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Home > Archive > Electrical Engineering > June 2006 > USB multiway adapter: any good?
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USB multiway adapter: any good?
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| I recently got a external USB hub.
It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
has the components and four USB sockets.
Is this sort of thing any good?
ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
device's firmware
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| Paul Hovnanian P.E. 2006-06-17, 8:25 pm |
| Jon D wrote:
>
> I recently got a external USB hub.
>
> It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
> It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
> has the components and four USB sockets.
>
> Is this sort of thing any good?
If it works, it must have more than just a few passive components. If it
really only has a few passive components, then chances are it doesn't
work.
By 'work', I mean handle more than one USB device simultaneously.
> ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
> device's firmware
If its a true USB hub, it shouldn't affect how XP (or any other O/S)
talks to the peripheral devices. If XP is messing up, its doing it on
its own. Its possible that there may be a conflict between the device
drivers for two devices that only surfaces when both are plugged in.
--
Paul Hovnanian mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
The world is coming to an end ... SAVE YOUR BUFFERS!!!
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| In article <Xns97E674946D6817E53A@127.0.0.1>, Jon D <jon@nomail.com> wrote:
> I recently got a external USB hub.
>
> It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
> It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
> has the components and four USB sockets.
>
> Is this sort of thing any good?
>
> ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
> device's firmware
Maybe there is a chip hidden on the other side of the circuit board ?
This datasheet has some sample schematics for hub designs.
Download is about 400KB or so.
http://logout.sh/computers/projects...20R2-020108.pdf
The currently available doc from Alcor is not nearly as useful.
http://www.alcormicro.com/system/up...37/download.pdf
Paul
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| On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 00:42:58 +0100, Jon D <jon@nomail.com>
wrote:
>I recently got a external USB hub.
>
>It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
>It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
>has the components and four USB sockets.
It must have (an active) chip on it to support more than one
port.
>
>Is this sort of thing any good?
If it really doesn't have the chip it is a bizarre
defective design, not even a USB hub regardless of what it's
labeled as. Keep in mind that some "chips" are now
integrated, might look like a blob of (black?) epoxy
directly on the circuit board with the chip die embedded in
(under) it. While this is a crude ultra-low cost way to do
it, it could still work fine if made like that, if it were
the only issue at play which certainly isn't the case.
>
>ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
>device's firmware
It could be defective, have you any other hubs that work
properly on that system, "now"? I ask "now" because a
windows box can be dynamic, with the service packs and other
patches things can become working or non-working.
Also if it is a passive hub (no external power), you may
find some hi powered (beyond about 80(?) mA, to give the hub
electronics themselves a random, though probably inflated,
20mA current budget) devices won't work.
If you are plugging such a device into the hub, try a mouse
or keyboard, or some other device with it's own power supply
(and that is also designed to use that power supply while
USB linked, as some only use it while un-linked and turned
"on" in working, not data-transfer, mode).
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| Adrian C 2006-06-18, 3:25 am |
| Jon D wrote:
> I recently got a external USB hub.
>
> It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
> It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
> has the components and four USB sockets.
I think I know what you are looking at.
Here in the UK, we have a chain of discount stores (PoundLand) that sell
a USB 2.0 4 port hub for just a pound(!). Bit like a dollar store in the
US. The item is a transparent tatty-toy-plastic 2" by 2" square, 1/3"
thick, 4-ports arranged mid-lengthways and 4 passives (2 electrolytics,
1 ceramic & an LED), and has a paper (SRBP) PCB with a solder-side chip
epoxy bonded as others have suggested.
>
> Is this sort of thing any good?
>
Quite frankly, at it's cost I didn't expect this thing to work at all -
and bought it just for some entertainment value and eventual butchering
for PCB mount USB sockets. It is however OK at USB 2.0 support, and ran
with quite a few memory sticks and other USB items connected through
other hubs!
> ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
> device's firmware
Worth another try. Could have been unrelated?
--
Adrian C
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| Noozer 2006-06-18, 9:25 am |
|
"Adrian C" <email@here.invalid> wrote in message
news:4fkbhhF1k3t97U1@individual.net...
> Jon D wrote:
>
> I think I know what you are looking at.
>
> Here in the UK, we have a chain of discount stores (PoundLand) that sell a
> USB 2.0 4 port hub for just a pound(!). Bit like a dollar store in the US.
> The item is a transparent tatty-toy-plastic 2" by 2" square, 1/3" thick,
> 4-ports arranged mid-lengthways and 4 passives (2 electrolytics, 1 ceramic
> & an LED), and has a paper (SRBP) PCB with a solder-side chip epoxy bonded
> as others have suggested.
