Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Most third-party input devices come with software that lets you customize the controls.
Kensington trackballs come with
TrackballWorks
, Logitech pointing devices come with
Logitech Control Center
, and Microsoft mice…somehow, even in 2014, include software only
for Windows. But no matter, you can still customize them with a third-party utility called
USB Overdrive, discussed next.
Other actions you can potentially assign to mouse buttons include:
• Right-clicking, Control-clicking, or clicking with other virtual modifier keys
• Triple-clicking
• Drag lock (drag without holding down a button)
• Opening apps, documents, URLs, and AppleScripts
• Sending keystrokes (as if you'd typed keys on a keyboard)
• Navigating forward/back in a Web browser
• Controlling your system's volume, brightness, and other settings
• Simulating previous/next/pause/play commands in iTunes
Program an Input Device with USB Overdrive
Many fine input devices come only with Windows software (or in some cases, no software at
all), but thanks to a piece of shareware called
USB Overdrive
,
Mac users can fully configure
nearly any USB mouse, trackball, keyboard, gamepad, joystick, or other HID (human
interface device) product—as well as most Bluetooth pointing devices. The app functions in
much the same way as TrackballWorks and Logitech Control Center—pick a device, pick a
button, pick an action for that button; repeat as needed.
If you were so inclined, you could get, say, a Logitech
Extreme 3D Pro
joystick and program
each of its 12 buttons, each of the 8 directions on its hat switch, the throttle control, the
joystick directions, and the twist rudder control to do something different on your Mac. Of
course, the obvious use would be to program all the controls to work in a game such as a
flight simulator, but I'm just saying…if you
wanted
each button to send a different person a
blank email message that resulted in a sound playing on their computer, you could.
