USB networking (General Comments on Networking)

Member Name: liquidsky

Product:	General Comments on Networking
Date:	19/02/01 (240 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast, easy setup

Disadvantages: Bit more expensive than normal networking.

An alternative to buying a network card is buying a special USB cable for networking. All computers have USB ports on the back nowadays, so every computer can use USB cables.

The good thing about USB networking is that you don't have to open up your PC to plug in a card (very useful if you have a laptop). You just stick in the cable in the out put.

There are several kinds of USB networking. The one I have is a simple USB cable (USB plugs at both ends) with a little electronic box in the middle. With that cable comes a floppy disk that you install on your hard drive (it's a small installation and easy to do). No need to go into control panel and change settings. Then you run the program "USB DataBridge" and you can transfer files from one computer to the other. The transfer itself is very fast and stable (at least it never crashed with me yet).

If you want to play games with USB cables, then you'll need to buy a USB network card. It's basically the same as buying a normal network card, but a bit more expensive, but faster.

The principle is the same as normal network cards, but it's easier to setup an USB network card. It's also easier to play with more than two computers, as every computer is connected to a hub. With a normal networking system, every computer is connected to the two next to it, all in line, which makes some games slow (at least for the computers at the end).

Tip: Don't try to connect computers by having an USB hub and cables going from the computers to the hub. Won't work! You need to get an USB network card or the cables I have described above.

Summary: