The Journey From USB 1.1 To USB 2.0
Author: Patricia Williams

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) was first launched in 1996 by a
group of IT Companies known as the USB Promoter Group.

This first version was known as USB 1.1 and was a standardized
serial connection that aimed to provide a replacement for
parallel and serial ports. Intended for mid-speed and slow
computer peripherals, it created an intelligent serial bus.

In the early years, many people utilized USB on their own
computers and it proved to work well for most applications. In
recent years, however, USB 1.1 has proved to be too limited.
While USB 1.1 managed to remain useful to more modern
technologies, some loopholes in the initial version were
pointed as the source of major problems.

USB 1.1 was limited with a slower transference rate of only
12-megabits/ sec. During the rise of the USB 1.1 in the market,
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE)
unveiled the FireWire, also called i.LINK(tm), which had a
transfer speed of 400 blazing megabytes per second, then
considered a fantastic rate of transfer. This transfer speed
made the uploading of a full motion video from a camcorder
convenient. It threatened to push USB 1.1 out of the market, as
it was not able to compete with this newcomer.

The creation of increasingly sophisticated gadgets and
peripherals spotlighted the limitations of the original version
of USB. USB 1.1 was not able to fully support the speeds needed
to run gadgets like digital movie or video players, mobile
phones, video phones, Web cameras, digital cameras, MP3s or
digital music players, PDAs and Palmtops.

When USB 2.0 version debuted, with 40 times the speed of the
previous version, it offered the capacity to operate most of
the newly released technologies.

One of the most important features of USB 2.0 is that it is
backward compatible. In other words, USB 2.0 hardware can be
plugged to computer's old USB 1.1 port and will function
properly because both versions use same plug. USB 2.0 can
transmit data at speeds between 1.5 megabits to 480 megabits
per second, but if USB 2.0 hardware is connected to a USB 1.1
port it will not attempt to transmit data at its maximum speed
of 480 megabits per second. Rather, it will slow it's rate of
transmission in order to operate properly and compatibly with
the older hardware.

Upgrading a computer to include USB 2.0 ports into a computer
is a simple procedure. When USB 2.0 ports are added with a PCI
port card, the original USB 1.1 ports are retained and will
continue to function normally.

Both USB 2.0 and 1.1 are plug and play. Once a USB device is
connected to the host computer, the system will automatically
recognizes it. The drivers will then be installed and the
system can begin operating the new hardware without the
necessity of a reboot. The upgraded technology of USB 2.0 also
allows the connection capacity of a single computer to a very
large number of devices at once: 127 to be exact.

Both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 have become vital instruments in
connecting devices and computers together. If things continue
as they have begun, USB will become even faster and more
efficient in years to come.


About The Author: Patricia Williams contributes to several
popular web sites, such as http://poweg.com and
http://rebaw.com