Wireless

Neil Jones · Fri 19 May, 2006 00.20

Any USB 2 adaptor will run at USB 1.1 speeds, it's part of the specification of USB 2, to be backwards compatible.

Anyway it makes more sense to have two USB 2.0 adaptors now rather than buying a USB 1.1 adapter because as and when you change that system with USB 1 ports on it to one with USB 2 ports, the adaptor will automatically start working at USB 2 speeds.

Reeves · Fri 19 May, 2006 01.56

Neil Jones wrote:Any USB 2 adaptor will run at USB 1.1 speeds, it's part of the specification of USB 2, to be backwards compatible.

Anyway it makes more sense to have two USB 2.0 adaptors now rather than buying a USB 1.1 adapter because as and when you change that system with USB 1 ports on it to one with USB 2 ports, the adaptor will automatically start working at USB 2 speeds.

Yes, but what it is, this computer I am using now is running with USB1.1, which I hope to be giving to somebody to use in their room, and I will be getting a new one for myself with USB2. I can't see the point in buying a USB2 adaptor for a USB1.1 PC when I can get a USB1.1 cheaper.

If by any chance I read your message, Neil, please excuse me.

Sput · Fri 19 May, 2006 14.11

But do note that a usb 1.1 adapter will not be able to get above an 11mb connection to your router regardless of the port you put it in. It's worth the extra money to get 2.0 and 54mb when you upgrade to a new computer.

Reeves · Fri 19 May, 2006 15.00

Sput wrote:But do note that a usb 1.1 adapter will not be able to get above an 11mb connection to your router regardless of the port you put it in. It's worth the extra money to get 2.0 and 54mb when you upgrade to a new computer.

Well unlike me, the person who will be having this computer is not a heavy user, and if so, will only use it for the odd shop. Therefore I am getting a USB1.1 adaptor for this (as it is only USB1.1) and USB2 for my new one.

I don't really want to take the risk of using USB2 devices on a USB1.1 computer, as I spent over £50 on something for the computer that ran on USB2. Only I didn't know until it was all installed that it wouldn't let itself run AT ALL on USB1.1. This is why I'm wanting to buy a new computer with USB2 compatibility as the person using this won't be using it for any devices, or webcams etc.

cwathen · Sun 21 May, 2006 02.00

A number of reasons. If a home has a few PCs and does not want to be confused by wires, or if the computer is far away from the phone line.

P.s. Thanks Neil

I have to agree with the original poster though. Although wireless is a great technology for laptops and desktops which move around or for rooms which are difficult to connect by wires, I see no reason not to use a cabled solution if it can be easily installed and if being tied to wires wouldn't hinder you.

A wired network is cheaper (ridiculously cheap these days actually), faster and more secure.

Reeves · Sun 21 May, 2006 14.20

Well to be honest this is only because there could be a chance that we (that's me and the person who's getting this computer) both need to use the internet, and as far as I know, the only way to go wired is Firewire, and I don't think this computer is capable of using Firewire.

Sput · Sun 21 May, 2006 15.01

Erm, no! Ethernet is the wired network. Most PCs have the port built in, and for those that don't you can get an ethernet card for less than a fiver these days.

Firewire has nothing to do with networking

Reeves · Sun 21 May, 2006 16.43

Sput wrote:Erm, no! Ethernet is the wired network. Most PCs have the port built in, and for those that don't you can get an ethernet card for less than a fiver these days.

Firewire has nothing to do with networking

Ethernet! That was it. Sorry I thought it was Firewire.

Apologies Sput and to other members who tried to contribute but I am a real novice at this so i am sorry if I confused anybody... and thanks.

Neil Jones · Sun 21 May, 2006 21.10

Reeves wrote:
Sput wrote:Erm, no! Ethernet is the wired network. Most PCs have the port built in, and for those that don't you can get an ethernet card for less than a fiver these days.

Firewire has nothing to do with networking
Ethernet! That was it. Sorry I thought it was Firewire.

Firewire is most commonly used with digital cameras and some mobile phones, although Windows does provide an option to firewall a 1394 (firewire) connection as though it was a standard network connection.

You can use Firewire as a networking option and apparently it wipes the floor with Ethernet in terms of transfer speeds.

Apologies Sput and to other members who tried to contribute but I am a real novice at this so i am sorry if I confused anybody... and thanks.

This is how we learn.

Sput · Sun 21 May, 2006 21.15

Surely not gigabit ethernet though? What's the firewire range like?

Neil Jones · Sun 21 May, 2006 21.19

Sput wrote:Surely not gigabit ethernet though? What's the firewire range like?

From Wiki:

FireWire can connect together up to 63 peripherals in an acyclic network structure (hubs, as opposed to SCSI's linear structure). It allows peer-to-peer device communication, such as communication between a scanner and a printer, to take place without using system memory or the CPU. FireWire also supports multiple hosts per bus. USB requires a special chipset to perform the same function, effectively resulting in the need for a unique and expensive cable, whereas FireWire requires only a cable with the correct number of pins on either end (normally 6). It is designed to support plug-and-play and hot swapping.

FireWire 400 can transfer data between devices at 100, 200, or 400 Mbit/s data rates (actually 98.304, 196.608, or 393.216 Mbit/s, but commonly referred to as S100, S200, and S400). Although USB2 claims to be capable of higher speeds (480Mbit/s), FireWire is, in practice, faster due to its "peer-to-peer" architecture which gives a more reliable and sustained throughput rate. Cable length is limited to 4.5 metres but up to 16 cables can be daisy chained yielding a total length of 72 meters under the specification.

FireWire 800 (Apple's name for the 9-pin "S800 bilingual" version of the IEEE1394b standard) was introduced commercially by Apple in 2003. This newer 1394 specification and corresponding products allow a transfer rate of 786.432 Mbit/s with backwards compatibility to the slower rates and 6-pin connectors of FireWire 400.

The full IEEE 1394b specification supports optical connections up to 100 metres in length and data rates all the way to 3.2 Gbit/s. Standard category-5 unshielded twisted pair supports 100 metres at S100, and the new p1394c technology goes all the way to S800. The original 1394 and 1394a standards used data/strobe (D/S) encoding (called legacy mode) on the signal wires, while 1394b adds a data encoding scheme called 8B10B (also referred to as beta mode). With this new technology, FireWire, which was arguably already slightly faster, is now substantially faster than Hi-Speed USB.