Number 211a - Year End 2000
USB -- Universal Serial Bus
from User Friendly newsletter of Los Angeles PCUG
    Two representatives of Belkin Components, Keith Renty and Sergio Vera, presented Belkin's USB product line.

    USB, Universal Serial Bus, is a method of connecting peripheral equipment to PC's or MAC's. It can be used to replace network connections, serial ports, parallel ports, and even sound cards. Up to 127 devices can be connected. Just about all new computers sold in the past year or more have been delivered with one or two USB ports.

    The principal advantages of USB over serial and parallel ports include:

     12 Megabit/Second transfer rate

     127 devices per system. The ports may be daisy-chained

     The next generation of USB will increase the speed to 480 MB/Sec.

    Keith stated that most existing printers (except for some from Canon, Lexmark and Epson) would see a 25% to 50% performance improvement simply by connecting it via a USB parallel adapter (which allows a parallel device to communicate via a USB port). Some of this is due to the greatly reduced time to start up, and would be most pronounced with large, complex print pages.

    A number of USB components were presented, including adapters that allow current SCSI, serial and parallel devices to be connected via USB, a network interface adapter (limited to l0BaseT), USB keyboard and mouse adapters, and Belkin keyboards and mice. Also described were multi-port hubs, a USB docking station, a small "travel hub" measuring only 1" x 2" x 3", a top-of-the-line surge protector, and a high-quality modem-to-phone line connection cord. Almost all can all be seen at www.belkin.com.

    The presentation mentioned USB-connectable peripheral devices that are, or soon will be available.

These included printers, the Intel/Mattel microscope that was presented to LACS last year, sewing machines, keyboards (gee; a 12 MB/S keyboard for REALLY fast typists), and others.

    Some of their packaging coordinates well with the transparent, colorful IMAC's. In fact, a few of their devices come with a set of colored replaceable covers.
    After some prodding, it was stated that each USB device (after the one or two that are included on a PC) requires an additional .5 AMP of power. The USB hubs that were presented all come with the necessary power connection--that is, another item to be plugged into the wall.

    Belkin started in 1983 as a producer of cables and connectors, along with some niche market electronic components. This history showed itself in the nature of the presentation, which emphasized the products themselves while spending only very limited time on how these products could provide solutions to existing problems. This was in marked contrast to the previous month's presentation by PowerQuest, which took the opposite approach, starting with computing needs and then showing how their products could address them
   
USB to Serial Port Adapter           USB to Parallel Port Adapter
 
   
4-Port USB Hub                                  Multiple Unit USB Dock

TOGGLE Editor's Note:
    You may need to add a hub to provide more USB ports for new peripheral devices. Obviously Belkin are not the only manufacturer of USB devices. Visits to local computer stores, especially the mega-chains1 like CompUSA or COSTCO, are worthwhile if only to check availability and prices. In general, capability is going up and prices are coming down. When choosing hubs look for those powered units which can sense and adapt to both high and low (10/100 BaseT) throughput, especially if you are hooked up to cable or DSL.

1 BTW: Did you know that Fry's have bought or leased Boeing's Parking Lot 6 in Renton and will probably be opening a store there next year?   
 
  Number 211a - Year End 2000