MX Revolution 5500 Keyboard and Mouse middle button config

Having replaced a very loved Logitech MX Revolution mouse, with the only version I could find available where the mouse has a second wheel, I ran into the same configuration issues regarding middle mouse button functionality.

Short version for those of you impatient to get things moving....
After you've installed the Setpoint software and the mouse and keyboard are working correctly, RIGHT CLICK on the Setpoint icon down near the clock and select EXIT.  Then on your computer, go here;

C:\Users\YOURLOGGEDONUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Logitech\SetPoint\user.xml

You and I both know that in the line where it says YOURLOGGEDONUSERNAME, it's referring to the current user, which is usually your name, but I think I've explained that enough right now....

Find the line in the file that says this;
            <Button Number="6" Name="4">

From there, down to where it reads
            </Button>

Paste this;

            <Button Number="6" Name="4">
               <Trigger Class="ButtonPress">
                  <Param Button="6" FirstRepeatDelay="0" RepeatDelay="0" Silent="0" Type="0"/>
                  <TriggerState Name="ButtonDownUp" HandlerSet="MiddleMouseButton">
                     <Handler Class="MouseButton">
                        <Param ButtonName="MiddleButton"/>
                     </Handler>
                  </TriggerState>
               </Trigger>
               <Param IconLoc="" Type=""/>
            </Button> 

SAVE the file, then run Setpoint again.
ALL PROGRAMS > LOGITECH > MOUSE AND KEYBOARD > MOUSE AND KEYBOARD SETTINGS

Ok geeks need not read any further, but for those of us who don't speak fluent Matrix, here's some detail.


For whatever reason, someone at Logitech didn't think that anyone would want to be able to use the little search button as a middle mouse click, so this is a way of forcing the software to do what you want it to, even though the levers and pulleys are not available to you on the outside. Sort of like making a bus driver drop you off right outside your house even though the route is nowhere near it and if you asked they would tell you there was no way you could buy a ticket to that exact destination.  A lot of software works this way, and you can probably find lots of other incomprehensible text files all over your computer that set very specific things in very specific ways.  If you must fiddle, do be a good chap and make a backup copy of any file BEFORE you do it.  In this case I just RIGHT CLICKED the USER.XML file, selected COPY, then PASTE to put a copy right there with it.  If you do screw up, you can just delete the (now useless) USER.XML file, and rename the USER - COPY.XML file to USER.XML and you are all good.

To edit that file you can use Notepad.  Open Notepad first, and then drag this file in, or RIGHT CLICK on the file and select OPEN WITH, then from the list that appears select NOTEPAD.  If that doesn't show up then you can select it from the option CHOOSE DEFAULT PROGRAM and any more than that is probably outside the scope of this particular post.

To insert the above text into the file, just copy the text above, then find the corresponding line in the USER.XML file and highlight that, then select PASTE.  You should see it change.  Then SAVE the file, and run the Setpoint software again (as it says above).  Then go to a link on a web page, click the little button and OH MY GOODNESS, it opens in a new tab!

Oh and if you were wondering (which you probably weren't but what they heck) I use the second mouse wheel for volume up and down, and click it to mute/unmute.

My work here is done (except maybe some pictures to brighten up the entry..... soon)

P.S. This is obviously for a PC, and perhaps the Mac version lets you do this already.  Do YOU know?
P.P.S Now I have two functioning middle mouse buttons right next to each other.  So if someone ever brings out a Track and Field game that uses the middle mouse button, I AM GONNA WIN!

iPad Target

Is the iPad aimed at people who rarely use a desktop or laptop, but really get a lot of use out of their iPhone/iPod Touch?
If you’ve gotten really used to doing your interwebs on that little slip-slidey screen, then at first glance, a larger area would seem an obvious plus.
Maybe the iPad is not so much a new device category, and more about creating a new market for those that only (want to) understand the iPhone OS.
Training a whole new group of Apple cult members. Brace yourselves, because as soon as the alarm sounds, they're going to pour over the horizon. They will not care what you think, because they understand the iPad.

"QUICK SHOW THEM YOUR NETBOOK!!!"
"THEY DON'T CARE THEY KEEP ON ABOUT APPS AND GAMI....AAAA AAAHH NOOOOO"
"FRANCIS GET OUT OF THERE!!!"
"IT'S TOO LATE I WANT TO SIGN UP FOR AN AT&T PLAN! OOOO LOOK A NEW FART APP!"

Halo ODST .... no

In summary, Halo ODST was just more Halo.

