mouse or the Navigator. If you click and hold on one of the 8 slices you get another tooldial, for a maximum of 72 commands.

It is similar in some ways to a PowerMate ($45), but has a touchpad rather than a single button, and has the popup 'pizza' menu. The menu software is available separately, but I don't know if it will work with the PowerMate.

It is Mac-only for now, but they're working on PC support.

zapwizard · 02-23-2006, 10:51 AM

I like that a lot more then the Powermate.

hotch · 02-23-2006, 11:26 AM

this could be bad ***!

MacUsers · 02-23-2006, 12:57 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by zapwizard

I like that a lot more then the Powermate.

I bet, you not talking about the price

Jirka Jirout · 02-25-2006, 03:27 AM

If someone can get his hands on this toy, could you please check whether it is a standard USB HID? If it is, then it should not be difficult to create a custom driver to use all of the input elements of the device, not just those that the original software allows you to map to keys.

MINI4cathy · 02-25-2006, 12:05 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jirka Jirout

If someone can get his hands on this toy, could you please check whether it is a standard USB HID? If it is, then it should not be difficult to create a custom driver to use all of the input elements of the device, not just those that the original software allows you to map to keys.

That would be nice. Between the spin left/spin right, twist left/twist right, nudge up/nudge down, and 3 buttons you could do a lot... drag-spin for volume and other sound-related changes, spin and tap for using the UI, twist and nudge to navigate tracks/stations/discs. The only missing item is an arrow diamond for things like DVDs. But hey, if you're watching a DVD you can use a dedicated remote.

How can we check to see if it is a standard USB HID?

Jirka Jirout · 02-25-2006, 12:30 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by MINI4cathy

How can we check to see if it is a standard USB HID?

There are several ways - I think that you can see "HID" as device type in the Apple System Profiler (if a device-specific driver is not installed), and you can definitely use HID Explorer ( http://developer.apple.com/samplecod..._Explorer.html ) to list all HIDs connected to the computer.

Do you already have one? ;-)

MINI4cathy · 02-27-2006, 04:38 PM

Not yet. I like to see a few user comments or an initial software update before I buy something that's new in its category.

brian2k1 · 03-01-2006, 09:27 AM

Why would they make this without support for both platforms? My office has two graphic designers who would probably love this thing for work, both use PC's.

JP@CL · 03-04-2006, 01:20 PM

Now guys... can you picture us using it like an iDrive in the bmw's?

.

flip

Jirka Jirout · 04-12-2006, 09:26 AM

Ok, so I finally got my hands on the NuLOOQ. It works nice with OS X. The upper "scroll disc", 3 buttons on it and the lower "collar" are user-definable and can be assigned any keystroke, scroll wheel or click event. So it works fine with my application as drop-in replacement for the PowerMate.

Plus, it is much better built mechanically than PowerMate. The only "problem" is the white color.

Kryptonite · 04-12-2006, 10:05 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jirka Jirout

Ok, so I finally got my hands on the NuLOOQ. It works nice with OS X. The upper "scroll disc", 3 buttons on it and the lower "collar" are user-definable and can be assigned any keystroke, scroll wheel or click event. So it works fine with my application as drop-in replacement for the PowerMate.

Plus, it is much better built mechanically than PowerMate. The only "problem" is the white color.

Have you or has anyone tried it with Front Row yet?

Jirka Jirout · 04-13-2006, 01:03 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Kryptonite

Have you or has anyone tried it with Front Row yet?

No, but my understanding is, that FR can be controlled using simulated keystrokes. If so, it should work fine. I will check at the office and if we have a FR-enabled Mac, will give it a try.

skippy911 · 04-13-2006, 08:24 AM

I hate a fr mac just fly me out to the netherlands

Jirka Jirout · 07-20-2006, 11:15 AM

So I finally got to disassembling the Nulooq and its installation int the car. I have removed the metal bottom and the gray collar and installed it in such a way, that only the top dial is above the middle console surface. I was extremely lucky, because the distance between the base PCB and the top part with the dial is exactly the same as the depth of the console. So I just placed the dial on the top, the PCB on the bottom of the console and used the original screws to put both parts together.

If you are going to try this, just be careful with the connector that is used to connect the ribbon cable from the dial to the PCB. I managed to break it and fixing was not exactly easy.

I have not experienced any problems similar to previously posted problems with PowerMate. No unexpected wake-ups, no loss of connection between the computer and the controller.

And sorry for missing photos, they are still in the camera, about 80 miles from where I am right now. It looks quite nice and factory-like, except for the white color, that does look pretty weird next to mahagony and other controls, that are black. Any tip for a paint that I could use on it to make it black too? I was thinking about the plastic model stuff (Humbrol, Revell), but I am not sure whether these would be touch-resistant enough.