Deutsche VersionLogitech® ChillStream™
I have the problem that my hands start to sweat when playing video games. For this reason I bought a Logitech ChillStream gamepad yesterday. That is a gamepad with a built-in fan to cool the hands. Sounds silly on the very first thought, but it’s actually a neat idea.
With Mac OS X
My first (and so far, only) problem: There are no drivers for Mac OS X, and it doesn’t work as a standard human interface device. Since it looks like a Xbox 360 gamepad (though it never says so anywhere - probably because of license reasons), I tried with the open source Mac OS X drivers for Xbox 360 controllers. Result: It seems to be technically similar to an Xbox 360 controller, too, and it works without problems. However, a little hacking is necessary.
At first, you should install the driver normally, but not reboot when the installer asks you to. If you do reboot, no problem, it’s just wasted time because you’ll have to reboot later again. Then, go into the folder /System/Library/Extensions, right-click on 360Controller.kext and choose “Show Package Contents”. In the new window, go to Info.plist in the “Contents” folder and show the informations of this file (select the file and hit Apple+I). At the very bottom, change the owner to yourself (you have to know an administrator’s password, and your own Unix username for that). Now you can edit the file, easiest with TextEdit. You’ll have to insert a new IOKitPersonality with exactly the same parameters as the old ones, but a value of 49730 for idProduct and 1133 for idVendor. The easiest way is by copying the following text:
<key>LogitechChillStream</key>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.mice.driver.Xbox360Controller</string>
<key>IOCFPlugInTypes</key>
<dict>
<key>F4545CE5-BF5B-11D6-A4BB-0003933E3E3E</key>
<string>360Controller.kext/Contents/PlugIns/Feedback360.plugin</string>
</dict>
<key>IOClass</key>
<string>Xbox360ControllerClass</string>
<key>IOKitDebug</key>
<integer>65535</integer>
<key>IOProviderClass</key>
<string>IOUSBDevice</string>
<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>49730</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1133</integer>
</dict>
and then paste it in the file right below:
<key>IOKitPersonalities</key>
<dict>
Save the file, set the owner back to system and reboot. The device should now show up in System Preferences (under “Xbox 360 controllers”).
Notices for advanced users
The controller has no ForceFeedback, so maybe one could remove the IOCFPluginTypes. However, it does no harm either and works well if you keep it.
I’ve poked the USB interface a little. Here a list of differences compared to what the driver’s author said about the real Xbox 360 controller:
- The controller exposes only one interface, which works like Interface 0 of the normal Xbox controller. For this reason, I believe that this device might not work on a Xbox 360. Since I have no Xbox for testing, I can only guess here.
- I was not able to recieve any of the startup messages of the original controller. My testing was very limited, so maybe I just missed it.
- I’m not certain whether all LED control messages are understood. Since I have no Xbox controller for comparison, I can only guess. Activating single LEDs and making them blink works fine, but neither “Rotating” (0x0A) nor “Alternating” (0x0D) seem to have any effect.
- ForceFeedback messages are ignored completely.
- The ChillStream functionality seems to be completely in the hardware. At least it works fine without anyone sending anything.
Practical use
In my rather short test the controller worked well. The cooling is rather noisy, but it works perfectly. It’s not an end-all solution to sweaty hands, though. By the way: There are only two fan speeds. The website talks about three, but I guess the third one is the “Off” setting. You can treat that as a fan setting - I wouldn’t. Otherwise, it fits nicely in my hand, and it’s fun to play with it.
Written on March 26th, 2007 at 06:44 pm
