USB Questions

Cook_1

Cook_1

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Messages
1,250
Just wanted to clear up a few things here about USB 1.1 and 2.0

First off, are these two statements correct?
Plug a USB 1.1 device into a USB 2.0 outlet the device will operate at 1.1?
Plug a USB 2.0 device into a USB 1.1 outlet the device will operate at 1.1?

And how do those two statements vary (if any) with different operating systems?
 
You'll probably be more limited by the operating system than by the hardware (USB 1.1 or 2). Windows 98 had limited support for USB, and some device won't work on 98 (such as a crucial gizmo drive, which needs at least Win2000), and other can be limited in function (such as wacom tablets), though this varies from device to deice and manufacturer to manufacturer. Older windows has (to my knowledge) no USB support.

Some opperating systems are just lagging behind in drive development for USB, such as FreeBSD. Though common things will work just fine, such as keyboards, mice and flash drives, other things might not have support.

Just be sure that your device has support for the operating systems that you want to use, USB 1.1 or 2.0 is usually not much of any issue (unless you really pay attention to transfer speeds, which is usually important on storage devices).
 
If I were you I would just forget USB 2.0 anyway, go with firewire when possible, it is faster over all. Ok so wait, I was about to post this then I thought that I would get a bunch of responses telling me that USB 2.0 is rated at 480 Mbps and firewire is only rated at 400 Mbps, well you are technically correct, BUT you should know that the 480 that USB 2.0 is supposed to have is only a BURST speed, which means its the best speed you will get but only in a short burst, firewire on the other hand gives you 400 Mbps as a consistant speed, therefore over all it would be faster
 
Thanks all. Wasn't asking for any specific product or anything, just for my general knowledge. Was curious and all.
 
haha, if we were your neighbors and you knocked on our door asking for a cup of sugar, you would end up with a cup of sugar along with recipes for desserts and kitchen utensils
 
lannen said:
and some device won't work on 98 (such as a crucial gizmo drive, which needs at least Win2000)
Click to expand...

Negative on that one, I have the previous generation of the Gizmo flash drives and it came with a Win98 disk for the gizmo support.
 
email from Crucial Suport while trying to get my Gizmo to work on my parents computer said:
Unfortuantely, the new Gizmo! USB flash drives are not compatible with Win98. There are no drivers available for these. The drivers we do have listed on the web site are for the older Gizmo! drives we used to offer.
Click to expand...

True for the current generatino and for the previous generation (which is what I was talking to them about). I can't speak for anything older than that.
 
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