Have an Xbox and want to use the controller on your Mac? Open source programmer Darrell Walisser has produced a free XBox HID Driver that enables Mac OS X to support the game controller included with Microsoft’s Xbox video game console.
News about the driver’s release first came to light on Inside Mac Games, whose forum posters also note that a cable converter called the Smartjoy-X USB Adapter is required to work.
Walisser reports that the driver, which includes source code and is subject to the Apple Public Source License, currently only supports gamepads, but he hopes to make it work with other Xbox game controllers like steering wheels, infrared receivers and memory units. To that end, Walisser is also accepting donations from users who appreciate his efforts — they’ll be used to buy additional Xbox devices and gadgets.
Walisser has been involved in the open source community for sometime. His previous credits include “Classic” Mac OS and Mac OS X conversions of the “Tron”-style 3D lightcycle racing game GLtron, the open source flight simulator FlightGear, Simple DirectMedia Layer, and KEGS, an Apple IIgs emulator for OS X.
Use of the driver is entirely free. Walisser noted that it requires Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later to work.
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