[Dixielandjazz] USB port expansion question

[Andy.Ling at Quantel.Com]

John Farrell asks :-

> I have only two USB ports on my PC and would like to increase that 
number so
> that I can have all my peripherals hooked up and ready to go. I know 
that
> there are gadgets on the market which will do this but I don't want to 
buy
> anything where the installation requires me to go into the guts of my
> computer (I did that only once, the computer expired and I had to buy a 
new
> one - never again!) - does anyone know of a USB expansion gizmo which 
simply
> plugs into one of the existing USB slots?
> 

Practically all of them. What you need is a USB hub. This has a
USB cable that plugs into a USB port on your computer and then
a number of USB ports that you just use as though they were on your
computer. You can get them with different numbers of extra ports.

I would advise getting one with a power supply that plugs into the
mains. Some are powered from the USB port on the computer Depending
what you want to plug into it, this can put too much of a load
on the computer and things don't work properly.

It is also worth getting one from a reputable source. I had problems
with one that wasn't compatible with my USB MIDI interface, which
I suspect was a power thing. Fortunately I was able to take it back.

HTH

Andy Ling