[10:00 AM] Universal USB Mac Driver Software Gets Must Have Update
by Staff
USB Overdrive 1.3 is now available. USB Overdrive is a USB driver that handles all USB mice, trackballs, gamepads, and other input devices. USB Overdrive allows for universal configuration of all USB input devices, or for custom configuration for each specific device. USB Overdrive is also capable of handling multiple devices simultaneously. According to program author Alessandro Levi Montalcini:
New in version 1.3
Added a very cool accelerated scrolling option for the mouse wheel (if you're upgrading from a previous version, make sure you check it out).
Added an absolute cursor movement mode for joysticks and gamepads to allow better control in flight simulator games.
Rewrote most of the low-level part to get rid of the custom USB drivers and use Apple's standard ones instead, which makes the Overdrive fully compatible with Mac OS 9 and the new Game Sprockets.
The custom drivers are still available for use under Mac OS 8.x without Game Sprockets, and a new option in the Options menu can activate and deactivate them.
Fixed an incompatibility with the Griffin iMate ADB to USB adapter.
Removed the "Disable InputSprocket" option.
The USB Overdrive is a universal USB driver that handles all USB mice, trackballs, joysticks and gamepads from any manufacturer and lets you configure them either globally or on an application-specific basis. It reads all kinds of wheels, buttons, switches and controls and supports scrolling, keyboard emulation, launching and complex macros as well as all the usual stuff like clicking, control-clicking and so forth. The USB Overdrive can easily handle several USB devices at once.
Because each control in each device can be fully configured, the USB Overdrive lets you use any joystick or gamepad with any game, including the ones that don't support Apple's InputSprockets. You can map your joystick movements and buttons to the keyboard and mouse to make the game believe you're playing on the keyboard, and you can do this mapping separately for each game so that it's immediately available as soon as the game is launched.
For games that already use InputSprockets, the USB Overdrive provides all the needed hooks to support the device-specific configuration panels provided by the manufacturer.
The mouse settings allow you to speed up your daily tasks by assigning useful actions to all the extra buttons and wheels in your USB mouse. You'll typically want to assign a control-click to the right button for easy contextual menu access, and enable document scrolling if your mouse has a scrolling wheel.
USB Overdrive 1.3 is available immediately as shareware for $20. For more information on USB Overdrive, please visit the USB Overdrive web site.
