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I Love USB. I also hate USB!

 
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ka9vnv  
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Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 152
Location: Woodstock, IL

PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 12:16 am    Post subject: I Love USB. I also hate USB! Reply with quote

At least in Windows.

USB is wonderful, in that you can plug lots of devices into your computer. 127 of them, in fact. And you can remove it when you don't need it.

But, in Windows, a USB device instantly becomes a different USB device if you fail to put it back in the exact same plug it was last in, even if it has a unique identifier to make it easy to keep track of.

Take, for example, my USB serial port adapters. They were configured for COM4 and COM5. Worked very well. Except I didn't have enough USB ports to plug them both in and all the other devices I had, so I bought a hub.

Hey, they're no longer COM4 and COM5, they've become COM6 and COM7! Hey, Windows, put them back where they were, because my software all expects them to be there!

"I can't do that - you already have a COM4 and COM5, so there is a conflict."

No, there isn't a conflict, because it's the same hardware that you said was COM4 and COM5 before.

"I can't do that - you have to delete the other hardware first."

I gave in... I deleted Window's previous "vision" of the "missing" hardware, so it would let me reassign the "new" hardware to the ports the programs expected them to be on.

Then the hub blew up, and had to be replaced. Hey, they're no longer COM4 and COM5, they've become COM8 and COM9, because Windows still remembers when they were COM6 and COM7, so there is a conflict with COM4 through COM7 now.

This time, I reconfigure UI-View to talk to COM8.

Ooops, I got the cables mixed up, and switched the two... My software doesn't know how to talk to COM10 and COM11. Grrr... Reconfiguration time.

Except this time, Windows took physical exception to the efforts to correct the COM designation, and did a hard reset.

Little does this machine realize that the quad-core machine sitting 5 feet away is its Linux replacement!

Well, it will be, after I figure out how to get all the USB stuff working on it! Rolling Eyes

Signed
Jeff Brenton KA9VNV

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"It is not at all simple to understand the simple." - Eric Hoffer
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ka9vnv  
Site Admin


Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 152
Location: Woodstock, IL

PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An update.

I've moved the USB serial port to another machine. Got everything running, with the port set the way I wanted it. All was well.

A couple of days later, I was watching for someone to depart home, because I was to meet them somewhere. They didn't move. Suddenly, all but a few icons disappeared from the screen. Turns out that two hours prior, Windows 7 had "helped", and switched the USB baud rate to a "proper" 9600, turning off the outside world.

I've since set the default baud rate for the port to match the TNC, so that any efforts by Windows to "help" in the future don't disconnect me....

Signed
Jeff Brenton KA9VNV

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"It is not at all simple to understand the simple." - Eric Hoffer
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n9mxq  



Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 160
Location: Belvidere IL

PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Makes me glad I ordered my Dual port PCI card...hehe
Signed
Gene Young N9MXQ
"If you can't say something nice, don't say nuttin at all." -Thumper
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