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October, 2001 Diablo Blue Page 11 |
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Unofficially, USB Could Mean 'User's Super Buddy' Officially, USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus." Unofficially, I think it could translate to "User's Super Buddy" for PC and Mac users. Anybody who tried to install and configure a peripheral device in the old pre-USB days likely will agree. Back then, the chore was a major one, especially with PCs. It required a ton of computer savvy and no little amount of luck. First, you had to figure out which port to use from a bunch of confusing possibilities. Then in most cases, you had to pull the cover off your computer (always scary, for either Mac or PC) to install an add-in card. For PCs, this often required setting pesky DIP switches. Next came the job of finding and configuring an available IRQ, not always easy. Basic system components used up some IRQs; serial devices already installed used up still more. It was a fun job, yessir! I can recall blowing the better part of a day trying to install a single new peripheral in computers ranging from the venerable XT through a variety of X86 machines, even into WinTel systems of the '90s. (Mac users had it easier but USB has been a boon for them, too.) Windows Plug'n'Play eased the problem, when it worked, but it took USB to solve it completely. With USB, a computer automatically recognizes the device connected and installs the appropriate drivers. It enables computer users to "hot-plug" computer peripherals to their PCs. ("Hot-plugging" means you can plug in and unplug peripherals with have to power down and then reboot your computer, no small benefit.) Not that there weren't difficulties at first. I heard many complaints from people who tried to install USB ports and devices in the early days of the technology. The problems usually arose from trying to use USB in hardware or software systems that weren't ready for it; i.e. older systems that hadn't been built with USB compatibility in mind. I do not recall getting any similar complaints during the past year. Lack of USB devices was a problem at first but now they're everywhere. USB offers many more benefits than simple installation. First, USB (Version 1.1) can carry data at up to 12 megabits per second (Mbps), 100 times faster than any serial port. This broad category includes digital cameras, modems, keyboards, mice, printers, digital joysticks, some CD-ROM drives, tape and floppy drives, digital scanners and specialty printers. USB's data rate also accommodates a whole new generation of peripherals: MPEG-2 video-base products, data gloves, digitizers and computer-telephony, expected to be a big growth area for PCs and Macs. (In addition, USB provides an interface such business-oriented technologies as Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and digital PBXs.) The latest version of USB, Version 2.0, introduced late in 2000, offers even faster communication, with bandwidth up to 400 Mbps. It easily accommodates high-performance peripherals, such as monitors, video conferencing cameras, next-generation printers, and faster storage devices. Happily, USB 2.0 is backward-compatible with Version 1.1 Next, one or two USB ports can support many peripherals. In theory, up to 127 devices can be |