> Quite frankly, at it's cost I didn't expect this thing to work at all -
> and bought it just for some entertainment value and eventual butchering
> for PCB mount USB sockets. It is however OK at USB 2.0 support, and ran
> with quite a few memory sticks and other USB items connected through other
> hubs!
Definately sounds interesting... I wonder how a bloke could get a handful
mailed over to Canada?
; )
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| On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 08:46:18 GMT, "Noozer"
<dont.spam@me.here> wrote:
>Definately sounds interesting... I wonder how a bloke could get a handful
>mailed over to Canada?
>
>; )
>
You can probably find something similar if not exact same
thing on ebay. It might be worth the extra couple bucks to
get a powered one instead though, unless it's only for
notebook use.
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| PanHandler 2006-06-18, 9:25 am |
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"Jon D" <jon@nomail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns97E674946D6817E53A@127.0.0.1...
>I recently got a external USB hub.
Here's an example of USB proliferation:
http://public.fotki.com/PanHandler/miscellaneous/ Never a problem.
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| PanHandler 2006-06-18, 9:25 am |
|
"PanHandler" <panhandler@emptyhat.net> wrote in message
news:Qzclg.94260$iB2.82662@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
>
> "Jon D" <jon@nomail.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns97E674946D6817E53A@127.0.0.1...
>
> Here's an example of USB proliferation:
> http://public.fotki.com/PanHandler/miscellaneous/ Never a problem.
oops - bottom of page 1, top of page 2. Click on thumbnails and resulting
larger version for full-size version.
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| Noozer 2006-06-18, 5:25 pm |
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"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:8haa92lm2kma9d920is0d2vukhdidrla12@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 08:46:18 GMT, "Noozer"
> <dont.spam@me.here> wrote:
>
>
[color=darkred]
> You can probably find something similar if not exact same
> thing on ebay. It might be worth the extra couple bucks to
> get a powered one instead though, unless it's only for
> notebook use.
Nah... just something to pull apart, etc...
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| > Jon D wrote:
On 18 Jun 2006, Adrian C<email@here.invalid> wrote:[color=darkred]
>
> I think I know what you are looking at.
>
> Here in the UK, we have a chain of discount stores (PoundLand) that
> sell a USB 2.0 4 port hub for just a pound(!). Bit like a dollar
> store in the US. The item is a transparent tatty-toy-plastic 2" by
> 2" square, 1/3" thick, 4-ports arranged mid-lengthways and 4
> passives (2 electrolytics, 1 ceramic & an LED), and has a paper
> (SRBP) PCB with a solder-side chip epoxy bonded as others have
> suggested.
That is exactly it! Oh so that raised blob on the edge of the circuit
board is a chip? I hadn't realised that.
> Quite frankly, at it's cost I didn't expect this thing to work at
> all - and bought it just for some entertainment value and eventual
> butchering for PCB mount USB sockets. It is however OK at USB 2.0
> support, and ran with quite a few memory sticks and other USB items
> connected through other hubs!
The USB 2.0 devices which I attach to this adapter seem to be
constrained to USB 1.1.
I too didn't expect it to work. However I have had an XP blue screen
and wondered if I was experiencing a hardware problem due to this
device.
>
> Worth another try. Could have been unrelated?
>
I am *guessing* that this adaptor (which is detected by XP as a separate
USB-attached device) does not have its own unique serial number. If so
then it may trigger that rather nasty XP problem. encountered
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| On 18 Jun 2006, PanHandler<panhandler@emptyhat.net> wrote:
>
> "PanHandler" <panhandler@emptyhat.net> wrote in message
> news:Qzclg.94260$iB2.82662@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
>
> oops - bottom of page 1, top of page 2. Click on thumbnails and
> resulting larger version for full-size version.
Ummm, that is a lot of USB devices!
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| John Gilmer 2006-06-21, 1:25 pm |
|
"Jon D" <jon@nomail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns97E674946D6817E53A@127.0.0.1...
> I recently got a external USB hub.
>
> It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
> It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
> has the components and four USB sockets.
>
> Is this sort of thing any good?
Yep!
Works just find.
Just about all of them have provision to bring in juice from a "wall wart"
but usually the computer has plenty of power to spare. Things like
printers don't draw any juice from the USB and things like "thumb drives"
don't use much power in the first place.
Enjoy.
>
> ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
> device's firmware
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| Alex Coleman 2006-06-25, 3:25 am |
| On 18 Jun 2006, Noozer<dont.spam@me.here> wrote:
>
> "kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
> news:8haa92lm2kma9d920is0d2vukhdidrla12@4ax.com...
>
>
> Nah... just something to pull apart, etc...
>
>
There is so little to it that it is almost trivial.
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