Hilltop Customs
05-11-2008, 12:54 AM
I use my computer in my home theater, and Ive gotten tired of using a mouse and having to have a surface to put it on. I was considring getting one of the mice with gyros or an USB to IR dongel for a remote.....but both those cost money, which I dont really have much to spare right now.
Long story short, I'm using a xbox controller as a moust for my home theater pc....and it is great, Its slightly slower than a moust from point to point, but the shortcuts are amazing. You can hotkey just about every button on the control for different commands, and you can have alturnate button layouts and switch between them on the fly. Couple that with a onscreen virtual keyboad and you dont need a mouse or keyboad at all(now for posting and stuff with alot of type, of course you can always use a keyboad)
Anyhow I'm just so happy with how well it works I thought I would share. I know there is a lot of old xbox controllers that are gathering dust, and this is a great way to use them. All you need is a controller and a usb cord(or cut the end off something) and some programs which I'm linking.
Connecting the controller is as simple as sinpping the usb cable and controller wire and color matching(best to solder, but Ive twisted/taped one be4 and its working to this day)
Driver(just install and select when adding the controller as hardware)
http://www.redcl0ud.com/xbcd.html#download
After connecting the controller and installing the driver...you must install the program to add commands:
http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/I/JoyToKey/JoyToKey.htm
To figure out which button number relates to which physical button on the stick, assign letters to all the buttons in JoyToKey, open notepad and click the buttons on the controller one at a time....depending on which letter pops up you can relate it back to JoytoKey and assign commands from there.
THe only thing I need to find out yet is some way to create a pop up bouble that says what button layout I'm in, but that shouldnt be hard since you can make it execute whatever you want.
Sorry for the long winded post, but I'm just so impressed by this, I'm surprised someone hasnt came out and marketed it. Surfing the net is easy, folder navigation is so fast cause all the controls are hotkeyed at your fingertips. I'm even thinking I'm going to replace my regular computers mouse with another controller.
Long story short, I'm using a xbox controller as a moust for my home theater pc....and it is great, Its slightly slower than a moust from point to point, but the shortcuts are amazing. You can hotkey just about every button on the control for different commands, and you can have alturnate button layouts and switch between them on the fly. Couple that with a onscreen virtual keyboad and you dont need a mouse or keyboad at all(now for posting and stuff with alot of type, of course you can always use a keyboad)
Anyhow I'm just so happy with how well it works I thought I would share. I know there is a lot of old xbox controllers that are gathering dust, and this is a great way to use them. All you need is a controller and a usb cord(or cut the end off something) and some programs which I'm linking.
Connecting the controller is as simple as sinpping the usb cable and controller wire and color matching(best to solder, but Ive twisted/taped one be4 and its working to this day)
Driver(just install and select when adding the controller as hardware)
http://www.redcl0ud.com/xbcd.html#download
After connecting the controller and installing the driver...you must install the program to add commands:
http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/I/JoyToKey/JoyToKey.htm
To figure out which button number relates to which physical button on the stick, assign letters to all the buttons in JoyToKey, open notepad and click the buttons on the controller one at a time....depending on which letter pops up you can relate it back to JoytoKey and assign commands from there.
THe only thing I need to find out yet is some way to create a pop up bouble that says what button layout I'm in, but that shouldnt be hard since you can make it execute whatever you want.
Sorry for the long winded post, but I'm just so impressed by this, I'm surprised someone hasnt came out and marketed it. Surfing the net is easy, folder navigation is so fast cause all the controls are hotkeyed at your fingertips. I'm even thinking I'm going to replace my regular computers mouse with another controller.