USB Page
JohnKalpus.com

Last updated: Saturday, April 07, 2007

USB, an acronym for Universal Serial Bus, is a new style of architecture and connector for laptop and desktop PCs. Devices (printers, scanners,etc.) which have a USB port can be connected to a PC (or iMac) via a simple 4-wire USB cable. Up to 126 devices can be connected together, or daisy-chained via a USB hub - like a simple extension cord.

In order for USB to function, a PC must be running at least Windows 95B (v. 4.00.950B) or newer. However Windows 98 is highly recommended. Macs should be running MacOS 8.0 or newer. USB peripherals can also be "hot-swapped" -- changed out of the USB connection while the PC is up and running. Never disconnect a non-USB peripheral while the computer is still active! Damage to your peripheral and/or motherboard could result.

USB v 1.0 vs. 2.0
USB devices employing USB v. 1.0 can enjoy transmission speeds in the range of 1.5 -12 mbps (million bits per second. The recently implimented USB 2.0 standard accelerates transmission speeds up to 480 mbs. USB 2.0 adapter cards are just now (MJuly, 2001) hitting the marketplace. The current, ever-increasing crop of devices which are USB compliant include printers, speakers, scanners, cameras, headsets, mouses, keyboards, joysticks, etc.

USB 2.0 adapters are backwardly compatible with 1.0 devices, but only newer 2.0 compliant devices will benefit from increased speeds.

Here are some examples of USB devices:

	HP USB adapter hub
	Entrega USB to Ethernet adapter
	PCI slot USB adapter card

See also:
Firewire (IEE P1394) information

Apple USB Website: http://www.apple.com/usb/
Office USB Organization Website: http://www.usb.org/

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