USB 1 - USB 2

byTed Peterson
In the last few years the means of storing, scanning, etc. has changed. Up until 2000 if you wanted to have a storage device, scanner, printer, or other device working on your computer they either had to be inside the computer, works on a printer port or be a scsi device. There were limitations on all of them.
If you were using the printer port, you could only have a printer and one other device. Scanners, etc were slow.
You only had so much space inside the computer and there are limits on what can be added.
Scsi were large and had a limit of 7 items but it was fast. At this time you cannot buy any scsi items. They have been replaced.
In the late nineties a new item came out called USB. This stands for Universal Serial Bus. It had a data transfer rate on up to 12 Mbps. Where ScSi took a lot of power USB did not and you could plug up to 128 items on a computer (No one would ever do that). You did not have to have them hooked together, one after another. USB can be side by side. You can pick up a hub and plug in 7 or so items and then in one slot plug in another hub and add 7 more.
If you used the small or unpowered hubs some item some times may not work as they did not add enough power to work. If you replace them with a larger one the item would work.
In 2000 a new item came out called "firewire" It had a transfer rate of about 28 times faster then USB. A few items have been made but so far it has not taken hold.
In 2001 a new item came out called USB-2. This had a transfer rate of 480Mbps. Some new items are now on the market and most people think that it will take over every thing.
You can get a new card for your computer that would add USB 2 to your computer. Most of them (check before picking one up) will also let you use both USB 1 and USB2 items. I picked one up by SIIG, Inc. called "USB 2.0 Adapter" that added 5 USB ports to my computer. I plugged in 3 USB 1 items and they work good. Make sure that you get the USB 2 adapter because the regular USB1 box looks the same. My cost was $40.00.
I took about 10 minutes to install and about 1 minute to load the program. You can use the 5 ports on this cards and the ports that came with you computer. If your computer had 2 ports, you now have 7. When a 4 or 7 port hub cost $40.00 or more this will replace one of your hub.
I have 3 BussLink hard drives that before I had the USB 2 adapter installed could not be plugged in until the computer desk top was up and running. After plugging them into the USB 2 card they work all the time. This card is backward supported.
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