I really liked Halo 1, 2, and 3. I like single player games. I like explosions. So that seems a sure bet for Halo ODST.

Wrong

Halo was groovy, and I spent a lot of time running, and leaping about, getting pummeled by many people on the PC as well as Xbox versions. It's great fun, frantic stuffs. However, in the last Halo game (Halo 3, not Halo Wars) I quickly reached a point where I was saying to myself,

"Why am I advancing into this alien outpost?"
and
"Why am I doing this, and which of the overly epically named space ships, on my side?"

It didn't really matter because the new settings and different layouts were enough to keep me plugging away. Often my plastic neon edged armor would give up and I would tumble to the floor, scattering my assortment of recently grabbed guns and grenades. But you get back up and try again. This time keeping an eye on that side where ten more little alien dudes will come spilling out chatting away in comic relief fashion.

Hang on, the fact none of this battle makes sense, and the story is terrible, is bothering me now. I need to do research. The research being the Halo novels.

Ok research done, I get it, good, back to work.

Ok done, thanks Halo 3, back in the box. And to myself, "Can't wait for another one."

Halo ODST shuffles off the end of my mysterious GameFly Queue, flops through my mail slot, and dribbles into my Xbox 360.

Big screen, surround sound, expensively budgeted tried and tested video game franchise, in the middle of the lazy gamer generation, what could possibly go wrong?

Well not much to start with. Wandered around the VERY dark city, looking at stuff, with the usual drill of finding the things that are supposed to be just like the rest but you can usually see the graphical difference so you know something opens, or activates there. Got into a building, and now its REALLY dark. My display is sort of showing the outline of things, but very little detail. More wandering around inside the building, and I notice a helmet sticking out of a madly flashing screen. A little text at the bottom of the screen tells me to press a button, button pressed and I'm in one of the stories of apparently a little earlier in that same location.

So I'm in the story now hearing the same noises as previous games, of cheeky little aliens and gruff larger ones. Wreckage all over the place, and little pockets of resistance. Usual thing. I reach a large open area and apparently have to get across to rescue someone who's speaking to me on the radio. The other squad members are well trained in keeping out the way and not wasting ANY ammo, so it's up to me, the hero of the moment to get across that area and into the building beyond. AHA! One of those, "oh no we are just another door", doors that's obviously not like all the others. It's open and I'm in, trying to get behind enemy lines. Crap, it's dark in here, where's my new thingie button to show the outlines of things, ok got it, onward. Up the stairs, along the corridor, up some more, oo new gun, along... wait, it's a shot gun, hmmm that means close encounters are going to happen if I keep heading this way. I know, back down the stairs and I'll take an earlier exit.

I'm at the door, open, too bright for edge enhancement, so it's back to normal. I hear the familiar call of big and little aliens, and the strange alien bullet noises, it's back to the action. Lots of strafing left and right between concrete columns to try and figure out how many of my particular bullets it takes to kill these particular aliens (it usually takes a while to get the hang of that in any shooter). Still not got a good idea of where all the bad guys are, and still my computer controlled squad buddies are hanging back, waiting for me to clear a path to the next section. I leap around, still not quite familiar with the controls, as it has been quite a while since I bothered with Halo 3, and I keep pressing the 'button that shalt do nothing' instead of the grenade one, for now at least. So far it's all going as I thought it would except....

I give up trying to figure out where all the fire is coming from, take a couple of long shots and clear myself a nice little vacation spot on a bridge, in the middle of the fight, but with plenty of good cover. Sort of looked like a futuristic bus stop. Run like heck (well I think I'm running, as I can't remember if there is a run button for Halo ODST, or you just go this speed all the time), and make it to the bus shelter. Then a group of bigger aliens come out of where their scripted closet was keeping them until I crossed that particular line. They advance, I then go into a pre-death spasm, of jump-fire-move-fire-way-too-much-at-nothing, and then die.

It was a strange feeling but as soon as I saw that familiar out of body camera angle, and stuff strewn on the battle field (my 3 grenades exploding moments later, as in my final moments of controller typing convulsions I managed to hit THAT button a few times), my dead ragdoll self laying out there, the thought of doing the SAME thing over and over again, just like the previous games seemed pretty crappy. It wasn't until THAT VERY MOMENT that I wasn't enjoying it.

Went from "Yeah!" to "STOP!" in about a millisecond.

