Subject: 
               Beyond the limits of the 6400 (USB)
         Author: 
               lems1
         Model: 
               6400/200
       Category: 
               Performa 6400 Series
     System S/W: 
               Mac OS 8.6
         Posted: 
               Wednesday, 8/18/99 5:11 PM CDT



       If you are planning to install an USB card in your Performa, or if you
already did, this might be
       helpful information; if not, you might not have to read this at all.
       Performa 6400/200
       104 MB of RAM
       Mac OS 8.6
       vPower 320/325 (Vimage: www.vimagestore.com)
       Entrega 4 Port PCI-based USB card (www.entrega.com)
       Apple USB PCI card support drivers version 1.2

       After a few days with this new card I am very pleased with its
performance. However, these are
       a few things you might want to know before you make any decision on
buying an USB card for
       your Performa. First, make sure the manufacturer support OHCI (Open
Host Controller
       Interface). If they do, then you can buy any card. 
       The cards will work fine with any computer (basically); especially if
you have a speedy Performa
       (180 or 200). However, you might have problems when plugin devices into
the card. These
       problems are mainly about power. The PCI slots of the Performas are
limited to 15 watts. And if
       your computer have a similar configuration than mine, you might already
be taking more power
       than what the card can offer. There are some walk arounds for these problems:
       Turn off your go to sleep settings at the Energy savings control panel
(this helps fixing problems
       with some hubs that have their own power supply adapters and do not
need to withdraw power
       from the system itself)
       Take some PCI cards out (or TV tuner card) (I know, you won't want to
sacrifice your valuable
       TV for some stupid USB card)
       Buy a hub with an external adapter (this is the best solution; but you
have to tweak the drivers to
       make it work)

       When using the version 1.1 of Apple's USB support drivers, you might
have to unplug and then
       plug back your devices so that they work. This is the only
walkaround,and the easiest one, I
       found for the out of power error you get when you leave an USB device
plug to your computer at
       startup time. Version 1.2 fixes these problems, plus it loads before
all other extensions when
       booting up. This is great, because it lets you use your USB-based mouse
or trackball right the
       way!

       Most devices won't experience any problems; especially if they only
need 100 mA (mili amperes)
       to work. However, some devices need to be powered right from the USB
hub, and they usually
       need 500 mA's to work! One of these examples is the new ZoomCam USB for
Mac (model
       1596). This camera is going to give you a lot of problems when you use
it with a Performa. The
       driver (the latest version is 1.0a25) conflicts with Apple Video
Player, and there is practically no
       work around for this. You have to remove your 'S-Video and Video' card
from your Performa,
       so that the input video port is the ZoomCam USB and not the S-Video
one. After this your
       camera will work. I called ZoomCam to explain the problem, and they
could not help me. The
       best answer they gave me is to buy another USB camera from somebody
else!! (This is one of
       the best answers I have heard in my life).

       Another device that might need some extra help is the MacAlly iBallPro
(trackball). The drivers
       fail to load if you use Apple's USB support extension version 1.2; I
email MacAlly about this
       problem, and they are working on a solution. The trackball works fine,
is just that you might
       loose the ability to program the second button; and, if this was the
reason, or is the reason, why
       you are buying (or planning to buy) this device, my advice is to stick
with version 1.1 of Apple's
       USB support drivers.

       Some hubs, like Belkin 4 ports USB generic hub (www.belkin.com), use
their own power
       adapter. This is what you need in order to use certain USB devices with
your USB card
       connected to an over-loaded Performa. However, Apple's drivers 1.2 have
a huge bug
       concerning power. I called Belkin, the guys that make the hub, and they
told me that Apple is
       aware of that; Apple says, as a solution for iMac and blue G3's "...
There is not enough power to
       used this device," that we should turn off the sleep mode in the Energy
Saver control panel
       (That's what the Belkin guys told me). Even though this might work for
the real G3's, it doesn't
       seem to make a difference for us. 

       I know this is a huge problem, and that you are not going to enjoy the
real power of the USB
       technology if you continue using your Performa--no matter what you do
to emulate it. However,
       it's always good to try, especially if you love your Performa and if
you have a lot of things
       already hook up to it. USB devices are cheaper and faster than any
existing port of the old
       Performas. I wish there could be a problem-free solution for this
dilema, so that we can also
       enjoy the new opportunities brought on by Apple's decision to support
USB on the Mac. You
       could always get a new G3 (or wait for the G4's to start rolling) to
have a better experience with
       these new ports. But, since we love our Performas, we will find the way
to make it work (saving
       the $$ of getting a new system; at least for now)!

       No Microsoft:
http://www.geocities.com/lems1/