what is the fastest way to connect to the Empeg ?
I just got mine from Sonic Blue today, yay me.
I know that USB is faster that Ethernet on paper,
But I remember someone saying something about Ethernet being a protocol with less overhead? or something?
Blah, Blah, Blah...
I was wondering if anyone found Ethernet to ACTUALLY be faster than USB.

This is a FAQ Entry.

I think that FAQ entry could do with some editing Tony. For some people at least USB is more like twice as fast as Ethernet and it really is worth investing some effort in getting an Ethernet setup working.

I know I am not the only one who has found this, the USB on some machines just does not like emplode and empeg.

I think you meant to say that ethernet is TWICE as fast as USB. Which would be correct. It should be. That's the way the current implementation works. USB can be made to go faster, but this isn't something that's included with the current software set.

And USB on paper (original post) doesn't mean much. There are various classes of USB devices, each with their own speed. Then there are devices that use a certain class that should be relatively quick, but aren't: iomega USB Zip drive - USELESS.

empeg current USB 400-something KB/s. Ethernet 900-something KB/s. That info comes from Hugo and is plastered right in my jukebox matrix page where I've compared the empeg to both the Phatbox and Neo players. Tony might have a link to it somewhere on a FAQ page.

Bruno

So I did, too late to edit it unfortunately.

I thought only the 2.x software had the ethernet advantages and that was only for large transfers...

One thing I DID notice that ethernet is faster at is the small stuff like retreiving databases and basic communicating with the player.

Well, I have both USB and ETHERNET setup and I don't know that I can tell a difference in either, just yet

I'm on day 3 of adding music to the unit, 10 Gig so far,
I did it all on USB,
Will switch to Ethernet for the next 10 GB, and see if there's much difference...

Anyone else have REAL WORLD experience that that either protocol is faster?

regards - dcosta

Umm, the fact that altman, the designer of the product, says as much isn't proof enough?

Ok, how about the fact that I transfered 30GB with both ethernet as well as USB? And let me tell you, the ethernet wound was quite a bit faster. I wish I had written down the times, but I wasn't doing it for an excersize in benchmarking the empeg.

If you can use ethernet, use it - USB is next to useless for the empeg, IMO. Its use is limited to emplode. With ethernet you've got access to do pretty much anything to the player.

Bruno

USB is next to useless for the empeg, IMO. Its use is limited to emplode.

Boy, this Hijack, VNC and other stuff got us so spoiled... If we consider empeg an MP3 music player, then USB pretty much does what it should, no? Of course, I have connected my empeg via USB exactly once, when copying a large file from my nephew's network-challenged PC....

Well, I have both USB and ETHERNET setup and I don't know that I can tell a difference in either, just yet... [snip] 10 Gig so far, I did it all on USB

Umm....

Peter

There's no question that Ethernet is faster, assuming your network isn't loaded down.

Rob

Yeah, I didn't feel like stressing the obvious part of his post.

Bruno

I've only been running Hijack for two weeks. I've been following it since the very early releases back in November, but hadn't bothered to install it (I was waiting for one of those kenwood steering remotes). When Mark added so much extra functionality (enough to make the IR translation a secondary feature!) I knew I could wait no more.

I used USB only while trying to troubleshoot the problems I initially had with ethernet. And the problems were solved by forcing my machine down to 10Mbit communication with my switch. I'm sure the 10Mbit change has impacted my brother's net surfing and usage of my machine's resources, but he hasn't complained yet.

Bruno

Ethernet is greatly faster for me. Even better, I can just slap my baby onto a remote hub and be good to go

>Boy, this Hijack, VNC and other stuff got us so spoiled... If we consider empeg an MP3 music player, then USB pretty much does what it should, no?<

What do you mean by that? I haven't used mine yet, but what else can it be other than an MP3 music player?

Speaking of ethernet issues.. My new mk2a doesn't get along with my old Linksys 5-port 10/100 hub -- the hub refuses to forward frames to/from it to the other (newer Linksys 8-port, works great!) hub I have. Oddly enough, my Mk2 has no such issue, though.

Anyway, I just swapped out the pair of hubs for a new 16-port Nway switch (needed more ports anyway; only one left on the new setup..).
What'cha connected to?

