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Vista vs. XP - Handling of USB
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jcrouse:
Does anyone know if anything has changed in the way Vista handles USB devices and the assignment of ID's as compared to XP? Are we still faced with the issues of removing/swapping/replacing USB devices and having them move around the way the do in XP?

Thanks,
John
zelony:
John,

It is the same.  It is not so much a Windows fault as a lack of foresight in the USB specification.  Since manufacturer's are not required to add a unique identifier to each USB device, Windows (and Linux) have no way of knowing which device is which, unless they are left on the exact same port. 

The problem is that most people have a hub to get extra ports, but that means that every device on the hub is on the same port.

I would suggest that instead of buying a hub, buy a USB PCI card for the extra ports.  The cost is about the same, but now you have new distinct ports.

Also, if your devices' cables are not long enough to reach the PC and that is why you use a hub, then buy an extender cable.  That will get the length without showing up as a hub.

Good luck.

Jeff
chemame:
Interesting discussion, and well explained. And for me it raises more questions:

I use W2K (egads!), and am having no problems whatsoever with my USB devices EXCEPT...
NFS:U, of all the crazy things, doesn't recognize more than 3 USB game devices. And because my 3 gamepads show up before my wheel, NFS:U is unplayable when all devices are connected.

So... a solution... I plugged my 3 gamepads into a hub, with an extension cable tucked inside the keyboard drawer, and my son (he's the NFS nut) unplugs the hub before running NFS, and everything's fine.

When the hub is reconnected, all the gamepads show up exactly where they should. Been doing this for months, and they've never moved around even a single time. Is this just dumb luck?

What's frustrating is, if MAME is run without my son remembering to reconnect the hub, it loses all joystick settings. I mean loses them GONE, so I have a backup default.cfg just in case this happens, which is generally does about once a week.  :-)

zelony:
Most likely you Game Pads have unique identifiers.

If forgetting to plug the cable back is a problem, I would suggest that you launch a .bat file when you start MAME to remind to plug it back in.  Or, simply rename the shortcut you use to launch MAME to "Plug in USB 1st". 

Good luck.

Jeff
Havok:
What about creating a batch file that runs on startup which copies over the config? That way, if the controllers are not plugged in, no big deal - next time you boot up, the setup will be there...
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