Non-cooperative USB Flight Stick

Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
3,613
Reaction score
99
Points
48
Location
Amberley, Canterbury, New Zealand
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
A brand new 2018 Mac Mini, all primed and ready to go with X-Plane flight simulator, plus other trendy high-demand games, then a purchase of a Logitech Extreme 3D joystick which - I was assured - would work with MacOS. Sob! No such thing, the Logitech does not work with either OS El Capitan, or Mojave, dead as a dodo.

There's every possibility I'm missing something, but there's nothing helpful in the meagre printed guide.

In the meantime I've tried switching the USB connector, I've rebooted the (older) Mini, but while the connection shows up in the System Report, nothing works beyond that.

Advice or solution (if any) please.

Ltech.jpg
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,212
Reaction score
1,424
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Hey there Hugh...sorry to hear about the joystick issues. I did some snooping around...and found a few details:

- Amazon says this joystick was first listed in 2004 (thus maybe an older piece of hardware).
- macOS is not officially supported by this joystick (Logitech).
- Been seeing vaious comments that this joystick seems to work better with older macOS versions (Mavericks, Yosemite). But then I'm also seeing some folks saying it works with El Capitan & some folks say it doesn't.
- Didn't come across any info related to compatibility with macOS versions Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave.
- Link to an X-Plane forum thread:

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/107929-logitech-extreme-3d-pro-on-mac/

Sorry...didn't come across any specific solutions.

- Nick
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
My research on that particular Joystick with regard to macOS came up empty. It appears from the Logitech Support page for the device that it works with Windows only. I may be wrong, but there is no selection for macOS in the driver download section. Windows yes, macOS no. Who was it that assured you it would work with macOS? Your new Mini came preinstalled with Mojave which means you would need drivers for Mojave since you can not install any other version of macOS on the 2018 Mini. If it doesn't work with the older Mini that has El Capitan, I'm afraid you're going to have to return it.

What joysticks are recommended for use with macOS by X-Plane support?
 
OP
hughvane
Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
3,613
Reaction score
99
Points
48
Location
Amberley, Canterbury, New Zealand
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
Thank you to respondents.

Update: following a reboot of the Mini, the Logitech Extreme now works with Mojave/X-Plane. Note I don't say 'well', but it does work. I haven't put the full X-Plane on older machines because of its demand on processor power and graphics (even the 2018 Mini gets very warm), but I'll try the Demo version with the Logitech on my MBkPro.

As to the question of who recommended the Logitech, X-Plane and other forums suggested (by weight of numbers) that the the Extreme was a workable unit with MacOS, and the general advice was that any USB device should work, eg. an ordinary mouse - wired or w/less - does the job.

That's a 'hmm, interesting' piece of information regarding the Mini 2018 and Mojave. I remember some years back that I could not partition a friend's Mini hard drive to install an older OS on it because the ROM version prevented it. My older 2010 Mini chugs along happily with two partitions and two OS.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top