I'm using just a cheapy D-Link DSS-8+ 10/100 switch. My main purpose in buying it was just to continue running 100 to a couple of machines and still use my printer @ 10. The empeg sync issue was the only trouble I've ever had. I could sync a bit of data, but could never finish anything large. After setting my machine to 10, I can do 20GB without a problem.

Bruno

Kinda Funny.
I have a 60 GB Rio Unit and the User's Manual states:
USB is the fastest way to connect your Rio Player to your PC.

I guess that's accurate Just maybe misleading... ?

It may be fast to physically connect it, so that part's true. If you don't have a NIC, you can't use ethernet. Plus the player doesn't ship with an ethernet cable. For wide compatibility (provided there isn't a bug in emplode...) USB is the easiest and most straight-forward connection.

Bruno

> My new mk2a doesn't get along with my old Linksys 5-port 10/100 hub -- the hub refuses to forward frames to/from it to the other (newer Linksys 8-port, works great!) hub I have.

Funny. My 8-port Linksys 10/100 does not work with my MK2a at all, but my 5-port 10/100 Linksys works fine.

I guess consistantcy is not Linksys's strong suit.

Well, my NFG 5-port is the original "grey colour" with the jacks on the front, whereas the good 8-port is "Revision 2", blue and black in colour with the jacks on the back.

-ml

Linksys BEFSR41 4 port router. Works poifectly, no tweakage necessary.

I guess consistantcy is not Linksys's strong suit.

No, it's not. They market network cards under the same model number that require different drivers based on the revision of the card. This caused me great grief when I needed a cheep Linux compatible card. The box said it was, but the revision inside didn't work with the existing modules out at the time. I couldn't wait, so I had to take it back. I've also ran into the same problem when trying to help a friend find Windows 2000 drivers. There was no way to find what revision he needed beyond opening the box. Why they can't even provide drivers that can determain the card on their own is beyond me. But because of this, and not very good reliability, I have long since abandoned Linksys products. 3Com or Intel seems to be decent, but at a cost.

3Com does the same versioning thing with their NICs. Have for years. I've been running a couple of 3Com (a few years old now) and a couple of Dlink without a problem though. The 3Com cost more than 4 times the price of the DLink.

Bruno

They market network cards under the same model number that require different drivers based on the revision of the card. This caused me great grief when I needed a cheep Linux compatible card. The box said it was, but the revision inside didn't work with the existing modules out at the time.

They do that with NICs, too?

You should have seen Hugo cursing them over the problems with the Linksys USB10T USB-to-Ethernet adapter that they wanted to support for the Jupiter. Same thing: Outside of Hugo's box said all the same things as my box did. When queried by the driver software, both units return the same ID number. But they used different chips under the surface, and the drivers had to be completely different ones.

I don't know how they managed to work around it in the end, but they did. Both of our adapters now work on the HSX-109.

Until Linksys revises it again, of course.

With all my cards, 3Com has either kept the same chipset/drivers, or created slightly different models. In my house I have a 3c905, 3c905b and a 3c905c. And a few others (Like an ancient ISA card in my Linux box). The one complaint I could possibly have with the 3Com products was lack of Pocket PC drivers for their AirConnect cards early on. But they still had them out faster then most of the other cards at the time.

"You should have seen Hugo cursing them over the problems with the Linksys USB10T USB-to-Ethernet adapter that they wanted to support for the Jupiter"

I cursed just as much (well, maybe half :P ) from the different chipsets that they used, as only ONE works with the 3com audrey. Guess which chipset I ended up with in both the adapters I bought?

Have you had much (any?) experience with Netgear NICs? I've had good success with their hubs and switches for small applications, and with their NICs, but I don't know if they arbitrarily change chipsets like so may other of the discount NIC companies do. I'm guessing not, since it's run by a well-known company in the networking world (Bay), but I don't really know for sure. If I had more info in this aspect about their NICs, I would feel very comfortable recommending all of their products to just about anyone.

I believe the card in my media system right now is a NetGear. No problems that I can think of off hand with it, it just sits there chugging away when someone uses the network on that machine.

No real experience though to say good/bad about their products though.

I meant if you knew whether they change chipsets or not. Right now, Netgear is the only value line that I can recommend or will consider using. I'm hoping to find that they exceed in that area, as well.