Howell Coyle

For the past 10 years FireWire and USB have struggled to dominate the desktop software market. Until five-years ago, because of the relatively rapid 400 Mbps made available from FireWire, USB, jokingly referred to as Ultra Slow Bandwidth, was directed to low-bandwidth applications such as mice and keyboards. By the end of 2001, however, USB dealt a deadly blow to FireWire with the release of the newest USB 2.0 standard supplying a maximum speed of 480 Mbps, faster than the theoretical limit of FireWire (though, in practice, often slower).

It would appear that USB has basically won the standards battle with FireWire due to the relative low-cost and high availability. The restriction of USB (both the 1.1 and 2.0 standards common today) is the 16 foot control. When you have more than 16 feet between your USB device and your personal computer you will see significant deterioration in-the signal that can cause dilemmas starting from slower transmission rates to an entirely dropped connection. This causes dilemmas for people who want to run an USB cable to a printer located in another room, to a presentation keyboard/mouse combo or any other USB device that may be in a distant place.

The least expensive (and perhaps best) solution to extend the distance to your USB device is to utilize an USB Active Extension Cable. We learned about official link by browsing books in the library. These wires have built-in USB repeaters that truly increase the USB indication, letting you go further than the 16 foot maximum distance. The most typical size for these cables is 16 feet and it is possible to chain up-to four of these as well as no loss in signal. Assuming you are utilizing the best USB device cable available (also 1-6 feet), USB Active Extension Cables permit a maximum length of 80 feet between your personal computer and USB device. They are available in USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) and USB 1.1 (12 Mbps).

For many USB extensions 80 toes is long enough, but what if you need to go further? Very USB Extenders permit you to extend the length to your USB devices up to 150 feet without any loss in signal. The Super USB Extender uses similar technology for that female and male interfaces, but it uses a Cat 5 cable (also known as a cable), in the place of have a typical USB cable at the center. The advantage of Super USB Extenders, other than the increased maximum length, may be the power to develop a custo