MVC3 Fighstick TE on OS X

When I purchased the super-cool limited edition MVC3 Fightstick TE for my 360, I had envisioned it of course being useful for at least MVC3 and SF4, but-- I had a alternative motive in the purchase; MAME.

Sadly, even with using the OS X driver for Xbox 360 controllers, it refused to work with my OS. I could get it to work with Microsoft's driver on Windows 7, but I don't use Windows and I wanted it working with sdlmame on OS X!

A email was sent to the author of said driver with no response for over a month. So after I got bored of waiting, I went on a search. I found a post on Shoryuken.com for some Hori stick (and found some other posts along the way) but this one gave me enough information to make my own "driver" and that was good enough for me!

Open up my good buddy the terminal cd to "/System/Library/Extensions/360Controller.kext/Contents/" and use your fav editor of choice to edit "Info.plist" (mine being pico for terminal editing), look over the file, it should be obvious where to insert this next bit of information... (copy n paste it, this blog is cutting out some of the text from displaying, but if you copy it, you'll get it all)

<key>SFIVFightStickTE</key>
<dict>
    <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
    <string>com.mice.driver.Xbox360Controller</string>
    <key>IOCFPlugInTypes</key>
    <dict>
        <key>F4545CE5-BF5B-11D4-A54F-000A27052861</key>
        <string>360Controller.kext/Contents/PlugIns/Feedback360.plugin</string>
    </dict>
    <key>IOClass</key>
    <string>Xbox360ControllerClass</string>
    <key>IOKitDebug</key>
    <integer>65535</integer>
    <key>xfvbfIOProviderClass</key>
    <string>IOUSBDevice</string>
    <key>idProduct</key>
    <integer>61496</integer>
    <key>idVendor</key>
    <integer>7085</integer>
</dict>

I named it "SFIVFightStickTE" because hardware wise, it's the same thing. But it has a different key needed to get it working correctly. Add that to the file, save it, open Disk Utility and repair permissions on your drive, and reboot.

Plug in your FightStick, setup MAME, and enjoy. I know I am!

Would you believe

I've had this blog for what? 5 years? and I never knew until this very moment that anyone ever posted a comments on my blog posts. Boy do I feel like a dick.

Testing iBlogger

Testing some iPhone blogging apps. First up, iBlogger, while nice looking, don't do landscape editing. Very disappointing. Seems stable in it's features and editing abilities. Landscape isn't a total deal breaker but it would sure help me liking it. Of course, the $9.99 price tag kills this, Mail.app does this type of blogging, and it's built into the OS.

iBlogger does offer nice editing of older posts, and draft saving built in. A "view in Safari" button brings up your blog so you can see your posts in the browser. You can add pictures, links, tags, and locations to your posts.

The interface is sleek, clean and easy to understand. Has all the features you could ask for and feels stable and refined. Quite close to being perfect if it offered landscape editing with the same functionality and lowered the price a few dollars couldn't hurt either. I can post the same blog for free numerous ways on my iPhone, the interface here isn't worth that much of a mark-up.

In all honesty, the more I type with it the more I like it. Seems landscape isn't such a big deal after all!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

only in america...

can you be a debt free 30 year old man and still fail a credit check to move into a bigger home. Only in America, folks.

macbook battery

Today I got sick of looking at this battery sitting on my table, which no longer worked for my laptop. So I decided to put it back into the battery slot on the MacBook, and decided I'd run through the Apple tests one more time for shits and giggles (this being the umteenth time doing so). Low and behold, after 10 months of owning this computer, and about 4 of them passed by waiting to afford a new logic board; my battery worked! I haven't been successful at getting it to start charging since replacing my logic board. I thought for sure I fried the battery also so many months ago.

Now I actually have a laptop. While this still won't stop the thing from giving me third degree burns on my lap while using it; I've got the luxury of being able to actually use this thing somewhere else besides the kitchen table!

Posting from iPod touch

I just wanted to send a blog from my new iPod just to see if it works. If you got the money for one of these, do yourself a favor and buy one!

cars and computers

These two things can stress one out pretty good. Add in two kids, a girlfriend, and life itself, and you get one hell of a mess.

My car, which is well past personally considered to be junk, needed some repairs. Since I just got my tax return I could afford some repairs (but not a decent new vehicle) so I decided to get the car (now in my possession for the past nine years) to the shop today. It turns out, I had some major issues. Of course, I had assumed that, so I was prepared to spend some money on the car. Well, $2000 later, I definitely feel I'm wasting my money. That could have been a down payment on a newer, more reliable vehicle. But no, I'm stuck sinking the money into a pit. Only just for the simple fact that I don't have enough money to afford a payment on a newer vehicle. So I'm stuck with what I've got.

Next, we have the computer. The iMac I bought four years ago died. Well all computers die, but this laptop from 1999 which ran a web server for nearly four years, continues to run. Now, where's the logic in that? The only problem with this laptop is the battery no longer works, which is to be expected after nine years of use.

I'm purchasing a MacBook with the remainder of my tax return, even though I wanted to pay my bills off with this money. After sinking $2,000 into a worthless car, I figure, what's the point?

Well my car should be working great after this bit of repairs. Even though it still needs a new windshield and some body work, I think I can make it last. The new MacBook, well I guess it'll give me a good four year run when I get it.

Cars and computers, can't think of a better way to waste $3,000. Can you?