subject: Usb Hub, Electronics Hub [print this page] A USB hub is a device that expands a single USB port into several so that there are more ports available to connect devices to a host system.Needless to say, the USB Hubs play an irreplaceable and significant role in the updating electronics world.But I bet we far from tech-savvy guys have no clear idea of the specific and crucial role, then lets crack it on the strength of the elaborate information on the internet.
USB hubs are often built into equipment such as computers, keyboards, monitors, or printers. When such an Input Devices has many USB ports they all usually stem from one or two internal USB hubs rather than each port having independent USB circuitry.
Physically separate USB hubs come in a wide variety of form factors: from external boxes (looking similar to a network hub) connectible with a long cable, to small designs that can be directly plugged into a USB port (see the 'compact design' picture). In the middle case, there are "short cable" hubs which typically use an integral 6 inch cable to slightly distance a small hub away from physical port congestion and of course increase the number of available ports.
Laptop computers may be equipped with many USB ports, but an external USB hub can consolidate several everyday devices (like a mouse and a printer) into a single hub to enable one-step attachment and removal of all the devices.
A USB network is built from USB hubs connected downstream to USB ports, which themselves may stem from USB hubs. USB hubs can extend a USB network to a maximum of 127 ports. The USB specification requires that bus-powered hubs may not be connected in series to other bus-powered hubs.
USB ports are often closely spaced. Consequentially plugging a device into one port may physically block an adjacent port, particularly when the plug is not part of a cable but is integral to a device such as a USB flash drive. A horizontal array of horizontal sockets may be easy to fabricate, but may cause only two out of four ports to be usable (depending on plug width).
Port arrays in which the port orientation is perpendicular to the array orientation generally have fewer blockage problems. "Octopus" or "Squid" hubs (with each socket at the end of a very short cable maybe 2 inches long), or "star" hubs (with each port pointing in a different direction, as pictured) avoid this problem completely.
Well, against the backdrop of electronics technology developing by leaps and bounds, we contemporaries should keep abreast of its step and pay more attention to the state-of the-art electronics products hitting the Online Marketplace or real stores market, contributed by the advanced technology and all the more take full advantage of them to enrich our life.
