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THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
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Issue Date: Jan. 4, 2003
Vol. 7, No. 1
Jan. 4 - Jan. 10, 2003
Kim Komando Show Home Page: http://www.komando.com
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MY WEEKLY COLUMN: Making the PC-Gadget Connection

So, you got that new computer up and running. And now you're looking
at all the wondrous things you could add to it--digital cameras, music
players, printers, memory card readers, wireless keyboards and mice, to
name a few. Unfortunately, the boxes tell you to hook it up with USB
2.0, or Firewire, or, maybe even, Bluetooth. These are all protocols to
link things to a computer.

Let's demystify them, starting with USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0. Of
the really high-speed connectors, this is the most common. As its name
implies, USB 2.0 is the second iteration of the universal serial bus
standard. The original, 1.1, is still around.

The difference? Speed. USB 1.1 moves 12 megabits of data per second.
USB 2.0 moves 480Mb of data per second. This means USB 2.0 is about
40 times faster than its predecessor, USB 1.1.

Why is this important? Think about MP3 music files. These are normally
2.5 to 3 megabytes per song. If you were transferring 1,000 songs (some
people have that many!) to an MP3 player, you could spend a half hour
using USB 1.1. If you used USB 2.0, it would take less than a minute!

How can you tell which you type of USB port is in your computer?
Unfortunately, the slots look the same. Check the documentation that
came with your computer. If the computer is new, at least some of your
USB slots should be 2.0. If it is more than six months old, you may be
stuck with 1.1. If that's the case, and you need a faster slot, you can
install a 2.0 card in your computer.

Some peripherals don't need a screaming-fast port. Keyboards and mice
come in USB versions. They're normally 1.1, because they just don't
move that much data. You can hook 1.1 peripherals to 2.0 ports, but
they will still run at the 1.1 speed.

Firewire is another screamer. It is known formally as IEEE 1394. It was
developed by Apple, and is often used to download video. Those are huge
files, and like a slew of MP3s, can take forever with a slower method.
Firewire is less common on PCs than USB 2.0. It is built into all Apple
machines. Firewire is slightly slower than USB 2.0, running at 400Mbps.
That is still awfully fast.

Firewire comes in two flavors: four-wire and six-wire. Six-wire is
handier, because it uses power from the computer to run the peripheral.
So, if you're downloading pictures from a camera, for instance, you
don't have to use the camera's batteries. Four-wire ports require the
peripheral to be powered. You can buy Firewire cards to add this port
to a computer. If you buy a card, get six-wire.

Both Firewire and USB 2.0 peripherals must be connected by cable to the
computer. Bluetooth is entirely different. It is a wireless standard.
It is talked about much more often than it is installed. If you decide
to retrofit a computer with Bluetooth, you'll find few parts. And there
are even fewer peripherals equipped for Bluetooth.

Nonetheless, Bluetooth has been the subject of continuing hype for
several years. It is a low-power system, good for about 30 feet.
Therefore, it is impractical for networking computers. But it should
work well with peripherals.

Bluetooth was named for King Harald II of Denmark. He reigned in the
10th century and had--guess what?--a blue tooth. Used on a computer,
Bluetooth runs at 721 kilobits per second one way. A fast parallel port,
traditionally used for printers, runs about as fast. Bluetooth is much,
much slower than USB or Firewire. When you look behind your
computer, what do you see? Mine is a jungle of wiring. Conceivably,
Bluetooth could alleviate that condition.

The bottom-line: If you're using a PC and want to buy a peripheral,
concentrate on USB (hopefully, 2.0) and Firewire, if you have a
Firewire port. If you're using an Apple machine, concentrate on
Firewire. Bluetooth is a good choice for wireless keyboards and mice,
but not much more than that.