USB can operate at 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps), or 12 Mbps, or both at the same time! On systems with USB 2.0 support, USB can operate in Hi-Speed mode, 480 Mbps. Typical USB devices include keyboards, mice, joysticks, game pads, and other low-bandwidth, low-cost devices. Unlike FireWire, USB controls peripheral devices in a master/slave relationship. (from Wikipedia).
All kinds of rules and regulations seem to have been established for the use of USB. To the end user, all USB ports look the same but they are classified into 2 general categories: type A and type B. I’m still digging and trying to understand but an example may be that the USB port behind your pc might be a type B (a “peripheral port” which would be more of a general port? With a *wider* range of applications?) and the USB port in front of your printer for instance, might be type A (in which case the manufacturer of the device should replace the USB standard logo with a camera logo to tell the end user about the specific usage recommendation of this particular USB port).
I found out for instance that on my iMac G5, that the 3 USB ports behind the computer are USB 2.0 but that the 2 USB ports on my keyboard are USB 1.1. So I used to transfer my pictures from my camera to iMac using one of the keyboard USB ports. Next time I will use one of the ports behind the Mac to take advantage of USB 2.0 and see if it’s any faster.
I’m looking into USB now because generally speaking, it’s lower cost than firewire. I’m curious as to find out if let’s say 2 different USB units with 2 xlr and 2 instrument inputs could work if they were connected to 2 separate USB ports on your computer. Two of these units would mean that 4 xlrs and 4 intruments could be recorded at the same time. And I have 3 USB 2.0 behind the iMac so I’m thinking that 3 similar USB devices would allow to record 6 xlrs and 6 instruments at the same time.
I’m not 100% sure at this point but I believe that each USB port behind your pc/mac might be separately controlled by a *host controller* for each port.
Anybody who knows about this and wants to help us further understand either USB or Firewire is more than welcomed to jump right in. On the other hand, if you feel that I’m annoying the crap out of you and that this is so common knowledge or so not interesting at all, feel free to say so (or keep on saying nothing) and I’ll shaddup
Let the debate begin! (or not)