usb cables, difference between 1.1 and 2.0?

dan · Post by **dan** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:33 pm

hello
i know that you need a usb 2.0 chip, and usb 2.0 hub to enjoy 480mbps speed.

what about the cable? i have several 1.1 cables, they look like 2.0 cables to me. can i get 2.0 speeds using 1.1 cables?

thanks

Nebor · Post by **Nebor** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:45 pm

Yeah, difference in cables is usually just shielding, if anything.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:47 pm

I've never had a problem doing USB 2.0 with any of my cables, and many of them are from before 2.0. That's just my experience (got like 10 different USB cables in here).

-Ed

trodas · Post by **trodas** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 1:38 am

For me, they all seems the same

Okay, i gt one USB cable to my Sony digital voice recorder, that end with the bulky shielding thing (like every ot DVI monitor cable...)

However the thing is USB 1.1 at most

IIRC my HP1012 has USB 2.0 capability, but comes w/o cable (!) and I just used the first cable come to my hands (perhaps the one was orginally made to connect my Motorola SB4200 cablemodem to USB port of computer?) and never had a problem with it...
Okay, the specs:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ho ... 06511.html
...did not say that the printer is USB2 either

Just "Connectivity, std.
USB (compatible with USB 2.0 specifications)" so it might be not, I just judged from the very very high speed of printing that it should be (I get used to PowerMac and HP5MP printer, connected with the Apple serial bus, witch is kinda slow todays)

Well, my CF card reader is USB2 for sure (huge speed up on USB2 ports

), but the cable looks like the other are

So my quess that as long as things seems working, use the cable you got with the device

The USB thing is fairly simple. Data+, Data-, Ground and +5V are there. In all the USB 1, 1.1 and 2.0 ... From what I see on connecting the wires to mono connectors I bet that except using very long cables for USB2, no one should hit any problem with any working USB cable on USB2 speed

But that is just my assumption. Anyone could back up by reading the USB2 specs, there are will be for sure max. cable lenght and perhaps even some specs...

dan · Post by **dan** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:50 am

great thanks.

i modified a usb cable from Type A which is what my usb card uses to 4- header using a cd-rom audio cable and it works ok

msde · Post by **msde** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:52 am

I had a USB 1.1 extension cable (maybe 20 feet long?) that dropped everything going through it to 1.1. It wasn't just a cable though, as it was long enough to need some sort of repeater (the female plug was enclosed in a little black box)

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:46 pm

USB 2.0 cable is backwards compatible meaning it works with components using USB 1.1, but I believe to get the full performance out of components capable of 2.0 then USB 2.0 cables are necessary.

trodas · Post by **trodas** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 3:53 pm

JVM - could be

But pls enlighten us, how do they differ

So far, I not spoted any difference, but I could be pretty much wrong

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:00 pm

trodas wrote:JVM - could be But pls enlighten us, how do they differ

So far, I not spoted any difference, but I could be pretty much wrong

How they differ? I don't know what constitutes the difference in construction, but I do know that components using USB 2.0 work better with USB 2.0 cables. If you have USB 2.0 inputs on your computer, and a component is rated for USB 2.0, then you should be using a USB 2.0 cable.

The difference in peformance is speed - I think

munichkid · Post by **munichkid** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:06 pm

Read Maximum PC issue from June 2004 page 34

There is virtually NO difference in cables

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 6:20 am

munichkid wrote:Read Maximum PC issue from June 2004 page 34

There is virtually NO difference in cables

Are they referring to either USB 2.0 and 1.1 cables for a component that is specified for a USB 2.0 port?

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 2:08 am

I have had some difficult experiences mixing USB 1.1 spec cables with USB 2.0 onboard/card connections. Although many non-2.0 rated cables will work fine, not all older cables/connections will work - it can hang your machine at boot when there is a problem, and other times plugging in the device will cause a system crash.

Best way to find out is just to try it out, IMO.

mpteach · Post by **mpteach** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:22 am

USB2 cables run @ a higher frequency, so they need higher quality cables with more shielding. With short cables in a low interference environment u might get USB2 to work fine on a 1.1 cable, depends on the cable though.