hello, I tried your [hidin] extern and got it to "work." by that I mean it can create the object. I'm still kind of confused about it. I loaded the patch, and then hit the bang button, and this is what i got to print in the main window:

hidin: ** found 4 devices on your system hidin: -1 None hidin: -- could not get device #1: Access is denied.

hidin: -- can not read from mouse and keyboard hidin: 1 Unsupported Device hidin: 2 Microsoftﾮ Digital Media Pro Keyboard hidin: 3 Microsoftﾮ Digital Media Pro Keyboard hidin: -- could not get device #4: Access is denied.

hidin: -- can not read from mouse and keyboard hidin: 4 Unsupported Device

I am having some trouble understanding this. I am running pd on a dell laptop. it has four (4) usb ports on the back. right now, if you are looking at the computer from the front, from left to right, the devices are as follow: 1. Lexicon Omega (I/O box) 2. Western Digital Hard drive (has a usb port on it.) 3. 4 port usb hub: A. mouse B. printer C. Microsoft keyboard. 4. Yamaha MIDI keyboard. that is the lineup i am workin with as far as usb is concerned.

I then clicked the "[open 1(" message box and it said this:

hidin: -- could not get device #1: Access is denied.

hidin: -- can not read from mouse and keyboard

I got devices 2-3 to "open" but the route was not affected. That's all I have for now.

Thanks for all your help, Robert.