USB 1.1 Port Management

[Goatz18]

My arcade cab machine is an old PC with 4 USB 1.1 ports. I also put in a 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card. My question is, do I need a USB 2.0 hub/another PCI card or can some things be jacked into the 1.1 ports without any latency issues?

I have two UltraStik360's, a U-Track ball, an I-Pac 4, two Guncon2's, and a wireless mouse and keyboard combo that use one dongle. I imagine the mouse and keyboard don't need USB 2.0, but what about the others?

What I am basically asking is can I utilize some of the USB 1.1 ports and not have to resort to buying either another PCI card or USB Hub? Thanks.

[DJ_Izumi]

USB 2.0's advantage is really only in bandwith for data transfers and stuff.  For any sorta human input devices USB1.1 is mooooore than enough even with many devices on one hub.

[u_rebelscum]

My arcade cab machine is an old PC with 4 USB 1.1 ports. I also put in a 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card. My question is, do I need a USB 2.0 hub/another PCI card or can some things be jacked into the 1.1 ports without any latency issues?

I have two UltraStik360's, a U-Track ball, an I-Pac 4, two Guncon2's, and a wireless mouse and keyboard combo that use one dongle. I imagine the mouse and keyboard don't need USB 2.0, but what about the others?

What I am basically asking is can I utilize some of the USB 1.1 ports and not have to resort to buying either another PCI card or USB Hub? Thanks.

Don't confuse usb 2.0 with "higher speed than usb 1.1".  Marketing has tried to fuzz the line, and the usb org didn't help a lot, but at they did make a way for users to tell the difference.

Names matter:
"Hi-speed USB 2.0" = 480 mbit/sec
"Full speed USB 2.0" = "Full speed USB 1.1" = 12 mbit/sec
"Low speed USB 2.0" = "Low speed USB 1.1" = "USB 1.0" = 1.5 mbit/sec

Of your hardware you list, only the u360 can use "hi speed usb 2.0" (480 mbit/sec).  Ultimarc lists the ipac & utrak as "full speed usb 2.0" (12 mbit/sec), but usb 1.1 can do that speed too.  Unless you have a high end mouse, I'd say you mouse/keyboard is "low speed usb 2.0" (1.5 mbit/sec, or usb 1.0 equivalent).  Not sure on the guncon2, but I'll bet they're "full" or "low" speed.

So the only hardware that might have slowdown due to bandwidth limits are the u360s.  However, while usb 2.0 devices are supposed to be backward compliant, sometimes issues pop up.

I don't think you'll have too many problems it you put all on USB 1.1, but just to be save, keep the u360s on your usb 2.0 card and then test the rest on usb 1.1.  I'd leave one usb 2.0 port open for external harddrives/flashdrives, and fill the rest with the utrak and/or i-pac.  If know you won't use external drives, you can fit both.


FWIW, USB 3.0 has the same hi, full, and low names and matching speeds, plus the new "SuperSpeed" @ 4.8 Gbit/sec.  So you could buy a "USB 3.0" device that runs at the old usb 1.0 1.5 mbit/sec in the near future.

[DJ_Izumi]

Not sure on the guncon2, but I'll bet they're "full" or "low" speed.

It's a safe bet, the PS2 afterall only had USB 1.1 ports.

In my view though, any sort of simple human interface device is not going to saturate even low speed USB 1.1.  1.5mbps is a HELL of a lot of bandwidth for just simple input commands.

I wouldn't worry unless you were putting network, audio, video or storage devices together on USB 1.1.

But if you're unsure, just plug it all in and test it.  They're USB, you can swap them around after if it doesn't work out.

[Goatz18]

Alright. Great feedback. Thanks for the info DJ_Izumi. And thank you u_rebelscum, that was a very well researched and explained answer. I appreciate that.

Now that I think of it of course, the PS2 would have only had full speed, and I should have checked Ultimarcs web site for the specs myself.