10 May
2007
10 May
'07
9:47 a.m.
On 5/10/07, Warren Wolfe <wizard at voyager.net> wrote:
I have to admit I'm puzzled by this entire
exchange. I was trying
to remember a problem I've had, so I could add to the list in the spirit
of commiseration, but I honestly cannot say that I have ever had a
problem with USB connections... I simply use components that are
age-similar, and have never had a problem.
Therein is the answer to a lot of USB *and* SCSI complaints - trying
to use an ACB-4000 and MFM drives on a "modern" machine (no way to
query drive geometry), or, for one USB case I can speak to, attempting
to attach a Toshiba "In-Touch" (PMD-C004) display to *anything* newer
than Windows 95 (no, really... that's what its drivers are for)
doesn't go well.
As most of us have experienced, it doesn't take much to break
"age-similar". Yes, I would expect that if I go out *today* and buy
any USB disk or printer and plug it into any PC bought *today* running
an OS I can buy or download *today*, it should "just work". The
problem creeps in, say, when I want to run a 4-year-old USB 1.0 disk
enclosure on a week-old machine that only has USB 2.0 ports. USB
claims to be "universal", but even that's been a moving target from
1.0 to 1.1 to 2.0. Most things do manage to achieve interoperability,
but it only takes one or two devices to throw a wrench in the works.
One thing I _really_ don't like about USB is that you are at the mercy
of the writers of the drivers. RS-232-attached or
parallel-port-attached or even SCSI-attached devices can be poked and
proded with a variety of tools (hardware and software) and can be made
to work in situations where they _don't_ work out of the box. I don't
think the same level of flexibility exists with USB. Since I would
like to be able to talk to this PMD-C004, I'd like to be proven wrong.
I am, by necessity, using more and more USB devices every day. I
still insist on being able to hook "legacy devices" to "legacy
ports".
I expect to freeze in time somewhat when there is just no way to fit
a real serial port or real parallel port to a "modern" machine. USB
works fine for the masses who just want to hook scanners and printers
and memory card readers to their machines; I do things that "the
public" don't find interesting, so my standards are higher.
-ethan