Not only is the list of things that you can connect getting longer, but the data flow rates are climbing. These things go hand-in-hand. It would be difficult to download a 3 megapixel color photo from a camera if you were limited to using a serial port running at 19,200 bits per second. That's a very thin straw, and people wouldn't do it.

There are a variety of ways to connect peripheral devices to computers, and today we'll discuss one of them: the Universal Serial Bus, or USB connection.

What is it?
USB is a specification, much the same way that GEDCOM is. It was developed because working on PCs was such a headache. I've paid good money to forget the hassle of opening the case, setting a jumper on an adapter card to set the IRQ, and fighting over memory addresses for I/O. Suffice it to say that adding a device to a computer usually meant an Arthurian quest where the dragon ate you repeatedly. The peripheral manufacturer's instructions and tech support were less than ideal, and often there was a lot of finger-pointing between the support people you might call.

"It's the motherboard."
"It's not the motherboard, it's the BIOS."
"It's not the BIOS, it's the new adapter card."
And my personal favorite, "You'll have to reload Windows." (I think they have this on a huge banner at the tech support office for Dell. I think they pay those people extra for every time that they say it on the phone.)

The installation spells and chants rang to the heavens, accompanied by a complex ritual of turning things on and off, and the vigorous exercise of the plugging arts. But the prayers, they were in vain, and the people, they did not compute as they wished.

USB came along in 1995, produced by a consortium of computer makers. The members of the USB-IF realized that if people couldn't use their products easily, they wouldn't sell as many. The USB spec allows two kinds of devices - hubs and peripherals. A hub is a gizmo that lets you plug multiple USB devices into a single USB port on your computer, like a power strip does for electrical connections. I've had really mixed results with some of the less expensive hubs. If you buy one, be sure that you get one you can return if it doesn't work. You can use the credit to buy the next highest one.

Name Two of Them
Hail to the New King, same as the Old King. USB 1.1 allowed for full speed at 12 miles per hour. Well, it's actually megabits per second, but I'm going to use mph here. USB 2.0 runs at 480 mph, and that's just fast enough to compete with another connection protocol named FireWire.

I suspect that the FireWire versus USB debates will rage for some time, and here is some ammunition for you to use if you get into a pub argument over them. First, USB was a Windows toy, and FireWire was an Apple toy. Now, both connections work on both computers, but the Windows versus Mac arguments have drifted into FireWire versus USB arguments. FireWire works at 400 mph, USB 2.0 at 480. It looks like that old Cold War Arms Race one-upmanship to me. However, just about every computer I've seen has a USB port, and very few have a FireWire port (although it's growing).

I don't see Bluetooth and other connection types very often either. The wide choice of connection methods means that the ideas are still being formed. Today, we're not arguing about which is better, but describing the USB spec.

When it Works, What Does it Do?
With USB, you can connect a hundred devices on a single port. I don't know anyone who has tried it, but you can "gang" the connectors and hubs until you run out of things to plug in. You can "hot-swap" the devices - a technical term meaning that you can plug and unplug them at will.

I recently had an opportunity to connect an inexpensive Epson 1606 scanner to a USB 2.0 port on a computer running Windows 2000 at 667 MHz. I should point out that I've been scanning a long time, and that I still have a working HP Scanjet 2p with the sheet feeder. I'm quite accustomed to a fairly quick preview, some cropping or adjustment, and then a much slower actual scan.

I was so surprised to see the scan take a couple of seconds. I thought I had pressed preview again. I scanned another picture, same thing. I got out a bag of slides and scanned those. Then an envelope of negatives. Finally, a process that can be completed within the time of my attention span! I turned the house upside down finding things that I wanted to scan.

What's the Down Side?
First of all, if your computer doesn't have a USB 2.0 port, you will have to install an adapter card inside your computer's case for this purpose. The Adaptec 4-port card costs $50, the SIIG card is $20. I can't tell them apart. Still, if you're like me, opening the case could mean that you're down for three days. There are also $70 PCM-CIA adapters for USB 2.0 ports on laptops. Connecting that digital camera to your laptop was never easier.

Beyond the potential for an installation step, there's the compatibility issue. USB 2.0 is backward compatible, so you can connect a new scanner to an old port and vice versa, but you'll only get the slower speed. To reach the magical high speeds, you'll need a device and a port that is USB 2.0 compatible. If you run out today and buy a USB 2.0 adapter and install it with old devices, all you'll accomplish is to dust off your installation skills.

I am not suggesting that you go out and buy all new peripherals so that you can process the graphic side of your family history. However, as you replace various items, please keep these points in mind. Make sure that the new one is 2.0 compatible.

What's the Genealogy Tie-In?
We recently discussed scanners and cameras. Those are two great applications for this connection due to the amount of data to transfer. Another area that I think will see increased use in family history is flash memory. I'll describe this more in future articles, but let me say that I have a friend who has a 64 megabyte flash chip, with a USB adapter, on her key chain. A person can carry a lot of family history information in 64 megs - and the chips are getting bigger all the time.

You can find a thumb-sized "flash drive" that has 256 megs for under $150 today, and get transfer times of 5 megabits per second. Some users report that the performance is comparable to the performance of regular hard drives.

Link me Up (More Stars is Better)

Everything USB ****
www.everythingusb.com/
Another great site for USB news.

USB Org Home ****
www.usb.org/home
This is the home of the USB-IF, the people who manage the USB spec. Lots of news, good background.

RootsWorks - USB ***
www.rootsworks.com/usb
I put a few photos and links on the RootsWorks site for more background.

What Else?
Back on 13 November 2001, PC Magazine made USB 2.0 the recipient of its Technical Excellence Award. The USB-IF people are so proud of it that it's still on their home page.

I recently saw an external hard drive, 120 gigabytes, in a computer store for less than $300. I've been using a large hard drive as a backup medium on my home office LAN for some time. The idea that you could carry a hard drive that size from computer to computer, and copy the information at high speeds, is fascinating to me. I wonder if I might want to carry something like that with me when I travel. Imagine having that kind of space in your hotel room, or at the Family History Center. I'll bet that Dick Eastman already has one.

The idea of adding devices without opening the case is a real convenience, but now the stuff that was inside the case is all over my desk. Somebody is going to make a gazillion dollars if she can figure out how to make stackable USB peripherals. Each device has to be somewhere near the computer, and I'm running out of space on the desktop. After you plug in about the fifth USB device, you will either need a bigger desk, or some kind of Container Store unit to allow you to stack them. It wouldn't surprise me to see several standard "form factors" emerge, that would allow you to stack the big ones, the little ones, and the middle ones.

The RootsWorks series of articles focuses on genealogical applications for generic technologies. Beau would like to hear from you at sharbrough@rootsworks.com, but due to the volume of e-mail received, he is unable to answer some e-mail messages. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual computer problems. Visit the RootsWorks website at www.rootsworks.com for links to previous articles and Beau's lecture schedule. The site will soon feature discussion forums for your computer experiences related to these articles.