Number 212 - January 2001

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ITEMS I LOVE
Excerpted from LOVE ? ON LINE by Shirley Camper Soman, ACSW - (ACORNTWOAK@aol.com) in NYPC Bytes! - Computers for Seniors 11/05/99
It's a strange thing to love, but if it were not for a small item called USB, my computer life would be quite limited. This mysterious item is well known to computer technical people. It stands for Universal Serial Bus. "Bus" means a connection mechanism. And that is what this new item does: it allows you to connect outside-the-computer items (a scanner, a printer, Card Scan, a digital camera, etc.) to a small box (called a hub) that sits on top of your big tower. This "hub" is connected to the back of your computer, hopefully to a USB outlet. It's like a power strip, but instead of connecting many appliances to a wall outlet for power you are connecting many devices to your computer to transfer data.     When the original IBM PC was designed, not enough ports were designed in, as a result even today you are often limited to one parallel and two serial ports. If you are big on trying out many other items that require a computer connection at some point, then a 4-port USB hub will give you more outlets to connect to. And some people are so involved in other items, or a second computer, that the use of a USB Tower might be called for. The Tower will give you 7 outlets, or you could fit one 4-port item on top of another one - for 8 ports.     If you have a fairly new machine, it is very likely to have that kind of outlet (or "jack") on the back.	If you do not, there are other ways to connect a USB hub. You will need to have a USB adapter card installed in your computer, this card will provide one or more USB jacks.     In order to connect a device to your computer by USB the device must also have a USB jack. More and more scanners, digital cameras, printers, etc. are coming USB ready. Generally the computer "sees" the USB device as soon as you plug in the USB cable into the hub or the back of the computer. Windows will prompt you for the installation disk, if necessary.     The company that I have turned to is Belkin because I love their catalogues, too. The USB one has an amazing variety; and their very large catalogue depicts an incredible number of other items--cables and such. For more information, for a catalogue or to find out where to buy, you can go to www.usbbelkin.com or you can call the 800.2Belkin toll free number. If you want to comparison shop, the Internet lists other companies that make USB devices. However, Belkin is my preference so far. This company is involved in all sorts of new devices from power supplies to surge protectors. Belkin products are well made and widely used.
Number 212 - January 2001