"...never a USB problem again!" Actually, I don't think there are USB problems. USB is a very good standard that supports a large variety of devices and configurations. The specification allows for simple point-to-point interface as well as hub/hosting, device sharing, and a number of other useful things.
However, there is a problem in how interfaces to a computer have evolved and the problem seems to always be associated with dealing with old antiquated technology while being faced with new standards and new capability. For example, when PCs were first introduced, the parallel port seemed to be the ubiquitous interface medium. If you have some custom device that needed to talk to the computer, the parallel port was the way to go since it was incredibly simple -- merely asserting voltages on different lines for the most part. Next, the serial port became popular because the UART technology started becoming a commodity and available to a lot of different hardware vendors. But, the parallel port held on long after the serial port showed superior (in many ways) connectivity. There was a time not long ago when there was a parallel and serial port discussions not unlike this KUSB discussion. In my opinion, since the serial port became so popular that it stayed around much longer then it should have. Computer vendors would have probably done justice to this movement by removing support of the serial port much earlier then now is happening. I see it as a good thing that now a serial port is often only offered as an option on some computers and not available at all on others. USB is good technology and it only needs a few little improvements in future revisions to specifications. And, if vendors always support backward compatibility on USB then we are in fat-city. OK, off my soap box. phil, K7PEH On Nov 22, 2009, at 7:28 AM, k7hbg @dslextreme.com wrote: > Hi Everybody; > As the KUSB discussion thread continues on, I'd like to suggest an > alternative. > All motherboards, except 40 year old ones, sport a PCIE port or two. There > exists a whole > bunch of converter cards that ride the PCIe bus and convert to serial ports, > parallel ports, printer ports > and most any other data transfer protocol. > A good example of this can be found at Tigerdirect.com. A PCIe bus to > printer port with two com ports adapter > card for $39.95. What a deal! And never a USB problem again! > 73's Bob, K7HBG > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
