Sometime in 2002, while hanging around a trade show, I got one of these Focus Enhancements CommandPost controllers. At the time I didn't even have a Macintosh with USB ports, so I tossed it into a closet where it shared space with several NuBus video cards, an ISA modem, a 5.25" Seagate Hard Drive (which probably held about 10 MB, and hell, I didn't even have a computer that could hold such a drive), and others of the same sort. However, in April 2003 I bought a "modern" Mac with USB, and decided to give it a try. Tough luck - it only came with archaic drivers. Well, that wasn't going to stop me, so I got to work. First, to give it a bit of Apple Touch...

After examining the case, it appeared to me that there were only two screws on the bottom of the case that held a piece of metal on. I removed them right away...   <><>
 

What the hell does that label say there? No user seviceable parts inside? With the case off, you have access to the main board. On the right there is the cable that connects the T-bar to the main board, and on the left, the jog/shuttle control.

There are four screws that hold the main board to the case. wright! There's the main board. Now what kind of a hack can we apply to this??

MAIN BOARD!

Mmm...cube Paging through a binder that contains my stamp-an-Apple pamplet collection (this is the Power Mac Page above, I also have ones back from 1997), I came upon two rainbow-colored Apple stickers. Not wanting to waste what might be the last two rainbow-colored Apple stickers on the planet (and not wanting to mess with sticking it on backwards), I traced it on a sheet of paper. After coloring...

High tech meets low-tech ...it's ready for cutting out.

I managed to shoehorn it into a tight corner of the case, and lo, not even Woz would know the difference. Then I wrapped the mouse control in some aluminium foil, to match the mirrored accents on my display and Power Mac.

Red tape doesn't conduct electricity. Red tape doesn't conduct electricity. Red tape doesn't conduct electricity! Lastly, I put some red tape over the lights on the mainboard to change their color. Just be sure not to use electric tape ;) After assembly, it's time for the software parts. I used USB Overdrive (http://usboverdrive.com/) to get it working with Mac OS X. Unfortunately, the bundled software only works under Mac OS 9 (not Classic, either!) and USB OD does not support the T-bar and jog/shuttle buttons, because they are on separate boards (and need specialized software). Focus (the developer) has not actively expressed an interest to support the CommandPost under OS X, and asking them for the SDK they promised developers was fruitless. It's not so bad - having a gadget with customizable buttons for each applications is handy :) - Mackie< This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://microkernel.tk/

	06-04-2008 12:59
	FIX PICTURES Guest

christopher Higgins

	24-03-2008 07:58
	there are no photos! Guest

william

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