windows 95 doesn't support usb out of the box, the supplement gives the system the capability to see and interact with such hardware, but drivers incorporated into it are very basic, hence it causes bugs and doesn't support correctly some hardware that is slightly different to the original spec.
if you want correct usb support there's notting older than 98SE or 2000

weldum wrote on 2020-03-22, 17:51:

windows 95 doesn't support usb out of the box, the supplement gives the system the capability to see and interact with such hardware, but drivers incorporated into it are very basic, hence it causes bugs and doesn't support correctly some hardware that is slightly different to the original spec.
if you want correct usb support there's notting older than 98SE or 2000

I always knew that USB support was lacking (one of the main reasons why I haven't used 95 much in the past), but I'd at least expect USB game controllers to work since there's a HID driver in 95's database. I have 22 computers so I'm willing to give 95 a chance on a separate hard drive on this PC. I'm pretty sure there were early USB sidewinders that supported 95, right? Maybe the driver for one of those could work? At the very least, maybe it would add better HID support with the driver for my other controllers 😁

i really doubt that, the hid driver only supports standard mouse and keyboard, bear in mind that usb was created in 96 but really started to be used in the late 99

weldum wrote on 2020-03-22, 18:19:

i really doubt that, the hid driver only supports standard mouse and keyboard, bear in mind that usb was created in 96 but really started to be used in the late 99

The HID driver is listed under "Sound, video, and game controllers" so that's why I feel like this should work somehow. I really wish I had bought a Sidewinder gamepad back when my main thrift store had them all the time. Now all they have are USB controllers which I don't need more of 😂 😭

Note that this forum is for old Windows games on *modern* systems. Ask old hardware and driver/configuration questions in Marvin. Marvin, the Paranoid Android

Moved to Marvin -> General Old Hardware.

weldum wrote on 2020-03-22, 18:19:

i really doubt that, the hid driver only supports standard mouse and keyboard, bear in mind that usb was created in 96 but really started to be used in the late 99

Microsoft released several USB-based Sidewinder controllers before Win98 was out. So they must work in Win95, otherwise that would have made no sense... I own a SideWinder Precision Pro (rev.2) which came with an USB adapter out-of-the-box. That's from late 1996 or early 1997.

derSammler wrote on 2020-03-23, 08:00:

weldum wrote on 2020-03-22, 18:19:

i really doubt that, the hid driver only supports standard mouse and keyboard, bear in mind that usb was created in 96 but really started to be used in the late 99

Microsoft released several USB-based Sidewinder controllers before Win98 was out. So they must work in Win95, otherwise that would have made no sense... I own a SideWinder Precision Pro (rev.2) which came with an USB adapter out-of-the-box. That's from late 1996 or early 1997.

Yes, you can use it via GamePort. Here's the relevant KB Article with a compatiblity table:
https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/243/Q243981/