I can't get sysex data into PD ? MidiOX clearsly shows an incoming sysex string but Pure Data doesn't show anything of that ... Note on/off etc. is working ... Sysex however ...

what object are you using in pd for the midi?

I tried midiin and sysexin .

maybe have a go with [midirealtimein]

that's the only other option i can think of. midi on pd has never worked too well for me, so i have generally avoided it.

midirealtimein doesn't work either on VISTA ... well I thought PD could handle these basic MIDI tasks pretty well ... even on Windows ... I think i'd better look for a C++ environment like JUCE to start building apps ...

yeah pd's midi handling sux. i get the impression there's a general dislike for the midi standard amongst the pd developers.

fair enough too, i guess. in the computer age, midi is a bit of a living fossil. it is very inefficient, slow, and troublesome.

you don't see too many complaints about OSC ports not working. although, i am a bit baffled why OSC is not handled by the vanilla distribution.

Don't blame Pd, but maybe Vista (as usual...). I never had problems with midi on windows. It even works better than described in Pd (like there in fact is no problem with [midiin]).
Maybe its your hardware or that driver??
I even use an oldskool midi-gameport-cable...