Does anyone here have a Griffin Powermate? If so what do you use it for?

December 14, 2004 9:56 PM

Does anyone here have a Griffin Powermate? If so what do you use it for?
posted by zero to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

I mostly use mine with BBEdit: turn left for undo, turn right for redo -- makes it real easy to back way up and find a snippet of code that got removed 50 or 60 edits ago. Sounds goofy, I know, but it's really useful.

I also have the light applescripted to my email, so I can be walking past my desk and see whether I've got any mail.

They're nifty. Get one.
posted by ook at 11:32 PM on December 14, 2004

I'm planning on getting one along with my G5 so that I can use it when editing.

And the applescripting idea is neat, i'll have to do that too.
posted by Derek at 3:19 AM on December 15, 2004

I have one that I used in an installation piece; it was part of a mechanism that viewers used to process sounds.

Since then, I have used it (mostly) as a jog wheel for my audio/video editors.
posted by sluggo at 4:48 AM on December 15, 2004

Has anyone used it on a PC? I'd like to use it as a jog wheel with Premiere, or maybe as a tumble tool with Maya... I'm afraid to drop the cash on it not knowing if it works, though.
posted by fake at 5:46 AM on December 15, 2004

I'm boring. Mine stays in the laptop bag, and acts as the PowerBook's missing scroll-pad and second mouse button. It's far better than a scroll area on a trackpad, and it's nice to have a second, assignable "mouse button" that isn't one of the modifier keys.

It's useful enough on the laptop that it feels awkward when I don't have it out, but it's not useful enough to justify on my desktop machine versus a good mouse with a scroll wheel. YMMV.
posted by eschatfische at 6:33 AM on December 15, 2004

I know a guy that uses it with the NetNewsWire. Left = previous item, Right = next unread item, click = browse (I think).

He uses it also for scrolling through large documents.

I keep wanting to get one, but I can't image carting it around with my laptop instead of a mouse with 5 buttons. (I use SideTrack which gives me scrolling and expose in the corners of the trackpad, thus replacing a 5+ button mouse.)
posted by easyasy3k at 9:53 AM on December 15, 2004

I bought one when they came out thinking I could use it with "paddle games" (ex: Tempest, Arkanoid) on MacMAME. It wasn't really suited for that—a bit of a lag I recall.

I ended up using it with iTunes (turning it for volume control, tapping it to pause a song) and Safari (turning to scroll a page up and down, tapping it to switch between open Safari windows).

Now I'm travelling with an iBook and couldn't justify the space for it in my bag. I could see fishing it out if I were on a desktop again (or if I was using something like FinalCut where it would be convenient to scrub back and forth in a timeline quickly).
posted by blueberry at 12:23 PM on December 15, 2004

I'm planning to use it as a volume control primarily. The interesting part is that it's integrated into a computer desk based on Norm's design (of New Yankee Workshop). I tapped holes in the back to keep it in place, which was scary, but (I think) successful.
posted by jewzilla at 1:14 PM on December 15, 2004

Any pictures of that desk, jewzilla? (Great name by the way).
posted by LarryC at 1:31 PM on December 15, 2004

I use it with Final Cut and whatever audio editor I'm using that day. I like to set it to shuttle forward and back at 1 sec or 1 min intervals toggled by pushing down. I also have it set to change the volume when in the finder. It's one of the best investments I've ever made.
posted by milovoo at 4:16 PM on December 15, 2004