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Remote USB switch

I have a high speed USB v2 widget which is a distance from my PC. I also run different O/S (i.e. Linux) which don't like to see my widget and can cause crashes. So I have to constantly plug/unplug my widget depending on what I'm doing. I am concerned about the constant plugging/unplugging and the mechanical wear/stresses on the connection - I have had a few memory sticks fail as a result of this.

What I would like is a little circuit which sits in line with the USB widget and I can turn it on and off via a simple switch. My first thought is something like a tri-state bi-directional buffer with an enable facility - or rough it and use a four-pole relay. Whatever, it must not interfere with the data speed of the widget, so we are talking about something with a high bandwidth.

Any ideas?

Graham

Reply to
Grey
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Buy a 1m extender cable. Job done.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

This looks like it will do it. It's a hub with a switch that allows ay one of 4 PC to be connected to the peripherals. Just select a upstream channel with no PC connected to disconnect several USB devices at once.

formatting link

"Share multiple peripherals with up to four USB computers"

"Share a printer, scanner, or hard drive by pushing the Selector Button on the front of the switch"

Reply to
CWatters

Two of the wires in USB are power (5 V and ground) and two are data. If your widget draws power from USB, you could just leave the data wires connected and disconnect the +5 V wire, effectively shutting the widget down. I think USB devices can draw up to 500 mA, so your switch has to be able to handle that much current.

The best option is probably to make Linux understand your widget - have you checked for Linux drivers for it? Another option would be to get Linux to stop probing the USB when it boots up. If you don't have any other USB devices, you could unload the USB module or build a kernel without USB support. Or, hack the USB drivers to give up when they see your particular device type on the wire.

Matt Roberds

Reply to
mroberds

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