Griffin PowerMate driver for modern macOS | Hacker News Reader

Griffin PowerMate driver for modern macOS

github.com

Would be great if it could do other things, like be a volume knob, or do media play/pause, given that scrolling and mouse button press seem like things you already have a mouse to do?

This begs to be able to send MIDI events!

Yippy! I feel like I'm 15 years younger

I have one of those, but never used it too much—if the button got pressed while my Mac was asleep, it immediately woke up and kernel panicked. I don’t know if there was something odd about my machine or my particular PowerMate or what?

>Of course, modern controllers exist that offer many more literal bells and whistles...

Anyone have a favorite 'modern controller' for those of us who no longer have a PowerMate?

Surface Dial is a good hardware target.

some elgato stream deck models have knobs. 3Dconnexion also still around

Elgato and Corsair have also made a keyboard that has the Stream Deck buttons + knobs on it.

https://www.elgato.com/us/en/explorer/products/stream-deck/g...

Microsoft Surface Dial is nice. You'll also need to write a driver...

As usual there is very very very good Linux support for a device (this device, the MS Surface Dial), better than anywhere else. https://github.com/daniel5151/surface-dial-linux

Some are calling it the most obvious trend of all computing. And that was before the agentic age super put its finger on the cosmic scales of justice+hacking.

There was a poster on HN a while ago that recommended¹ the Drok USB volume knob because it can be reconfigured to send keystrokes or mouse actions. Just Google for "configure drok usb volume control knob" for instructions. I reconfigured mine to send mouse scroll events for scrolling through documents.

¹ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31702940

I don't have one, but Ploopy's knob is intriguing (https://ploopy.co/knob/).

LilyGo/TTGo also has some interesting knobs with some unusual features features (force feedback or LCD touchscreen on top of the knob, depending on model) but again I don't have firsthand experience and these might take some DIY

Not commercial, but “Engineer Bo” on YouTube has an interesting series about building his own very professional looking scroll knob:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYK5tmZIBWtHYt4w8Y6P6ba-I...

I have this and it’s great https://binepad.com/products/bnk9

Customization is possible https://blog.lanzani.nl/2025/customizing-the-binepad-bnk9-fi...

Surprised Loupedeck hasn't come up here. The Live and CT both have weighted main dials with real damping — which is what made the PowerMate feel different from a regular rotary encoder, more than the software integration ever did. Pricier than most of what's been mentioned, but the closest I've found to the tactile feel. Everything in the sub-$50 range (Drok, generic Aliexpress encoders, etc.) works fine for mapping to volume or scroll, but they all feel like plastic clicky knobs. Fine for utility, not for fidgeting.

I have one of these all I need to do is find it.

Literally thinking the same thing. I have one somewhere... Haven't seen it in twenty years

The powermate driver still works. My powermate is hooked up to my mac studio. I'll try this one; the real one doesn't init on restart, so I have to open it to get the throbbing.

Used one for the GPT-3 Leta Series back in 2021 (all 60+ episodes!).

Still got mine!

https://youtu.be/X6_E69K5WUs?t=327

I have two of these, near-permanently affixed to my Zynthian .. but now I think I want another one for the desktop. Anyone know of similar devices available currently?

This is awesome. I know I have one someplace that I stopped using because of lack of drivers, now all I need is to find it :)

I love this. PowerMate was the ultimate fidget tool when not scrolling, editing, etc.

I have one of these and now all I need to do is find a reason to use the Mac.

Damn I always wanted to one of these! So cool

I check eBay from time to time, they are usually very expensive.

Same...

I was wondering whether BetterTouchTool would support the PowerMate, and I sure didn't get disappointed: https://community.folivora.ai/t/griffin-powermate/30169

Disclosure: I have no idea whether this would still work, and I have no way to find out.

Lol I wrote a new driver for the bluetooth one a few months ago.

Curse you! Now I have to go clean out the attic to find mine.

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