Griffin Technology

Can the USB connector on the iMate adapter be hot swapped? How about ADB devices?

The iMate should not normally be unplugged from the computer while it is running. It also should be connected to the computer before the system boots up. ADB by its very nature is not hot swappable. While the computer does see the iMate as a USB device, the computers still sees the ADB device as an ADB device so the same rules apply. The computer needs to see the ADB device at startup so that it loads the correct drivers for that device.

If you are just using a stock Apple single click mouse or a standard Apple keyboard then you do not need to use any of our drivers. In OSX or OS9 if you unplug the iMate repeatedly then it may drop the ADB chain and you will have to reboot in order to reestablish the ADB chain. If you are using any other type of ADB device in OS9 that requires a driver from the manufacturer of that device (such as a drawing tablet, trackball or multibutton mouse etc) then you must have the iMate installed at bootup in order for the drivers for those devices to load properly.

If you unplug the iMate or the device from the iMate when you are using drivers then the ADB device will be dropped from the ADB chain and you will have to restart the computer in order for the ADB device to be recognized again. There are no functional drivers for any ADB device in OSX so the iMate is limited to only be used with an Apple ADB mouse and an Apple ADB keyboard in OSX.