it's my pleasure to annouce that Poseidon is available as a new version V2.2.

After my seven months break due to my diploma thesis, I have reworked the HID class quite a bit. It now supports digital and analogue joypads via the lowlevel.library. Moreover, the class now supports changing of HID Output and Feature items (i.e. for keyboard LEDs or Force Feedback/Rumble joypads). Input values for items can now be scaled and clipped and flipped. There is support for local and global variables. The value that is used for the action can now also be redirected to origin from these variables, timers, click counts, etc, or randomly (e.g. for auto fire). Actions can now be triggered upon definable condition codes, making it even more powerful (you want to do a special action on three clicks with the middle mouse button, or when shift is pressed?, no problem!). The default keyboard mapping can now also be changed. All this comes with a price -- the GUI is now a bit more complex. But no worries -- you don't have to use these features, if you don't like to. The english version of the manual has been updated a bit to reflect the changes -- unfortunately, the german translation (done by Michael Böhmer) has been lost in a crash. I will update the guide accordingly, but this will take some more time.

Several classes have been updated, such as the massstorage.class. It now has some new default settings and fall back options.

The poseidon main library now fixes the problems created by broken Olympus cameras not being bound to the MSD class. It now also tries to assign better names to devices that don't come with string descriptors.

Trident has been rewritten into subclasses for the MorphOS mprefs and is now a bit more stable (I hope).

The installer script has been slightly updated and now contains spanish strings, kindly translated by Dámaso Domínguez.

The AddUSBHardware command now has an "ALL" option, allowing to take the stack offline by just issuing an "AddUSBHardware REMOVE ALL" line -- handy for game starting scripts.

Finally, the device driver for the Algor has been optimized a bit, and also a bug had been fixed.

That's it concerning the update (see below for changelog).

Now for something completely different. In August, I stopped taking registrations, because Elbox treated me badly (as a summary) and I hoped, that they would change their mind. I should have known better. They kept selling their cards, even though they knew that the users wouldn't be able to use them. They didn't care at all about the users and their fate.

As of today, the registration process is open again. Keyfiles can again be obtained from me directly (cash or bank transfer, no credit cards!). Please note that the licence fee has been increased a bit to reflect the new features added. Of course, no new keyfile are required for current users to use the V2.2 version.

IOSpirit will offer a bundle for ArakAttack users soon, details will be announced by IOSpirit in a few days (please don't bugger them right now). ArakAttack currently works on Amithlon and OpenPCI supported PCI bridge boards for OHCI and UHCI PCI cards (and onboard USB). EHCI (USB2.0) is being implemented and will be available later.

ArakAttack currently does not work on Mediator boards, but means are being prepared to get it running on these machines to offer a high-quality USB driver for any PCI card (including the Spider).

That's it for now. Hope you will enjoy the new Poseidon release and have a merry xmas and a happy new year. Who knows, maybe we will see many nice things happing during 2004. Such as the AmigaOS4 release or the Pegasos II.

Stay healthy! There's still much to come.

Best regards,
Chris Hodges

----------------------------- changelog -----------------------------------
poseidon.library 2.2
o Querying DA_CurrCfg now calls the USB command to be sure that the current config number is up to date (suggested by Uwe Ryssel). Removed that again, because he reported it to be of no use.
o Fixed a race condition for interface and device bindings. Caused some havoc on my Pegasos with four root hubs during PsdRestart.
o Added Epson mass storage interface patch for printers with card slots.
o Poseidon no longer ignores configurations, if the config was set without error but nevertheless returns a bad GetConfiguration number. Fixes problems with broken Olympus cameras.
o Implemented DA_CloneCount. Mounting two devices with exactly the same VendorID, ProductID and serial number will give it a unique clone count number (e.g. required when plugging in two joypads from the very same vendor -- this still allows different prefs for the second one).
o Due to popular demand, the "welcome" line has been cosmetically fixed.
o Now generates more meaningful names for the device name according to the interface class, if the device cannot say its name itself.
o Empty device descriptor strings are now considered to be invalid.

