Re:

[da5id]

...may require more USB bandwidth than others, and there may not be enough left to support your scanner. "  



Now we're stuck w/ USB even though firewire ala Mac has 10x the bandwith and USB too.





 

[Neon]

The USB and IEEE-1394 (FireWire) trade associations each describe their respective technologies as complementary. In fact, you supposedly can get computers with both (I haven't seen any, though).



USB 2.0 is supposedly available now, and it increases banswidth from 12 Mbits/s found in USB 1.1 to 480 Mbits/s.



This compares to 400 Mbits/s for IEEE-1394 (FireWire). However, IEEE-1394b is also on the way, and will support a whopping 3.2 Gbits/s. Is that enough bandwidth for you?



Check out

http://www.usb.org and

http://www.1394ta.org for more info.



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[Joanie]

Hey Neon,



My new system has 6 USB and 3 IEEE-1394. The keyboard also has a USB. Wish I knew what version they both used.



HP has now come out with the 1.5 gig and mine is a 1.4 and it is supposed to make a big difference.



There is no way anybody can keep up to date and that really bugs me.



Joanie



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[Neon]

Hi Joanie,



Now I just have to disagree. As long as you have enough money and garage space, it really is easy for anybody to keep up to date with the latest and greatest computer systems.

I may have jumped the gun just slightly - rereading the press release (dated Feb 27), it says that USB 2.0 devices will appear this spring. They finished defining the specifications in April 2000, and vendors had developed some prototypes by summer 2000. I haven't seen a picture of what the connector will look like, but it will presumably be the same, because they will maintain backwards compatibility. They mention that it will have a "Hi-Speed USB" logo, and that may be the only way to differentiate it.

Your question is good because things like keyboards, mice, and joysticks don't require the bandwidth of USB 2.0. It remains to be seen whether vendors will sell complete systems with a mix of the 'slow' and 'fast' USB ports, but I suspect it would make more sense (and be less confusing) to just switch everything over to USB 2.0.

In light of this, your new HP almost surely has the USB 1.1 ports, and the IEEE-1394b is still under development, and not yet available.

It looks like both of these standards will coexist for a while. It will be interesting to see whether they will remain complementary or become competitive.



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[Joanie]

This information about "The intricacies of USB" was obtained at the CNET site from the URL left by NEON in the PC Forum. Be sure to check out that  CNET URL.

 

Q. When I plug a scanner into my computer's USB port, it's listed as an unknown device, and I can't use it. What's the problem?



A. Windows should identify the USB device and let you install the drivers for it. Unfortunately, for more sophisticated USB devices (especially scanners and printers), you must install the drivers and applets before connecting the device to your PC. (Check the installation instructions.) After you preload the drivers, reboot the PC so that the drivers load into memory. Next, connect the scanner and turn it on. If the scanner still gives you trouble and other USB devices are connected to your PC, disconnect nonessential devices (such as a digital camera) and use the scanner by itself. Some devices--such as cameras--may require more USB bandwidth than others, and there may not be enough left to support your scanner.



Joanie



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