usr.com · Domains · Slashdot Mirror

Why does Windows install model-specifc drivers? by knorthern+knight · 2014-10-22 16:46 · Score: 4, Interesting · on FTDI Reportedly Bricking Devices Using Competitors' Chips.

One difference I've noticed between Windows and Linux...

* in Linux, plug in a USB key, or hard drive, or other USB device, and if you have the appropriate driver, "it just works". One USB "mass storage device" driver works for all USB keys and hard drives

* in Windows...
--- plug in a brand X USB key the first time, and Windws goes off onto the internet and installs a special driver
--- plug in a brand Y USB key the first time, and Windws goes off onto the internet and installs a special driver
--- plug in a brand Z USB key the first time, and Windws goes off onto the internet and installs a special driver

Come on guys, a USB key is a USB key, is a USB key. If it has some esoteric functionality, OK, otherwise don't clog up the registry and the hard drive with drivers for every USB key model that has ever been inserted into the machine..

I have a USRobotics USR5637 http://www.usr.com/en/products... USB CDC "56K" dialup modem for backup on the rare occasions my broadband goes down. It's a hardware modem that works in Windows, Mac, Linux, DOS, etc. Once I set up the kernel options in linux "it just works", without constantly downloading updates. WTF is Windows always updating?

Re:Lol... by demonlapin · 2014-05-12 05:16 · Score: 1 · on EA Ending Online Support For Dozens of Games

Perfect example: you can still get the final update firmware flash for a USRobotics Courier. Or take ReplayTV, who lifetime-activated all devices when they shut down the servers. If you can find a place to give you the guide data, you can still run one.

Re:A few items by couchslug · 2012-12-07 04:09 · Score: 2 · on Ask Slashdot: Old Technology Coexisting With New?

MANY people still use dialup because cable and DSL don't reach them.

I keep a stash of cheap Winmodems for when power spikes and storms take out customer modems. Dialup sucks, but not worse than "no internet access".

I also keep a US Robotics externaI bought in 1999 because I couldn't get Winmodems to work with Linux. I sometimes visit rural places where dialup is the only game in town and it does fine.

USR still make their descendants, because they WORK.

http://www.usr.com/products/modem/modem-product.asp?sku=USR5686G

Re:This won't change anything by Amouth · 2012-02-16 14:34 · Score: 1 · on FCC Cracks Down on Robocalls

USR5686E

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=USR5686E&_sacat=0&_odkw=USR5637&_osacat=0&_from=R40

http://www.usr.com/support/5686e/5686e-ug/tech-ref.html

just look for about any actual External hardware modem from the past 15 years.. (do remember you have to have the service from you local bell)

Re:Hard to do w/o a Hayes compatible modem.... by couchslug · 2011-12-18 16:26 · Score: 1 · on Kazakhstan Disables the Internet , Telecomix Restores

Enough that USR still make this classic!

http://www.usr.com/products/modem/modem-product.asp?sku=USR5686G

Re:I only hope... by blair1q · 2011-11-17 11:18 · Score: 1 · on Energy Firm Wants To Be First To Mine the Moon

or U. S. Robotics doing...not so much...

Re:What will we do with all the US Robotics Courie by Anonymous Coward · 2010-02-27 16:10 · Score: 0 · on Will the Serial Console Ever Die?

...maybe from USR?
http://www.usr.com/products/modem/business-product.asp?sku=USR3453c

Hell, 386 chips only went out of production in 2007. Home computers do not represent the full industry. Maybe we should do a thread of Tech You Thought Was Dead.

Re:Modems are hard to come by now by FlyingGuy · 2009-12-26 19:36 · Score: 1 · on A Brief History of Modems

Dude, you must not know how to use google...

You want a modem, you have but to only take out your credit card and go to US Robotics and purchase one to suit your needs from the about $250.00 to 19.95.

Re:Speed? No. Latency? Yes. by Guspaz · 2006-09-17 08:03 · Score: 1 · on Satellite Internet for Gaming?

I should note that not all PCI internal modems are WinModems. You can buy them still, such as this one from US Robotics:

http://www.usr.com/products/home/home-product.asp? sku=USR5610B

which sells for about $80 US. It features a "gaming" mode which supposedly reduces latency (probably uses shorter buffers or something). If you could find one, I guess there'd be no reason not to stick it in your gaming PC itself (unless you're using a laptop). (Proper) external hardware modems from US Robotics sell for about $100 and up, although that low-end $100 modem is missing some features that might help for gaming that the $70 internal and more expensive external modems have.

a wideband handset? by avi33 · 2006-07-28 02:11 · Score: 1 · on Recording Skype Audio for Broadcast?

Not to troll or astroturf...in full disclosure, I work at USR, but:

USRobotics has a new wideband handset that's Skype certified. I don't know if it will fit the bill for your needs, you might be able to mic up a hi-fi handset and get better results than digitally capturing crufty audio. These wav files reflect the difference between the lo-fi and hi-fi quality.

