Ok the time is finally here.... as of .117u1 the new input system is finally out. I haven't really ran it through it's paces yet, but from what I can tell it's really good.
Ok I'll just post the quotes and explain what this means to our community (in terms of changes and improvments)
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Added two new options: -multikeyboard and -multimouse. By default,
both options are OFF. When OFF, the core will combine all keyboard
or mouse input into a single keyboard or mouse device. When ON,
these options instruct the core to keep inputs for each keyboard
and/or mouse independent.
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Ok first off, you know a few months back how the new "improved" mouse system came out and totally ruined it for those of us with a single trackball/spinner/whatever? Well this fixes it. Just as I suggested way back then, the raw-mouse code is finally optional! The new multi-keyboard is fairly useless from my point of view (who needs more than 256 inputs?) but since it's optional it won't hurt anything. Viewer devs will have to add support for multiple keybaords eventually, but as-is, things should work with the current setups.
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* Added new option: -joystick_map. This option allows for a 9x9 grid
to be specified which controls analog-to-digital mapping of
joystick inputs.
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Now I haven't played with this yet, but this is frikkin awesome! For those of you who don't get it... Now you can use an analog joystick for a shifter, make custom plates, and map a DIGITAL shift button to each position! Bascially it means one shifter to rule them all.
I have no clue how it's implemented, I'll have to really look at it. No clue how this could be addded to controls viewers.
Judging by the replies, this is more of an analog-to-digital converter, al-la the "sticky" option, but more advanced. In theory it could still be used for such a thing, but not exactly in the way I described.
It's more for blocking out directions for 4-ways and 45 degree 4-ways and what-not.
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* Changed the Windows implementation of input handling to fully
support the raw input interfaces for keyboard and mouse.
DirectInput is still used for all joystick inputs, as well as for
keyboard and mouse inputs on pre-Windows XP systems. This allows
for multiple keyboards and mice to be supported. Also changed
keyboard and mouse behavior to use non-exclusive mode in
DirectInput, and to keep the devices alive during pause for more
consistent input handling.
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This one is very specific to devs... basically it means you can send input to mame in a more reliable manner, which is a good thing. Again, I haven't tested it yet, so it might end up making things worse, but from what I get, it's a good thing.....
So good news all around... I'm no expert on any of this, but post your questions and I'll try to answer them or get them answered.