USB Ports

[Fraki]

I'VE NONE!
And it's frustrating when every new product on the market needs it to connect to your computer. I'm running an AMD-K6. It's roughly 4 years old and still runs well, but is there anyway to connect a USB Cable to it?

Aside from AMD-K6, I'm not too up on all it's specs, so if you need more info to diagnose my problem, just ask and I'll look into it.

Thanks!

[jimnyc]

You can add a card to your machine that will give you USB ports. Easy to install and they are fairly cheap.

I'm linking one here for you so you can see what it is and a comparison so that you can shop around.

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=513229

[Croc Hunter]

Just a tip if/when you buy a USB card get one with at least 2 ports as most hardware now uses them. My laser mouse, scanner and camera are all USB.

[satis]

yep, agreed. Get an add-on card if you have a free pci slot. You can find some with numerous USB ports and some firewire ones to boot.

Just don't get too USB dependent. It's not always 100% reliable.. so, it's a bad idea to put anything really necessary on USB. Like a network card, or a USB sound card, usually a bad idea. Peripherals (printers, scanners, etc) are ok. So are mice and keyboards, from my experience.

Also... just in case you didn't know, USB devices (usually) draw all their power from the USB connection... so... if you have alot of high-powered USB devices, you could overload the USB controller. Overdrawing won't typically cause any damage, but you'll have weird things happen. It's possible to check power drain from inside the device manager, though.

[Fraki]

Originally posted by jimnyc
You can add a card to your machine that will give you USB ports. Easy to install and they are fairly cheap.

I'm linking one here for you so you can see what it is and a comparison so that you can shop around.

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=513229

Thanks everyone! I've a basic understanding of what I need now...

That one that you linked ^^^^, will that work for sure on my computer or is there other specs I need to look into. I have a free PCI slot. And from what I've seen on local electronic stores websites, that linked one is a good deal.

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by Fraki
Thanks everyone! I've a basic understanding of what I need now...

That one that you linked ^^^^, will that work for sure on my computer or is there other specs I need to look into. I have a free PCI slot. And from what I've seen on local electronic stores websites, that linked one is a good deal.

As long as you have a fairly recent OS (Win98, Xp, 2000...) It should pick it up with plug n play and automatically install. I'm sure it'll come with drivers as well, just in case.

What OS are you running?

CDW, IMO, is a very reputable company to purchase from. I've bought many individual things from them at home and have never had an issue with receiving or returns. I also used them where I used to work purchasing 1-2 million worth of servers & parts, peripherals & media for about 5 years and never had issues there either.

Also, the card is backwards compatible, which I think is a great bonus. I bought a memory card reader for my digital camera recently, which is USB 1.1, and it wouldn't work at home for me because my ports are USB 2.0 - In your case all devices will work whether they are 1.0/1.1/2.0

[symo]

With regard to the power issue raised above, you can get an external USB hub with it's own external power supply which will provide necessary power to whatever is plugged into it. I just got one at Target for $29 (or was it $19?) anyway it's like 1.25" wide, 3" long and about 1/2" thick, made by GE and is USB 2.0... fits real easy into a briefcase if you use a laptop.

symo

[Fraki]

OK so I looked into it a bit more at the local Future Shop. It turns out that I don't have any free PCI slots, only free ISA slots, which the man at the store said are slowly dying out and aren't even used in today's computers. I forgot to ask him at the time, but is there somewhere i can get an older USB card that will fit into an ISA slot?

[Fraki]

Biggity Bump

[symo]

Fraki, I haven't responded, mostly because I figured you wouldn't like the answer. I'm surprised that the guy at future shop said they were dying out... I thought they were dead already :(

Also what OS are you running? You'll need Win95 SR2 or higher. I did some searching, but come up empty. Here is a thread from another forum where somebody as asking the same thing.

http://www.duxcw.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/28.html

Hope you find something, but I'm at a loss.

symo