USB 2.0 Upgrade

Anyone (programmers) out there contemplating an upgrade to USB 2.0 for the Empeg/Riocar? Would it be software or hrdware or both? sure would be cool to outperform the Firewire!!!!!

I had the same question just a while back. The answer to it was that the USB on the Rio Car was long before the USB 2.0 spec was designed and also that even if it could be updated to 2.0 then the bus on the Rio Car would still limit the transfer rate. Doesn't sound like it would work.

It requires both a hardware and software upgrade. It ain't gonna happen.

What I don't understand is how it ended up only with 10 base-T for ethernet when 100 base-T was readily available and very cheap, even 5 years ago....

-John M

This has been brought up many times. The lack of DMA support in the basic hardware means that 100BaseTX wouldn't actually provide any better bandwidth. It would have just cost more. (IIRC what Hugo said.)

Then you'll have to read the FAQ. Tony must have mentioned it. It's only been mentioned on the BBS some 100 times before.

Hardware limitations prevent 100baseTX. No DMA.

BTW, 5 years ago, a nice 10/100 3Com PCI card was nearly US$100 (I paid more than $150 Canadian for mine and I believe that was distribution price). Anyway, price isn't a factor given the limitation mentioned.

Also, apart from Apple, no one has yet released a consumer product with anything faster than USB1.1.

Bruno

I guess this lexar firewire compact flash card reader I have is just a halucination then...
Along with all those firewire dv cameras!

I THINK he may been that USB 2.0 hasn't made it into any new PC's yet (not peripherals) and PC's don't come with Firewire. What about Sony's i-Link that comes on their desktops and notebooks?

I've got a dell latitiude here with a "1394" connector. Its essentially 4 pin firewire. The 2 pins missing are the "power" pins. They're the ones that will charge/power peripherals, ie: an ipod.

Running XP, it works great for stuff exactly like an ipod. Sans powering capability of course.

1394 is a reference to IEEE-1394, the spec that describes what's more commonly known as Firewire. Firewire is a term that Apple came up with to describe that interface, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were an Apple trademark. Apple was the main developer of Firewire/i-Link/IEE-1394, BTW.

Isn't i-Link Sony's little spin on the thing for an interface into their cameras?

i.Link (or whatever ridiculous punctuation they're using) is supposed to be IEEE-1394. But, then, they always seem to talk about using it with ``compatible Sony products''. I imagine that's just marketroid-speak, though. Never had a chance to test it when I had a Sony laptop, though.

i've used the i.Link interface on my sony laptop to connect to a firewire hard drive interface (from addonics) and a firewire scanner (epson). no problems at all. like the latitude (and i'm guessing any laptop-based 1394 interface), it's the 4-pin connector sans power suppy, so devices must use their own power bricks.

--dan.