computer question (slightly O/T)

Hi Troops:

My computer has a couple of USB ports and they are filled. I am thinking about some more extras that are USB connected. I have seen a gadget on sale at Office Depot that interests me. It has a USB connector on a short cable and a circular fixture on the other end with 4 USB ports. In essence it sort of creates a USB "octopus outlet". Anybody try one of these and how well does it work?

Bill Shuey

Reply to
William H. Shuey
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yes thats ok BUT get a powerd one, one with its own power unit. this is v important esp with usb modems.

i use one as you mention, but thats for a mouse and small light, anything else i would get a powerd one.

Reply to
Julian 'Penny for the guy' Hales

This is a USB hub - don't know about this particular one but I have used many and they all work fine.

Just two minor points to be aware of

(i) Many USB devices take their power from the computer via the USB cable. Obviously as you increase the number of devices the current draw increases. Most on board computer USB systems are limited to 0.5A total across all ports. If you exceed this the computer may start switching down ports or behaving erratically. The best way to avoid this, is to make sure you buy a USB hub that is powered - has its own power supply.

(ii) Although I haven't come across any problems personally, I have seen some devices claim that they will not work if connected to a hub. Personally I don't think this is true (might have been a few years ago) but in any event if a device does appear to misbehave just make sure that one is connected direct to a computer USB rather than the hub.

Cheers,

Nigel

Reply to
Nigel Heather

they usually work fine with usb 2.0

1.2 might have issues. ymmv
Reply to
e

That's what USB is designed for . The gadget is called a USB Hub, and will work like a charm. You can theoretically daisy-chain several hubs together to connect up all sorts of perephirals, but I think there's a practical limit as far as power and sharing goes. 4 extras will not be noticed.

Reply to
Jessie C

Bill, my motherboard had two USB ports on back and a connection for two more USB ports on it to plug a cable into, I got a cable with USB ports on it from New Egg to put them on the front also. Mine supports 2.0 You might look at the info on your motherboard and see if it has the connections on it for that. New Egg had a very good price on it, I have bought all my stuff from New Egg. But I don't foresee any problems with the "USB Hub". Mike

Reply to
Mike G.

Hi Troops:

Thanks for the feedback! Looks like I will spend a few bucks this weekend and improve the convenience of my computer a bit.

Bill Shuey

Reply to
William H. Shuey

I run a Mac mini after years on a PC, so all of my peripherals are USB instead of firewire. The Mac mini has two USB ports and I have two of the 4>1 'octopuses' hooked into the back. On them I have my printer, PDA, iPod, Scanner, Camera, wireless keyboard and mouse receiver, 80GB stand alone hard drive, and a card reader hooked in through them. The only thing you need to watch is hooking too many items up that do not come with their own power supply. All of my items except the card reader and keyboard/mouse receiver are plugged in on their own power. USB item without power supplies draw their power from your computer and sooner or later will drag them down till they can't function. (I think my Mac would whimper and hide in the corner if I tried to run all these items off the computers power!) According to theory, as long as the power supplied is separate, the number of items to hook up is infinite, the most I've ever seen was at my work's IS department where they had about 80+ items hooked in and available to one computer (mostly hard drives), but I have no idea how why they wanted to do that! lol TMB

Reply to
Michael Brizendine User

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