Grinder said:
1) How are you managing to network two computers with one
USB cable? I don't see how this is possible and suspect
that you have a larger problem then OS compatibility.
2) There's no reason that a USB cable should have any OS
dependence. I suspect that the packaging for that
cable was simply printed before Windows XP had been
released.
3) "Gold" cables are basically a marketing ripoff. If
you're getting a good deal, fine, but there's no reason
to pay extra for gold.
I think he is referring to something like this:
http://www.linkusb.com/
The driver package on that page, mentions M5633. Which apparently
is an ALI chip. And the chip is not acknowledged on this page:
http://www.ali.com.tw/eng/products/list.htm
Since Prolific also makes a ping-pong USB chip suited for
networking two PCs, it could be there were patent issues.
I also noticed in a previous research into this topic, that
another USB2 version of the ping-pong thing had disappeared
from the market. There still seem to be some USB1 versions
around.
The big questions would be:
1) Is the chip used in the USB cable still in production ?
2) Does the company that made the chip, still support it
with drivers ? Do they have a WinXP driver version ?
3) If the driver had problems, would they fix them, if the
chip is no longer in production ?
WinXP support is mentioned for this chip (Prolific 2501).
If you can figure out which chip is in a particular product,
you might have a better idea about support.
http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=29
http://www.usbgear.com/PCLinq2/
I guess its just another caveat emptor thing (buyer beware).
Paul
