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#1
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USB cable question
I have a cordless mouse whose receiver plugs into a USB port in the back
of my mini-tower computer. Except when the batteries are new, I get intermittent communication between the mouse and the receiver. I wish to add a simple 3-foot extension cable to bring the receiver closer to my mouse table. Question: I see USB, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB A, USB B, with male and female genders of all of them. Can anyone give me a quick breakdown on the differences between these, and what cable I might need? The mouse is a Logitech. Thanks. |
#2
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USB cable question
UCLAN wrote:
I have a cordless mouse whose receiver plugs into a USB port in the back of my mini-tower computer. Except when the batteries are new, I get intermittent communication between the mouse and the receiver. I wish to add a simple 3-foot extension cable to bring the receiver closer to my mouse table. Question: I see USB, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB A, USB B, with male and female genders of all of them. Can anyone give me a quick breakdown on the differences between these, and what cable I might need? The mouse is a Logitech. Thanks. In this picture, you can see an example of a very short extension cable. This one was made, to avoid physical obstructions in the I/O area of the computer. It comes with a CM108 USB audio device. http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...128-002-08.jpg If you use the "Cable plugs (USB 1.x/2.0)" table in the following article, it looks like extension cables are supposed to have one A and one B end. The USB A to USB A (receptacle) shown in the above picture, is NS or "non-standard". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb In terms of cabling, USB2 type cable has a shield. Some cables have a transparent outer plastic insulation, so that you can admire the braided shielding underneath. That is a quick way to verify you're getting USB2 cable. A USB2 cable is going to be the most useful to you, in terms of reuse for other things. The intent of the "USB A to USB B" cabling thing, is to prevent people from chaining long lengths of cables together, with multiple cables involved. That would add a number of discontinuities from the connectors. The solution to that, is "active cables". They have a one port hub chip on the end, which regenerates the USB packets and helps avoid problems. That is a valid way to build a "USB A to USB A (receptacle)" cable. Before chaining up to five of these, read the reviews and see if any reviewer has done a chaining test. Some devices unfortunately, fail the chaining test. So they're not a panacea. "VANTEC 16 ft. USB Active Repeater Cable Model CB-USBARC - Retail $10" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812232008 Usage of the active repeater cable, may prevent the keyboard from being used to change BIOS settings. Test it to be sure. (You may already know whether this setup passes the BIOS test...) In which case, finding a passive cable with USB A and USB A receptacle, may be the only solution. Paul |
#3
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USB cable question
Paul wrote:
I have a cordless mouse whose receiver plugs into a USB port in the back of my mini-tower computer. Except when the batteries are new, I get intermittent communication between the mouse and the receiver. I wish to add a simple 3-foot extension cable to bring the receiver closer to my mouse table. Question: I see USB, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB A, USB B, with male and female genders of all of them. Can anyone give me a quick breakdown on the differences between these, and what cable I might need? The mouse is a Logitech. Thanks. In this picture, you can see an example of a very short extension cable. This one was made, to avoid physical obstructions in the I/O area of the computer. It comes with a CM108 USB audio device. http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...128-002-08.jpg If you use the "Cable plugs (USB 1.x/2.0)" table in the following article, it looks like extension cables are supposed to have one A and one B end. The USB A to USB A (receptacle) shown in the above picture, is NS or "non-standard". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb [...much interesting info snipped] I will read all about 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Type A, Type B, etc., but in the meantime I was hoping to use something simple like http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...Name=USBAAMF-3 or http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...me=S-EZUSB-AMF Yes? No? |
#4
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USB cable question
UCLAN wrote:
Paul wrote: I have a cordless mouse whose receiver plugs into a USB port in the back of my mini-tower computer. Except when the batteries are new, I get intermittent communication between the mouse and the receiver. I wish to add a simple 3-foot extension cable to bring the receiver closer to my mouse table. Question: I see USB, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB A, USB B, with male and female genders of all of them. Can anyone give me a quick breakdown on the differences between these, and what cable I might need? The mouse is a Logitech. Thanks. In this picture, you can see an example of a very short extension cable. This one was made, to avoid physical obstructions in the I/O area of the computer. It comes with a CM108 USB audio device. http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...128-002-08.jpg If you use the "Cable plugs (USB 1.x/2.0)" table in the following article, it looks like extension cables are supposed to have one A and one B end. The USB A to USB A (receptacle) shown in the above picture, is NS or "non-standard". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb [...much interesting info snipped] I will read all about 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Type A, Type B, etc., but in the meantime I was hoping to use something simple like http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...Name=USBAAMF-3 or http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...me=S-EZUSB-AMF Yes? No? Yes, that appears to be a type A extension, the "non-standard" kind. They're not supposed to make cables like that, but it appears you can buy one. It's worth a shot, to see how much of an effect that has on signal quality. I think the first item is better than the second one. I prefer to be able to verify they have a braided shield, as proof the cable is really USB2.0 ready. Occasionally, people get suckered into buying keyboard cables, which are no good for USB2. Which is why I like the ones with transparent insulation on the outside. Paul |
