Talk:USB human interface device class

API section
This "USB HID API" section doesn't make sense. It seems this talks about two things and lumps them together:


 * Interfaces between kernel and hardware. I've never heard hardware interfaces described as an "API" by anyone.  Author seems to be misunderstanding the term.
 * Interfaces between kernel and user mode, i.e. what a user mode program uses to interact with HID devices. This could more properly be called an "API".  However some of the phrasing doesn't make sense, eg. "The USB HID API", as if there is only one.  Sure, there is one on Linux, one on Windows, etc...  There is not an API that could be called "the" API.

71.35.184.60 (talk) 17:09, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

What button does what?
From the article: "This abstraction layer allows a game to work with any USB controller, for example, even ones created after the game."

How does this work? Take gamepads, for example, which present axes, buttons, and POV switches. Does the HID spec say where each button is located relative to the other buttons? If not, how should an application know which button on a given device should perform what action, from the moment the application is started for the first time? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Damian Yerrick (talk • contribs) 17:14, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

Merge with Human interface device?
Shouldn't this article be merged with Article overlaps with Human interface device?

If not, each should refer to the other, and it should be clear why we need 2 articles. DavidMCEddy (talk) 17:33, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

Non-HID Devices
I perceive a need for a section on non-HID devices. Ideally, I'd like information on the dates when people started developing the HID standard, when the HID devices were first marketed, and when hosts started appearing that would not work with non-HID devices. In addition, I'd like to know roughly what percent of keyboards and other devices currently being sold are HID and what percent are not. This may be too much to ask, but I these are the things I had hoped to see in this article and didn't.

I'm not qualified to do this, because I had not heard of HID before yesterday. Four days earlier, I purchased a Samsung SmarTV Model Code UN32F5500. It has 2 USB ports. I attached the USB mouse and keyboard from an HP computer I purchased in 2010. The mouse worked, but the keyboard didn't. Samsung tech support said I needed a USB HID keyboard, and evidently that keyboard was not HID. I tried another USB keyboard I have with the same results.

I had purchased that computer from a high-volume retailer (Fry's Electronics) that rarely carries older models. This suggests that many devices are NOT HID. ??? DavidMCEddy (talk) 17:33, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

HID disambiguation
The disambiguation page on HID says it "may refer to ... Human interface device, a computer device that interacts with humans". This appears to be wrong. Based on what I've learned from this article and the one on Human interface device, I believe the disambiguation reference should say it's "a standard for computer devices that interact with humans, and devices that comply with that standard".

This is important, because many computer devices that interface with humans do not comply with the HID standard.

I've made this change. If it's wrong, please correct. Thanks. DavidMCEddy (talk) 17:33, 13 June 2013 (UTC)