-
-
- I have only one USB port on my computer and need at least 2, and could use three or four. I find that 2-port USB cards are priced ~$125. I just noticed a couple ads for 4-port USB hubs that only cost ~$25 (yea I know, I don’t habitually shop much). Do these things usually work? Does it just plug into the single existing USB port, or is it more complicated to set up? (the mail-order ads don’t say) What I want to use it for is a MP3 player hookup, and one game controller, maybe two. None of these things (in the USB ports) will likely be used at the same time. The computer has only 1 game controller port, and when I had 3 regular-plug game controllers I would switch between, it often wouldn’t identify the plugged-in game controller even if I tried to specify it. The single USB always properly identifies whatever’s on it; will this hub-thingy also? Compared to a $125 card, $25 seems to be an awful cheap alternate solution. - MC
-
MC, USB devices can be “daisy chained” if they have the connector (most don’t). What this means is that it is a bus and you can connect several devices to it. All you need is a way of connecting them (a splitter-connector or whatever it is called). (I am simplifying, because there are power considerations and other things)
Get a powered hub.
USB was designed so multiple devices can be attached to the same port- “daisy chained” as sailor said.
Setting up a powered hub is easy- plug the power brick into the wall, attach the power cord to the hub, plug the hub into your USB port, then plug devices into it. You don’t need to install drivers for it, and devices will autoconfigure themselves like they would if you had four ports.
My USB keyboard has a built-in two port hub; my mouse is plugged into one port, and I can plug a scanner, joystick, printer, or handheld into the other without having to get on my knees and find a port in back of my computer.
What…$ 125.00! Where are you shopping MC?
PCI based dual USB cards are 30.00 - 35.00 or so! If you want proof I’ve got a new one hanging around I’m not using I’ll let you have for $ 20.00 + 4.00 shipping. Having said that, a hub is still probably the best solution although some of the more complex USB peripherals I’ve run into don’t play well with others on a shared hub and require a non-shared USB channel all to themselves.
-
-
- Re: $125, , , I went to Egghead and entered “USB card” into the search engine. (I tried a couple other things, but they didn’t return any results) The two or three that came up, had 2 USB ports each, and both were about that much. I dunno nuts about hardware, so it was likely something else - ? - MC
-
I would push you towards a add in PCI card as opposed to a hub (given that they are close in price … not the #'s you mentioned … the other people had some accurate pricing).
When you add additional ports to your machine, you add additional data channels … since many USB devices are bandwidth hungry, if the prices are similar, you are better off using the card as it will add additional data pathways and improve your overall USB performance.
It seems he does not need the bandwidth (he says the devices wil not be used at the same time and furthermore, no camera or other high bandwith device) and I would think you can get an unpowered hub for close to nothing and a powered one for very little more than that.
My computer has two connectors. On one I have the Kodak DVC 323 camera and on the other the Entrega USBnet local network (for the laptop) and I have never had any problem.
I have to disagree. Adding a USB port is much more tricky than adding a hub, since you have to juggle IRQ channels, I/O addresses and all that. Plug and Play doesn’t help you if you have no free IRQ channels at all.
Separate USB ports may have better performance, but only if you want to use several high-bandwidth devices simultaneously. I don’t think that happens too often.