USB Peripheral and Fusion

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I'm running a Mac OS 10.5.2 and XP Pro via fusion so that I can use AutoCAD. I am used to using a specific mouse (Logitech MX 700, MX 518) for AutoCAD and I would like to start using the Nostromo n52 game controller as well to help improve ease of use and efficiency with AutoCAD. I do not need the Nostromo for Mac and I only need basic mouse functions for Mac. I have found that Mac takes over all of the USB drives. If I want to use a USB device for XP and only for XP, it must be Mac compatible or have Mac drivers available. I have tried to install both from XP, but if Mac doesn't recognize it first then it's a no go. Is there any way to bypass the Mac OS when it comes to USB devices.

I've tried USB X Overdrive, but it seems to have problems with Leopard. I don't think it has been updated to handle Leopard. It recognizes less than half of the keys on the Nostromo and only 6 of the 8 buttons on the MX 518. Mac was able to use the Logitech drivers for the MX 700 to recognize all the buttons on the 700 except the scroll wheel button. That's a pretty important button in AutoCAD - operates the pan function. USB X Overdrive was able to fix the scroll wheel button for the 700, but I'm still left short handed. The 700 is no longer made or available and the one I have is pretty old and on it's last leg.

How can I use MS XP specific USB peripherals in XP via fusion that aren't compatible with MAC 10.5.2?

I guess I could wait for USB X Overdrive to come out with an update to handle 10.5, but I guess I've never been known for my patience.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Especially by my boss since I've wasted countless hours at work trying to figure this out.

Thanks,

Robert
 
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I have no windows specific USB devices, but I have fusion setup that it takes control of any device plugged in while fusion is in focus. They don't even appear on the mac side of things. Maybe that will work?
 
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How / Where did you set up fusion so that it takes control of USB devices when fusion is in focus?
 
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Under the virtual machine settings, USB, there's a check box that says :

Automatically Connect USB Devices
This option only affects USB devices connected when the Virtual Machine has focus.
 
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Dysfunction,

Thank you for your help. I just wanted to make sure I understand the terminology and what you mean. So let me go over how I use Fusion.

To start XP, I click on the Fusion icon in the dock. It brings up a window which allows me to select and run XP. I run XP full screen so that it doesn't eat up a bunch of virtual memory by having both Leopard and XP screens held in memory. When I want to switch back to Mac, I click the apple key and the h key to get back to Leopard. When I do this, will Fusion still be in "Focus" and the USB peripherals controlled by XP and not even seen by Mac? If yes, thats a problem because I am constantly switching back and forth. If this is the case, do you have any other suggestions for quickly going back and forth between the two OS's quickly. It takes probably close to 2 minutes for XP to boot up.

Thanks again for your help.

Robert Merrell
 
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I checked the USB settings in the Fusion Settings section. The "Automatically Connect USB Devices" box was already checked. I tried unchecking it to see what would happen. No change. When Fusion is focused and XP running, if I plug in the Nostromo controller an Apple window pops up in XP saying it does not recognize the keyboard. It prompts me to do a test by pressing several buttons or to quit if it is another user input device that has an install disk and is working properly. If I go through the test, it tells me it can't recognize the keyboard. If I quit the test then nothing happens. When I start up the Nostromo Load Manager to edit the buttons in XP, the Nostromo key pad is not seen by the Load Manager and I cannot edit the key pad.

Boggles my mind and gives me a headache.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Robert Merrell
 

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