Re: USB devices fail unnecessarily on unpowered hubs

From: Robert Hancock
Date: Thu Jun 01 2006 - 19:36:18 EST


linux-os (Dick Johnson) wrote:
Many, most, perhaps all such devices don't take more power when they
are "enabled". Everything is already running and sucking up maximum
current when you plug it in! If the motherboard didn't smoke when
the device was plugged in, you might just as well let the user use
it! Perhaps a ** WARNING ** message somewhere, but by golly, they
got it running or else you wouldn't be able to read its parameters.

Wrong.. USB devices are not allowed to draw more than some amount (100 mA I think) of power before the host tells it that it is allowed to switch into full-power mode. Any device that doesn't do this doesn't comply with the USB specs. Therefore it is very possible to connect a device and discover that it can't be enabled.

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/

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