Trident 2.0
o More rewriting for subclasses.
o Lots of internal changes, I cannot remember.
o Lots of fixes for the subwindow handling.
o Automatic updating works again.
o Reintroduced Poseidon-Logo to USB.mprefs.
o Generally, more robust.
o Added Online/Offline menu items.

Installer script 1.8
o Added spanish installer strings and licence translation courtesy of Dámaso Domínguez.
o Small changes for better ArakAttack support.

serialpl2303.class 1.8
o Added detection of Sitecom serial adapter (reported by Jens Bagh).

rawwrap.class 1.7
o Added default settings for epson scanners, as requested by FelixS. massstorage.class 1.23
o Simple SCSI patchflag now disables geometry scan.
o Added two new GUI option for patchflags.
o Fixed a misplaced CloseLibrary() reported by jacaDcaps
o Improved fssm check as suggested by Heinz Wrobel.
o Changed default settings to CMD6->CMD10, no initial reset and simple SCSI.

hid.class 1.6
o Restricted assignment of mouse buttons and pointer movement to mouse and tablet items (connecting joypads don't block the mouse anymore).
o Raw keymap strings enhanced to be user readable and more friendly.
o Added missing keyboard mapping stuff.
o Added option to disable all actions.
o Added option to show the current values of an item.
o Added absolute to relative value translation (i.e. for joypads and tablets).
o Added clipping of values.
o Added scaling of values.
o Added pre-condition codes for actions (you probably do not grasp the power that's behind this tiny line, but just read the manual).
o Added input redirection for action values.
o Added optional tracking of key events for keyboard mapping.
o Generated default actions for joypads.
o Added patching of lowlevel.library/ReadJoyPort() for digital joystick emulation (works great on MAME).
o Added a button to copy an existing action (might come in handy).
o Introduced a new trigger if the value returned was out of bound (needed for hatswitch, stupid stupid design flaw of the HID specs IMHO).
o Added default actions for digital pads (hatswitches).
o Added default actions for analogue sticks. Warning: if you have got a joypad with hatswitch (digital pad), you need to disable the hatswitch default actions, because they will interfere with the analogue stick handling (or use another port for it? :) ).
o Added a column for the current/last value in the items list. It does not get updated automatically, except for the selected item, if you enable "Report current values".
o Optimized action updating process when switching between two items (e.g. in track events mode).
o Fixed reading of item arrays that were not one or eight bits wide. Obviously, this code was never used (as I did not encounter one device yet that uses arbitarily sized items for an array).
o Added output and feature items and actions! Yay! This means you can now toggle the leds on a keyboard, toggle the force feedback (rumble) of a joypad, send out all kinds of data to the device.
o Added default actions for caps lock led.
o Added a new report/collection with two items to add actions on connection and disconnecting (i.e. variable initialization or sound playback).
o Lots and lots of internal changes I cannot quite remember.
o Source code for the HID class is now about 450 KB, just to get the picture.
o Last Action Hero subtask is now created on demand. This fixes the problems (reported by Hartmut Schulze) of the task not being generated at boot point (FlashRom), due to the lack of some of the required libraries.

printer.class 1.17
o Accepts now short packets on recieving without outputting an error message.

AddUSBClasses 1.3
o Now searches in MOSSYS:Classes/USB instead of SYS:Classes/USB, if found.

AddUSBHardware 1.5
o Added an ALL option. When used for adding hardware, all units are added until one fails. When used on REMOVE, it removes all active USB controller hardware, effectively switching off the stack.

AddUSBHardware 1.4
o On removal, checks only the given device name and not the path as requested by Günther Nikl.

algorusb.device 1.7
o Fixed a bug with packet size calculation on interrupt endpoints with MaxPktSize != 2^x. Sorry!!!
o Optimized interrupt ETD allocation. Turned on immediate interrupts for all endpoints. This should stop the performance loss some people have reported when connecting hubs.

PsdDevlister
o Now also returns IDStrings for Devices and Interfaces.
o Properly reports Application Bindings.
o Outputs a google search line ;)
o Replaced printf by Printf (smaller binary).