USB cards with front-mount plates...

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His Royal Majesty King V
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USB cards with front-mount plates...

Post by His Royal Majesty King V »

All,

First off, I want to wish a hearty thank you to everyone who's put up with and answered my questions thus far. I haven't been good about mentioning it, but everyone's been a great help!

As things are, I finally did get a digital camera, a Canon PowerShot A75.

Then it hits me . . duh! If I want to transfer pictures to my computer, I'll need a USB connector.

Now my computer has two of them . . but both are occupied (1 scanner, 1 quick-cam)

But even if not for that, they are located behind the computer and thus dreadfully inconvenient.

Anyway, does anyone have a recommendation for a good, inexpensive USB card that has a front-mount plate that can fit in place of an external 5.25" drive slot? I can even live without USB 2.0 if need be. I just ask for solid, reliable, with drivers that won't let me down (assuming drivers are needed at all?)

It'll be going into one of my FIC motherboards running a K6-3 or a K6-2+. Likely the latter. It'll be running Win98lite.

I really just didn't know where to begin. I figured I'd never need extra USB ports. But I was young and foolish back then!!
:roll:
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Jonnywizard
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Post by Jonnywizard »

newegg has this for starters. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 906&depa=0 Plus lots more. :D
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Nohr
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Post by Nohr »

I can recommend this Bytecc USB 2.0 PCI Card. It's inexpensive at $16 shipped and is working well in a friend's system I installed it in. No drivers were required as XP recognized it on it's own. So far no probs with a USB 2.0 scanner & external hard drive, and a USB1.1 keyboard & flash drive. It has one internal USB 2.0 port for connecting to a front panel hub, such as the Belkin one Jonny linked to.

Mind you that's just a PCI card. I'm afraid I have no experience with front panel USB hubs. Though here's a link to a cheap one I see that should work along with the Bytecc card. It might be alright, who knows..
GWC USB 2.0 Hi-Speed 4 Port Bay Hub - $17.99 + $5 shipping
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His Royal Majesty King V
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Post by His Royal Majesty King V »

Thanks . . both look interesting.

Though, I did stumble across a USB hub. And now it occurs to me "Duh, I never knew what a USB hub was before"

I might go that route instead. I think the front-bezel ports are elegant, but the hub might be more convenient for switching the device from one machine to another. Plus probably save me a few bucks.

Anyone got experience with USB hubs, good, bad or otherwise?
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Wiggy
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Post by Wiggy »

The only thing to watch out for is 'Powered' or 'Passive' Hubs.

Powered are more expensive but suited to more power hungry devices E.G Scanner, Printer
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His Royal Majesty King V
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Post by His Royal Majesty King V »

D'oh!

Scratch the card thing . . I don't desperately need USB2.0 yet, and apparently, unbeknownst to me, my trusty old FIC boards have a USB header to plug into in addition to the two USB ports in the back.

Wiggy: got a question: for the power-hungry devices, such as my scanner, wouldn't it be a non-problem to have a non-powered hub if the device has its own power supply? I know my scanner does.

Anyhoo . . so at least now I know I'm back to front-bay headers for this thing, as I've got the board-mounted header to plug into.

If I ever need USB 2.0, then I may get a card.

Thanks again everyone.
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Wiggy
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Post by Wiggy »

Hmm, the last line of my post was misleading on reflection. :roll:

Devices with they're own power supply would work fine. If you had too many passive USB devices such as a mouse, keyboard, Joystick and USB memory stick all hooked up to the same hub - then a Powered hub would be needed because otherwise the hub has to share the power between all the devices from 1 USB port.

Hope thats better. :wink:
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