MacOS: failed to find any supported USB devices

[chevdor]

I built from source, after setting X11=no.

sudo spacenavd -v -d
Spacenav daemon v1.0-4-g2c5a443
reading config file: /etc/spnavrc
failed to find any supported USB devices

My SpaceMouse Compact is recognozed in the OS and works fine in Fusion 360 and Blender.
spacenavd however does not see to recognize it.

[jtsiomb]

Unfortunately at this point only serial devices are supported on MacOS. I'll mark this as a feature request.

[chevdor]

Ah ok, that explains the troubles then. Thanks for clearing that up.

[luzpaz]

oh bummer

[consi]

Hello,

Is there any possibility that this would be considered in future? I have 3dconnexion SpaceExplorer which support was dropped in macOS drivers but device is running perfectly fine

[jtsiomb]

It's quite probable, but I can't give you a timeline. The likeliest scenario is that this will be automatically solved, when I get around to writing an alternative cross-platform version of the USB code based on libusb, which has been on my TODO list for years.

Of course 3rd party contributions are always welcome. If anyone wishes to work on this (either through libusb or through the platform-specific macos HID API) let me know, and I will help with the integration as much as I can.

[kevinwright]

I'd be up for taking a look, not least because I'd like to see it working with the bluetooth spacemouse pro.

One query though... it looks like dev_usb_darwin.c has been in the source code for at least 2 years, and uses the platform-specific IOKit/hid/IOHIDLib.h. So I'm not entirely sure what's missing here

[jtsiomb]

Sounds great!

dev_usb_darwin.c was my unfinished attempt at implementing USB support for macosx 11 years ago. I was using macos for a little while back then for work, and thought I'd give it a go, but it was never completed.

I don't remember what state I left it in, feel free to continue working on that code, or start from scratch, whichever you prefer.

[luzpaz]

Any progress here ?

[alextrical]

I'm going to be looking into this project in the next few weeks is ive aquired a "SpacePilot" and will try to help (my coding skils are somewhat lackluster for the languages required here.)

As for USB support, i wonder if it would be possible to use a project such as "HID Remapper" to expose a USB devise as a USB Serial device?

[jtsiomb]

That would be a horrible kludge, and not acceptable for merging into spacenavd. You can certainly try it for your own amusement though if you feel inclined.

[alextrical]

Agreed on it being a kludge, It would definitely be best to get USB driver support working on Mac OS. I will see how far i get on a software only solution for USB.

[alextrical]

So the what would be the best way to get USB support on MacOS in your opinion? Getting LibUSB support added over going for platform specific implementations?

So for a libUSB I'm guessing the follow needs to be done:

1. Add libusb Dependencies
2. Replace the current device detection code with libusb device enumeration
3. Replace the current device I/O operations with libusb calls
4. Create udev rules for Linux systems to provide appropriate access permissions

I think getting this working on Linux/Ubuntu first probably is my best bet, as I'm hoping that would allow me to get support/assitance while adding LibUSB support