From: Chris Malley (cmalley++at++rtset.com)
Date: 01/06/2000 08:06:29
Thomas Ruge wrote:
> Has somebody tried to connect the spacemouse with linux ?
> I would like to use the spacemouse together with perfly.
> Also hints from people with spacemouse experience on IRIX would greatly
> appreciated.
I have not tried the Magellan/SPACEMOUSE on Linux yet. But
according to LogiCad's web site (http://www.logicad3d.com),
there is an xdriver (v4.07) for Linux. See:
http://www.logicad3d.com/cgi-bin/html?dir=linux/&arch=LINUX&col=black
I'd also recommend that you grab LogiCad's SDK -- it has a very nice
set of API calls for dealing with the SPACEMOUSE that hide some of the
nastiness of X. And you get source for the API, so you can see what's
going on. You also get the Motion Control Center (MCC), a
nice GUI for configuring the SPACEMOUSE. The UNIX SDK is here:
http://www.logicad3d.com/cgi-bin/html?dir=xdevelop&col=black.
The programmer's guide is online there, too. There's also a
user's guide that describes the MCC.
As for my experience with the SPACEMOUSE on IRIX...
On IRIX, there are two approaches to interfacing with the
SPACEMOUSE. The first is to use LogiCad's SDK and xdriver.
The second is to use the driver support contained in eoe.sw.optinput
(on the IRIX 6.5 CDs), which provides kernel support for several
optional input devices, including the SPACEMOUSE. (I believe
that SGI's motive for eoe.sw.optinput is to provide a common
API for dealing with multiple input devices.) I prefer
the first approach, but some other prominent applications
(most notably Alias products) use eoe.sw.optinput. And there
are some problems with having applications that use different
approaches sharing the same SPACEMOUSE connected to the same
serial port -- the APIs are different and the drivers are
different. So if you write your code using the LogiCad SDK,
it's not going to work with the SGI driver (and visa versa).
The problems are not insurmountable, but it took me several hours
on the phone with LogiCad tech support to work out a workaround
(which involves using XIE). My suggestions would be: If you
absolutely must live on the same machine with an app that's using
the eoe.sw.optinput driver, or if you need to support several
different input devices, then stick with the SGI driver.
Otherwise use the LogiCad SDK.
-Chris
-- RT-SET Broadcast Graphics Division Voice : 303-465-1556 x119 100 Technology Drive, Suite 100 FAX : 303-465-2012 Broomfield, CO 80021 Web : http://www.rtset.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jan 06 2000 - 08:04:51 PST