Watching my plastic clad dude, drop all his plastic guns on the ground, just brought it all back, and the reunion was not sweet. I'm glad I didn't buy the game, and I was genuinely looking forward to another Halo shooter, as that's usually my thing. This was just that little bit too much EXACTLY the same as before. Thinking I'd been a little harsh on it, I tried again a couple of times, but after it seemed to put me WAY back in the game, and I kept getting to that same point each time, I knew it was time to take it out into the yard and end its misery. So it went back to that GameFly warehouse in the sky, where it will hopefully be reborn as something on the PS3.

Halo ODST, sorry.

Resolution issue

I decided this year that one of my resolutions would be to stop bothering with retro games so much. It's only 10 days in and I've already amassed a PS2 and an Xbox 1, both with a smattering of games. Is this a sign, or just focusing on it WAY too much?

For the record, I did't purchase them, they were just in the way of replacing other household thingies.

Anyone up for a game of something REALLY old and crappy?

I'm pretty sure this will finally be the year I do NOT purchase Lemmings again. And I'm going to pretend I don't know about the upcoming Xbox Live Game Room, that's full of arcade cabinets from days of old.

Your ebook needz moar powurz

Just saw the first of the CES 2010 videos from Revision 3. It's about a combined ebook and tablet computer. Why is it that people seem to want to add the functionality of a laptop computer with an ebook?

Firstly I really think that if it was SO obvious to do this, then people would have been reading lots of ebooks on their laptops and there would be little need for the ebook readers themselves. Unless there is a massive happy underground all busily reading away on their laptops somewhere?

The two other major concerns are of course, power and weight.

You want to lug around a laptop all day (even a tablet) in your arms, taking in the pages of your latest novel, then get fit and be prepared to stand about three feet away from a power source. Not to mention the fragile nature of a laptop or tablet computer. Could this by why tablets never really made much of an impression originally?

(Don't even get me started on the whole thing about blocking the vents on a tablet while trying to hold it comfortably.)

Hopeful start to 2010

Top podcasts listened to at Krysss.Com towers for 2009

Woah, I listened to a LOT of podcasts over 2009, and according to my scrobblings, it was CNET that got the top spot.  I suppose all those daily episodes of Buzz Out Loud did that.

1		cnet.com			200
2		Revision3			143
3		Giant Bomb			55
4		1UP Network Staff			49
5		The Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra			48
6		Leo Laporte and the TWiTs			40
7		Eat-Sleep-Game.com Staff			35
8		Paul Thurrott with Leo Laporte			33
9		John C. Dvorak			21
10		commandN			19
11		Tech			15
12		Games			13
13		Geekbox.net			11
13		Criterion Games			11
15		1UP Staff			9
16		Kaiku (Mark Roberts)			8
17		You Look Nice Today			7
18		Major Nelson			6
18		DL.tv			6
20		Eric Nofsinger			5
21		Roger Chang and Tom Merritt			4

Podcasts. They're like radio but interesting.  As always I will be promising myself I will start a podcast in the new year, and will more than likely carry on the tradition of not actually doing it.

Happy Holidays

This week I are be mostly playin'

It's been an Xbox 360 sort of week with Burnout Paradise, and Arkanoid.

I got Burnout Paradise again (already played it to death on the PS3) because I was challenged to some matches by a 360 owner. I was surprised to not hear ONE SINGLE person talking online with Burnout Paradise. The only difference between the two versions is that in just a few days, the Xbox 360 version has crashed a few times, where as that hasn't happened to me in a LONG time on the PSN. I purchased all the DLC for the PS3 version, so if I do get anything extra for the 360 version, it would probably just be Cops and Robbers, as that's the only payed download that really added something fun to the game.

Arkanoid was good, even though it had some strange Steps vibe. The music was odd.

This week I are be mostly playin'

This week it's been Burnout Paradise (for PS3), because of the toys update, and trying to get some oddly missing trophies.

Fallout 3 on PS3.

Wipeout HD

Killzone 2, which is very intense, and haven't even gotten to playing multiplayer yet.

Super Mario World and Mario Kart on the SNES (Super Nintendo).

This weeks on-hold items are;
GTA IV on PS3 - Abandoned the save a while back to get trophies, and really enjoying it this go around.

Fable 2 - Sorry but I TRIED to like it, but it really isn't my thing. The game is set in what looks like where I used to live in England. Perhaps homesickness is what puts me off?

Overall I seem to be remembering that I just prefer the PS3 to the Xbox 360. Nothing specific, but I think it's got something to do with why I didn't bother with an original Xbox until very late in the game. Now the question of which system to buy a game for is not going to be such an issue as I just prefer the PS3 and the way it works. The creepy Xbox 360 avatar doesn't help.