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Spaceball 5000 on XP64

I asked in this ng about using 32 bit Spaceball drivers on XP64, and then decided to get an 'official' answer. I asked 3DConnexion about the availability of 64 bit drivers and got this reply:

"The Windows 32-bit driver that we offer today runs fine on Win XP 64- bit. As more applications start to compile with the 64-bit library, we will evaluate support. But today, we test on the 64-bit platform with

32-bit code."

I followed up by asking if that also applies to the 32 bit SolidWorks add-in, and they said: "Yes it does."

Note: I specifically asked about drivers for the Spaceball 5000, which is in current production. Don't know if the answers remain true for earlier models.

Art W

Reply to
Art Woodbury
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Thanks Art, first for checking with 3DConnexion and then for sharing with everyone.

IMHO if an older spaceball works on 32 bit with the current crop of drivers it also will probably work with XP64. My reasoning is that the SW driver is really just a software app running in 32 bit mode while the driver itself is probably only making system calls to the layer that handles the RS32 port or USB port. I suspect things like IDE drivers and graphic drivers which operate on a much lower level in the system will have to have 64 bit versions.

Reply to
TOP

Interesting. I had thought that 64-bit drivers were required on XP46. Perhaps the Spaceball uses the standard windows USB drivers to talk to the device. In other words, the supplied "drivers" are about interfacing SW, rather than the hardware.

Reply to
Dale Dunn

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