On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 12:05 PM, James Phillips
<address@hidden> wrote:
On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 09:54:56PM -0800, Franz Christopher wrote:
> Here is a basic example:
>
> I buy a nifty host-to-host USB cable, I am happy with it
> it works fast, its easy to use, but, here is the kicker:
>
> I can only use it on MSW because the chip inside it
> uses an extra bit to communicate and none of my Linux/BSD
> machines know what to do with that extra bit.
>
I don't know if this is a real example or not, but if it does not meet
the USB Spec, it is not a USB cable. Or by "bit" do you mean the actual
device that does all the work? (I am probably going too far focusing on
the example, not the point here.) "cross-over" does not work for USB.
You need some kind of buffer. I have started looking for USB certified
devices: Http://www.usb.org
This is in fact a real example, I bought a usb host-to-host cable that uses the Ali M5632 chipset
I had to buy a Belkin host-to-host cable which is far more expensive, but it works.
(not without some initial effort)
My bad, by "bit" I meant byte, the Ali M5632 uses a 7 byte header that as far as I know Linux does not
know what to do with.
you can find more info at the usbnet page
I'm sure the vendors would argue that they disclosed the supported OS's
on the box. I was able to get a refund on a Winwodem after explicity
asking the sales person if it was a winmodem or not (before purchase),
then bringing in a printout from the manufacturer's website explaining
that it is, in fact a win or software-implemented, or whatewer they
called it modem. It should just say it on the box in bold lettering!
This is something that is indeed getting better as of late, but a couple of years back
it only said if it was Win or Mac, now I see more hardware manufacturers that specify
that a certain piece of hardware is Linux compatible. Not a whole lot mind you,
just a bit more.