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Comment by two_handfuls | Hacker News Reader

This. Sadly the drivers suck.

There is an opensource driver package for Unix type systems[1]. I find them to be pretty reliable. The stock Windows drivers do leave something to be desired.

[1] https://spacenav.sourceforge.net/

I've always found it fascinating that companies that makes specialized hardware devices like this lean so hard into proprietary software, as if that's the thing that gives them the edge on the competition.

If anything the hardware is the hard part to copy and open source drivers could do nothing but benefit them and ensure wide platform compatibility and longevity, and yet so many companies like this insist on closing things up and forcing hackers to reverse engineer everything. It's bizarre logic to me.

Would it help with scripting macro software such as AutoHotKey? I imagine it wouldn't pick up some inputs due to proprietary driver.

It have the same issue for my Logitech G600 that it can't pick up some inputs. I set up the macros in LGHUB with keystrokes (multiple modifiers with keys) and use AHK to grab those and expands the capabilities of my G600 than what LGHUB offers.

Exactly, the inputs aren’t exposed as extra axes so those tools don’t see them.

Could it help if the driver have those axes assigned to a different key to allow AHK to pick that up and AHK can change it as axes? I done that with my XP-PEN AC-19, I assigned the dial wheel to different keys in XP-PEN software and AutoHotInterception with AHK to pick that up. Then assigned it with wheelup/down depending on what active window I am on.

It does not expose it as a key either. You must link their proprietary driver (and sign some legal document) that then gives you an API you can use to read the position of the spaceball.

Really? That sucks. I guess it would be better to get a custom keypad with rotary encoders that would expose itself.

I found it interesting how companies invest heavy in hardware and don't bother to improve the software side.

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