03-31-2011 05:27 PM
Hi JeffG,
Can you post your VI?
How did you get it to work in LV 8.6?
The VISA Driver Wizard just gives me the error because the device reports that it is only USB 1.0, but the Driver Wizard needs 1.1 or 2.0.
04-01-2011 04:26 PM
Hi JeffG and BVSmith,
It is important to know that the drivers for Windows XP and Windows 7 are not the same. The architecture of the OS's are different and require different drivers. It is possible that the Windows 7 drivers from PowerMate report that the device is USB 1.0 instead of 1.1+. Or, the Windows XP drivers report it as USB 1.1+ instead of 1.0. Looking at the website, it doesn't specify what USB spec it is (http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate)
04-01-2011 04:41 PM
No, I have Windows XP and it is reporting that it is USB 1.0.
JeffG says he got it working in Windows XP, where I cannot because the VISA Driver Wizard won't let me (it being USB 1.0).
I would like to see JeffG's VI so I can use it too. I don't have a solution for him and Windows 7 😞
12-04-2013 03:13 PM
Did you get the PowerMate working in WinXP or Win7?
12-04-2013 05:09 PM
No, I gave up long ago 😞
We only use it with its driver that produces keystrokes when rotating, pressing it.
12-05-2013 07:37 AM
Thanks. For your solution, the amount of keystrokes = the distance that the knob has been turned, correct?
12-05-2013 11:11 AM
Yes, one character per "step". I can't remember how large (fraction of a turn) a "step" is.
You can also send a character when it is pushed down, and pushed and turned, etc.
12-06-2013 08:34 AM
Excellent. I bet the number of keystrokes per rotation (i.e. the "step" size) can be set in the PowerMate configuration ("sensitivity"?).
Looks like this is the one to buy. Thanks!
12-06-2013 04:11 PM
Glad to help!
12-18-2013 01:14 PM
A few lessons that I've learned.
The powermate keystrokes always set a ScanCode of 0 (since they are not actually keyboard presses). This is helpful if you map the powermate to a key like "PageUp" and but still want normal "PageUp" functionality if the user presses it on the keyboard.
There is some lag if you use the F keys (like F22) and don't discard the key press. This is a problem if a .vi or block diagram window that doesn't code intersepting the key strokes is active when the knob is turned.
If your powermate code is located in one .vi and you would like that code to respond to the knob even if another .vi has focus, you can dynamically register for events on the other subvi :
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361H-01/lvhowto/dynamic_register_event/