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ADS USB Docking Station
ADS Technologies (
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Electronics |
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£
69.99 |
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subject to change. |
usually dispatched within 24 hours. |
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Excellent little hub  |
I find this item to be well built and to work perfectly. The price is very reasonable and I would recommend it to anyone as long as they understand the inevitable limitations of any bus-powered hub.These do not connect to the mains and the only power they have is what the computer provides through its USB port. So items which draw a lot of current will not work when connected to such hubs, but low-power devices work fine. I am using the hub to connect a mouse and a number keypad to the same USB port on my laptop which works great - no problems at all. And not needing a power supply is very convenient when used with a mobile computer.
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USB Device Fails to Deliver  |
On the face of it this device looks like a god send for us laptop users. However, beware that all is not how it seems. The device will only allow 100mA of power through each port and this is very limiting. So far my Digital Camera, Scanner or ZIP Drive wont work, as they need more power. The Printer does work, and I imagine a mouse and keyboard would work as well.Overall I would suggest people are better off buying a more expensive USB hub which can handle the extra power requirements of many USB devices. This device is cheap (which is what attracted it to me), but has only limited functionality. (Which isne mentioned in the spec)..
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Works Perfectly - and no Cat 5 strewn all over the place!  |
Works exactly as expected straight out of the box. Network cards are recognised automatically at least in ME and 2000 so you dont even need to install drivers if you dont want to. Cards are treated just like ethernet cards.Real speeds are about 7-8MBs (which is about what youd expect from a 10base-T network and best youd get from a wirelss 11MBs setup). Plenty for file and print sharing and internet sharing on a small network. Been using this stuff for about a year on some pretty old and messy BT telephone extension wiring with no problems at all (either with telephone calls or data connections between computers). Running new CAT5 cables wasnt an easy option for me because of internal listing on building. Wireless has speed and security issues so HPNA2 seemed to be the way to go - and I believe it is. One drawback - you only seem to be able to buy network cards in the UK. None of the other useful stuff is imported here. Come on Linksys/Netgear- when are we going to get your Ethernet/HPNA bridges and routers over here? There are ways of ovecoming this using a PC with an ethernet card and an HPNA card but for simplicity, I ended up bringing an ethernet/HPNA bridge back from the US so that I can run an ethernet segment and use a hardware print server.
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