Steven B wrote:
No. There is no other choice. USB had to kill all potential competitors to secure its spot on the market and jealously guards it using patents and marketplace position.
Bullshit. USB is a relatively open standard and better still there are standards covering most of the device classes it supports too. (example, usb storage uses pretty much one driver for everything).
as to patents? well Im writing code for a USB device and I have official manufacturer documentation sitting next to me too, freely downloaded...
If you want a closed standard to snipe at, try SecureDigital.
> Before there was USB there were other conceptualizations of a multi-device system.
Duh. thats what BUSes are for...
> One such idea used a scsi subsystem with various connectors available.
Wasnt called SCSI by any chance was it?
but then you probably didnt realise SCSI supported scanners, printers, netowrk card, robot arms, since SCSI I...
And then theres all the other busses that use SCSI-like protocols like ATAPI...
> No need for an entirely new bus spec.
Actually USB neatly filled a hole. When it came out there was no standard for common devices that only needed point to point, single-master transactions, and there were multiple incompatible standards for mice, keyboards, joysticks, etc.
it also had enough speed (well, 1.1 did) to be usefuil as a general purpose serial link for comms devices, audio, storage...
USB was initially marketed as a bus to end all buses.
No, it was (and successfully too) marketed to fill the 'one system that will kill all the multiple different ports you dont need on the back of the PC.
seriously, I dont want a port for mice, a port for the keyboard, one for my external storage device, all different. I like that I can plug in a nice hub and split off three (or more) wires on my desk, avoiding the massive tangle that used to live behind the PC.
Soon everything would be usb.
What isnt? My PDA is, my mouse and keyboard are. My camera is. my wifi cards are, and soon, I hope my digital TV receiver will be.
> The entire world would experience happiness and
functionality never before dreamed because usb was going to solve all the hassles.
Works for me. I like hotpluggable storage (note that IDE caddies are NOT hot pluggable, even if you do tend to get away with it), among other benefits.
I like that I can plug in any mouse and it just works. I like my PDA synching at 12Mbit/sec rather than 56Kbit/sec over serial.
sure, its not gods gift to all problems - thats why my network is gigE not USBnet, but its a bloody useful system.
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