Re: [AD] win directx Joystick driver

["Eric Botcazou" <ebotcazou@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> I'm new to this list, and wanted to ask if there's a reason
> that the joystickdriver for win32 is not DirectX based -

Yes, backward compatibility with DirectX 3.0, needed to support
Windows NT4.

> and if it's ok if I write a DirectX joystick driver.

I would say yes again (see further) if you restrict yourself to the
DirectInput 5.0 API.
But then we will have to seriously cope with this multiple DirectX versions
issue.
Btw, I've heard that the DirectX 3e version included in Windows NT4 SP3 and
later is a mix between DirectX 3 and DirectX 5. Has anyone more detailed
informations about that ?

> i don't know why, but since Allegro has no limit on the number of drivers
> it can use, this would probably be good, as a dx based driver is likely
> to be able to cope with more hardware than others, since i doubt the other
> api is updated as zealously by ms.

You may be right. There is already a bug report at SourceForge about a USB
joystick not working with Allegro. The USB support was officially introduced
with Windows 98 which features... DirectX 5.0, so I think a DirectInput 5.0
based driver could solve the problem.

> that said, i think it would be a welcome addition (unless the absence of
> it had a tech reason, but i can't think of any).

I agree, in spite of the version issue.

--
Eric Botcazou
ebotcazou@xxxxxxxxxx