Iwill KK266 USB Specs (or specs in general)

[studiodan]

Hi, new user, pretty lame question I suppose, but...

The Iwill KK266 mobo actually has four ports but the two front ports do not come with the bracket that would enable them. (excuse my rough translation)

Can someone tell me what USB version these ports are or how I can tell? This may be a dumb question but I can't seem to find the answer to this.

Has anyone "enabled" these two front USB ports? Is this advisable and if so, where may one find one of these brackets.

I want to purchase the system from Advanced Design and wondering if the expense of adding a PCI card (not to mention freeing up that PCI slot) with USB/Hub functions can be circumvented.

Thanks.

[daveleau]

Welcome to Sysopt!

I enabled my USB ports on mine and they work fine. They are USB 1.1 (not 2.0). They still have the low bandwith ceiling. Not sure where you can get that bracket. i would assume you could post a desire to acquire one on the "User to User" forum we have, but more than likely you'd need to go to IWill directly.

Great link: http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/007111.html http://home.socal.rr.com/aml/

Good luck
Dave

[studiodan]

Dave,
Obviously I came to the right place. Thank you very much for nudging me down the right trail. Gotta go read now.

Are there any mobos that "successfully" utilize usb 2? It appears there are some issues with the kk266 (1.1). I'm trying to set up a DAW for mastering work.
I don't know what that low ceiling crack was all about but I'm gonna' find out. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif Thanks again.
Sincerely, Dan.

[daveleau]

Sorry, there is a 12Mbps ceiling on the USB root hub bandwith. Meaning, it can't handle as many devices because of the small amount of info that can travel down the pipe at one time. I have only heard of some Maxtor external drives being released to be compatible with USB 2.0 standards. They are backwards compatible with USB 1.1. I have not heard of any mobos that support USB 2 yet. That doesn't mean they are not out there though.

Dave

Glad we could help out. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by daveleau (edited 08-12-2001).]

[studiodan]

Dave, thanks for explaining that. I've been getting a lot of great information from the links you provided. Appears USB 2.0 is not a solution currently. I will turn my focus to Firewire (I can't recall the correct term).

One of those links, USBMAN, has the current status of USB 2.0 in case there are any other dummies like me reading. You were very accurate:
"As of 08-10-2001, there are NO USB 2.0 drivers for non-Beta operating systems that are publicly available for general use. Drivers that were expected by the first of July, 2001 are still not available. Therefore, NO USB 2.0 device is capable of operating at more than 12Mbps which is the maximum speed of USB 1.1. Microsoft has released USB 2.0 drivers for WindowsXP RC1. These Beta drivers are available for RC1 Beta testers through the Windows Update Site. MS has not committed to a release date for High Speed USB drivers in other Windows Operating Systems. As of today, OrangeMicro and Addonics are the only card makers with USB 2.0 drivers for Win98, ME and Win2000. The drivers are proprietary and do NOT work with other brands of USB 2.0 PCI cards."

Thanks again, very much. Sincerely, Dan.
By the way, I found out about this site through my web stats. Someone mentioned my site here and I appreciate that. You've been on my forums page ever since. http://www.studiocovers.com/forums.htm