#5
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USB cable question
Paul wrote:
I have a cordless mouse whose receiver plugs into a USB port in the back of my mini-tower computer. Except when the batteries are new, I get intermittent communication between the mouse and the receiver. I wish to add a simple 3-foot extension cable to bring the receiver closer to my mouse table. Question: I see USB, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB A, USB B, with male and female genders of all of them. Can anyone give me a quick breakdown on the differences between these, and what cable I might need? The mouse is a Logitech. Thanks. In this picture, you can see an example of a very short extension cable. This one was made, to avoid physical obstructions in the I/O area of the computer. It comes with a CM108 USB audio device. http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...128-002-08.jpg If you use the "Cable plugs (USB 1.x/2.0)" table in the following article, it looks like extension cables are supposed to have one A and one B end. The USB A to USB A (receptacle) shown in the above picture, is NS or "non-standard". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb [...much interesting info snipped] I will read all about 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Type A, Type B, etc., but in the meantime I was hoping to use something simple like http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...Name=USBAAMF-3 or http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...me=S-EZUSB-AMF Yes? No? Yes, that appears to be a type A extension, the "non-standard" kind. They're not supposed to make cables like that, but it appears you can buy one. It's worth a shot, to see how much of an effect that has on signal quality. I think the first item is better than the second one. I see that A to A is non-standard in MALE to MALE cables, but they *are* standard in MALE to FEMALE extenders. My only question remaining is signal integrity with a simple/short extension cable, or if some sort of active extension/repeater is needed. Hmmm... |
#6
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USB cable question
UCLAN wrote:
I see that A to A is non-standard in MALE to MALE cables, but they *are* standard in MALE to FEMALE extenders. My only question remaining is signal integrity with a simple/short extension cable, or if some sort of active extension/repeater is needed. Hmmm... Cables can be at least as long as 5 meters and work. So that should not be a problem. The advantage of the active cable, is regeneration and isolation of one cable segment from another (for when you chain them). The active cable may not be an advantage for a single cable, since the signal on the end of a 5 meter passive cable would be good enough to use. There is a limit to the propagation delay, from host to most distant peripheral, which helps define how much cabling/repeaters/active hubs etc., can be used. You can try the "Cables and Long-Haul Solutions" section here, for some hints. http://www.usb.org/developers/usbfaq/ The purpose of the shapes, is to help guide users in preparing working wiring configurations. Next to my desk for example, is a USB ZIP drive, with a B connector on it. The product comes with a USB A to USB B cable, so I'm assured of wiring it up right by virtue of the shapes. USB A on the back of the computer, USB B on the peripheral. A USB A male to USB A female, leave the possibility of a user placing an infinite number of them in a chain. Then, that user would be cursing the staff at USB.org, for writing a crappy non-working standard. That is why normally, USB A to USB B cables are what are provided. Because, given a room full of USB A male to USB A female cables, most people would chain them until they reached the back yard :-) And they'd be most disappointed with the results. Paul |
#7
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USB cable question
"UCLAN" wrote in message
... Paul wrote: I have a cordless mouse whose receiver plugs into a USB port in the back of my mini-tower computer. Except when the batteries are new, I get intermittent communication between the mouse and the receiver. I wish to add a simple 3-foot extension cable to bring the receiver closer to my mouse table. Question: I see USB, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB A, USB B, with male and female genders of all of them. Can anyone give me a quick breakdown on the differences between these, and what cable I might need? The mouse is a Logitech. Thanks. In this picture, you can see an example of a very short extension cable. This one was made, to avoid physical obstructions in the I/O area of the computer. It comes with a CM108 USB audio device. http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...128-002-08.jpg If you use the "Cable plugs (USB 1.x/2.0)" table in the following article, it looks like extension cables are supposed to have one A and one B end. The USB A to USB A (receptacle) shown in the above picture, is NS or "non-standard". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb [...much interesting info snipped] I will read all about 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Type A, Type B, etc., but in the meantime I was hoping to use something simple like http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...Name=USBAAMF-3 or http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_...me=S-EZUSB-AMF Yes? No? Yes. I would just buy the plain cable & save the 3 bucks. Paul. |
#8
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USB cable question
"Paul" wrote in message
... snip Yes, that appears to be a type A extension, the "non-standard" kind. Look again. They are Male to "Female" connections, it is Male to "Male" connections that are non standard. Snip. P. |
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