Anyone used those Win2k drivers? I presume Dhauzimmer's (sp) are the ones being referred to; I saw no other Win2k mentioned.
Saitek has beta drivers for Win2k, but only drivers: there is no Win2k version of SGE. But the drivers by themselves are pretty useless. The drivers make Windows see the stick and its functions, but you need the software in order to control all the hat switches, mode switches etc.
DHauzimmer also did his own driver, as well as some kind of patch that allows you to program the stick, but it's very complicated to program. I haven't tried it.
His driver does not seem to work in Windows XP.
does AH recognize the buttons on the X45 under any circumstance, with/without drivers?
Again, drivers are not the problem. It's the software you need.
I can't say for sure about the X45, but I'm pretty sure it's the same as for the X36, which I have. Under Windows 2000 and XP, the X36 is recognized by Windows (if you install the Saitek beta driver in the case of Windows 2000, in XP you don't need it).
But if you don't have the SGE software (i.e. on Windows 2000 or XP), in AH you can only use buttons 1 to 8 (gun button, buttons A, B and Launch button on the stick, button D, "Mouse" button on the throttle, and button C and pinkie switch on the stick), plus the first hat switch on the stick, plus the throttle. You can use the 3-positions mode swith, but it's only seen as 3 buttons, 9 to 11, and that means one button is always stuck "on". Which is pretty useless. (Can you imagine a keyboard command being played continually?)
AH does not seem to recognize the 2nd hat switch on the stick, the two hat switches on the throttle, the rudder rocker, the two rotary dials and the auxiliary switch, even though they work perfectly in Windows. The 3 hat switches act as buttons, 4 per hat switch, same for the auxiliary switch, and the 2 rotary dials and the rudder rocker are analog controls, like the X, Y and Z axis (stick and throttle).
So: if you have Windows 2000 or XP, you can't use either X36 or X45 right now.
Saitek says in the Saitek Store web site that a Windows 2000/XP compatible software is due in October, but the main Saitek web sites don't mention anything (just that there are Windows 2000 beta drivers), and anyway Saitek has been promising a Windows 2000 compatible software "soon" for at least a year.
DrSoya
[ 10-11-2001: Message edited by: DrSoya ]