Use 360 wireless peripherals with a PC
by Christopher Grant 
{ May 11th 2006 at 11:45PM }
Elsewhere in that Word doc hosted on Xbox.com that listed all the upcoming accessories, was the (as yet still unannounced) Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows. What is the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows? From the doc:"Gamers can get the most out of current and future Xbox 360 wireless accessories with the new Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows. By plugging the compact receiver into a USB 2.0 port on the PC, the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 Wireless Headset and Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel can be used on a second platform (ERP TBA)."
That means you won't need to get the (now increasingly marginalized) wired 360 controller if you want to use it with your PC. Question is, how long before the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows gets support for other operating systems?
See also:
360's Mem Unit getting a bump to 256MB?
Read - Xbox.com's Xbox 360 Accessories (.doc)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tom Hayden @ May 11th 2006 11:58PM
Will one unit allow you to use multiple peripherals at the same time, or do you have to get multiples if you want to rock your controller and headset at the same time?
KingOfGods @ May 12th 2006 12:00AM
sweeeeeet....I'm glad I didn't get the wired controller, something kept telling me to wait.
The ZeroCorpse @ May 12th 2006 12:13AM
If you're a stranger to Mac OS X, let me clue you in: Most USB devices work without the need for drivers or special software. Printers, wireless controllers, mice, keyboards, external drives...
I'd be willing to bet that, like most devices, you can plug this into a Mac and it will just work. You don't have to fool OS X into using devices like you do in Windows.
Twist @ May 12th 2006 12:29AM
Unfortunately ZeroCorpse you are wrong in this case. The wired Xbox 360 controller requires a driver (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29122) to work with Mac OS X because it isn't an HID compliant device. Now depending on how this wireless adapter works this same driver may work without needing any modification. Of course this doesn't help with the headset but if it is just converting it into a standard USB audio input signal it should work right out of the box.
Andrew @ May 12th 2006 12:39AM
The compatiability of the X360 controllers with PC games is crap anyway.
Josh Warner @ May 12th 2006 12:54AM
Tough call. I'm tempted to say "No WAY" because MS just doesn't like making their stuff play nice with OSX and Linux.
However, the freaking wireless controller sells for about half the price of Windows XP these days ... I don't have the numbers, but making it HID compliant could actually be profitable for them.
That being said, I doubt they will (or could). Because the two controllers almost have to have identical interfaces with the 360, if one isn't HID compliant the other probably won't be either.
Oh well - time will tell :)
vrf @ May 12th 2006 1:21AM
anyone know if you could use this with MAME and the big console emulators? I'm building a one-player mini MAME cab and would love to use this the wireless X360 for player 2.
If anyone wants to see the project so far, you can go here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50248.0
navstar @ May 12th 2006 1:35AM
I'm sure some creative Mac OS X fans will come up with a basic driver in no time!
BTW, the Xbox360 driver is excellent! The best controller on the best OS! w00t!
Madster @ May 12th 2006 1:43AM
Also: how long before MS drops support for this controller and its COMPLETELY SEPARATE API, leaving previous owners stranded and developers with an useless extra control scheme?
eh... not that that's ever happened to me before with MS hardware.
"$&$/"|@"#@?
dsub @ May 12th 2006 2:24AM
ZeroCorpse...I don't know what version of windows you have used that requires you to "fool" it into working with a USB device. The only USB device I own that I have had to install a driver for is my printer/scanner. Oh yea, I had to install the software on my Macbook as well. Most devices, like controllers, will function without the driver in windows, all the driver allows you to do is use the advanced functions, like rumble and such. This is the same case with OSX. I have a logitech gamepad that I had to install software for in OSX to get the rumble feature to work as well.
dsub @ May 12th 2006 2:27AM
vrf:
I use my wired 360 controller in my MAME/NES/SNES/N64/SEGACD/GENESIS emulators all the time, so my guess would be yes. I'd assume that the controller would work just fine with this the same way. I'm curious though, will this cause interence with my 360? I have my 360 about 20 feet from my PC in the same room, and often I play my 360 while my roommate plays games on the PC or vice versa. I suppose you'll be able to sync the controller with the reciever just as you can on the 360, so it shouldn't be an issue, but who knows.
Wild Homes @ May 12th 2006 8:59AM
Vrf: not that it's pertinent to _this_ board, but I wanted to say I think your cabinet is looking excellent so far. I hope I remember to check out your final product once you finish-- sucks that the shipping around the world takes so long. anyhow, good job! hope I don't get flamed for the off-topic response.
The Letter N @ May 12th 2006 11:29AM
it would be nice if they released a decent driver for the 360 controller instead. You have to get one not made by MS to even get some games to recognize all of the buttons, axis, and rumble.
The ZeroCorpse @ May 12th 2006 3:35PM
I wasn't trying to start a PC/Mac flame war. I just thought the author may have been unaware that Macs are a bit easier on USB devices (not just HID controllers, but ALL USB devices) than PCs have been known to be. There's no "new hardware wizard" in the Mac. The device either works (95% of the time) or does not.
Example: For my last Mac, I purchased an external USB 2.0 DVD burner that was made for PC, and came with a driver disc for PC only. No Mac support from the company or third parties whatsoever. All I had to do was plug in in and the Mac used it as if it were any other Mac drive. No problems.
Same for all my HID devices, of course, and for my non-HID Plastation 2 to USB adapter (on which I use a wireless PS2 gamepad), and my printers.
And in my experience, whenever you attach ANYTHING to a Windows computer, it pops up the "FINDING NEW HARDWARE" window, and asks you for drivers or tries to find them itself. When it fails to find drivers (whether or not the device needs them) it sulks and your device won't work.
I still run Windows (on my Mac) and worked with Windows in tech support for 12 years. I'm no stranger to installing junk on people's computers for them, and I'm certainly not unaware of Windows' driver difficulties. Sometimes you do, indeed, need to "fool" Windows into seeing a device. So far, I've only had that happen with one device on a Mac, and that was a laptop using a WiFi card not meant for the Mac.
I'm not really concerned about support for this 360 wireless device, because I know that even if it doesn't work straight-up on the Mac, the third-party or community programmers will have something out there to do the job in a short amount of time.
That's why I'm able to use my Mac to network with the 360's media connection. Connect360 for Mac OS X lets me do as much with the Mac and a 360 as I can with WinXP and a 360. The Mac community may be smaller, but a lot gets accomplished.
This thing will work with the Mac in less than three months from launch, if not instantly.