USB: A handy guide
Question: I am running pre-installed Win 95 4.00.950B. I thought that this version had support for USB, and my ASUS motherboard has two USB ports, but nothing appears anywhere indicating they are supported. I read an article on your web site about SR 2.5 saying that USB was not normally installed but was an option. I do not see anything come up about USB under my help search on Windows about this. Can you help? – D.S.
Answer: You’ll need a special USB patch from your PC manufacturer to make it work. First, some background, then the how-to stuff.
USB is one of the coolest technologies on PCs today because it allows a user to attach devices to the machine on the fly without the need to reboot. The acronym stands for Universal Serial Bus. (see a picture) Essentially, it’s a connection technology that moves data between a computer and a peripheral device like a USB scanner, USB keyboard, etc., at 12 Mbps. That’s up to 50 times faster than a traditional serial port. Through a USB hub, you can connect up to 127 USB devices to a computer.
I recently connected a Shark USB 56K modem and an HP scanner to my Dell Pentium II 400 MHz computer using a matchbox-sized USB Pocket Hub, and had both devices running in seconds with one free port available for a future toy. No reboot, no arduous driver installs. Windows 98 recognized them instantly and I was up and running.
Bigger hubs are available from a variety of vendors, should you feel the urge to go a little bit USB-nutty. Newer Macs come with USB sockets. Likewise, most Pentium II and all Pentium III machines have the hardware sockets, which look like a thin slit about the width of your pinkie finger.
Any USB-enabled device will work on either platform if it’s running an operating system that supports the technology. On the Apple side, that means Mac OS 8.1 or better, and on Windows, 98 and beyond. Meanwhile, Windows 95 USB support is hit-or-miss. For users who have the first Windows 95 retail release or the service pack 1 installed … sorry, but forget it. You’ll need to upgrade to Windows 98.
D.S., you have Windows 95 OSR 2.0, which was pre-installed for a period of time by some PC makers. You’ll need an update patch from your PC manufacturer. It is normally called usbsupp.exe, although often PC makers rename the file to their liking. This will upgrade your Windows version to OSR 2.1. You can also obtain Windows 95 OSR 2.5 from the manufacturer.
The other option is to upgrade to Windows 98, which supports USB without further fuss. To see which version is on your machine, check the General tab on the System applet in Control Panel. There’s a good chart for Windows 95 users to help them through the Windows 95 USB minefield. If you’re still unsure whether your Windows system supports USB, run the free USB ready program from USB.org. It can also be downloaded from this page on USB FAQ’s.
If USB intrigues you, there are several book titles that might help you in your understanding of USB:
- The USB Handbook
by Kosar Jaff (Annabooks)
- USB Explained