Shameless product plug: USRobotics USB Internet Mini Phone

a wideband handset? by avi33 · 2006-07-28 02:11 · Score: 1 · on Recording Skype Audio for Broadcast?

Not to troll or astroturf...in full disclosure, I work at USR, but:

USRobotics has a new wideband handset that's Skype certified. I don't know if it will fit the bill for your needs, you might be able to mic up a hi-fi handset and get better results than digitally capturing crufty audio. These wav files reflect the difference between the lo-fi and hi-fi quality.

Shameless product plug: USRobotics USB Internet Mini Phone

a wideband handset? by avi33 · 2006-07-28 02:11 · Score: 1 · on Recording Skype Audio for Broadcast?

Not to troll or astroturf...in full disclosure, I work at USR, but:

USRobotics has a new wideband handset that's Skype certified. I don't know if it will fit the bill for your needs, you might be able to mic up a hi-fi handset and get better results than digitally capturing crufty audio. These wav files reflect the difference between the lo-fi and hi-fi quality.

Shameless product plug: USRobotics USB Internet Mini Phone

It's already been tried with dialup by WreckDiver · 2006-03-07 06:05 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Investor Money Goes To Magic Lag Reducing Tech

U.S. Robotics used to sell an "Internet Gaming Modem" that claimed to improve response times by optimizing the route between the player and the server. For playing MMO's, which tend to be hosted on server clusters instead of individual computers, the performance seemed to get worse.

http://www.usr.com/support/overview-template.asp?p rod=s-game

http://www.tweak3d.net/reviews/3com/gamingmodem/

Their Performance Pro modem also claims to have a gaming mode:

http://www.usr.com/products/home/home-product.asp? sku=USR5610B

It's already been tried with dialup by WreckDiver · 2006-03-07 06:05 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Investor Money Goes To Magic Lag Reducing Tech

U.S. Robotics used to sell an "Internet Gaming Modem" that claimed to improve response times by optimizing the route between the player and the server. For playing MMO's, which tend to be hosted on server clusters instead of individual computers, the performance seemed to get worse.

http://www.usr.com/support/overview-template.asp?p rod=s-game

http://www.tweak3d.net/reviews/3com/gamingmodem/

Their Performance Pro modem also claims to have a gaming mode:

http://www.usr.com/products/home/home-product.asp? sku=USR5610B

Skype Wired Phone by Anonymous Coward · 2005-10-12 05:20 · Score: 0 · on Linksys Debuts Cordless Skype Handset

US Robotics has a wired Skype phone for around $30!, $130 seems a lot for the same set of features + wireless. http://www.usr.com/download/datasheets/voip/9600/9 600-ds.pdf

Fictional??? by Holi · 2005-04-06 07:28 · Score: 1 · on Ready or Not, Here Comes Service Pack 2

USR is most definitely NOT a fictional company.

Re:wireless is the savior by YrWrstNtmr · 2005-03-22 11:00 · Score: 1 · on UK Officially The Most Hacked Country

For example, ask your neighbor how many minutes he had a wireless connection before he changed the default ssid and admin password.

It's been at least a month for my neighbor (that I know about) and still counting. The default settings for his USR8054 are still on display.

the U.S. Robotics 8200 might work for you by Anonymous Coward · 2005-01-03 07:07 · Score: 0 · on Low Cost VPN Solutions?

I'm not sure it will satisfy *every* one of those requests out of the box, but it's linux-based, and can be modified.

The USR8200 firewall/vpn/nas is probably more intended for small business networks, but I run one at home and it to set up a VPN server, file server (with a firewire hd) and anonymous or permission-based FTP server. It supports port forwarding for inbound traffic, and as far as a firewall, it seems to have all the features found on $500 firewall-only products.

It was around $300 and while I could have done most of those things on a linux box, it took me about 25 minutes to set it all up. You can also bridge two of them together to create a "distributed" LAN, and it supports IPsec if you're into that.

Product placement by tepples · 2004-07-16 18:57 · Score: 1 · on I, Robot Hits the Theaters

That still doesn't make the USR references in the film any less of a product placement. This press release proves it. Even the film's title is an ad for the Roomba vacuum cleaner and other fine products.

Another use for your EPIA board... by EverLurking · 2004-06-07 12:27 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Apple Rolls Out AirPort Express, AirTunes

I was thinking of building a fanless EPIA setup to act as a fileserver. You see, my old HP Desktop (w/ a 466MHz Celeron and 128 MB) has been sitting pretty much unused since I jumped over to OS X a couple of years ago. Recently, I began to want to be able to access my 120 GB Firewire drive over the home LAN/Wireless network. I could only find one device (US Robotics 8200) that allowed you to use a Firewire drive as a NAS however, and it was rather pricy and I really didn't need another router in my home. Too bad no one makes a FireWire/Ethernet Hard Drive for NAS use.

Luckily, since I had FreeBSD 5.2.1 (Release) running on the old Celeron HP Desktop, I was able to use the built in FireWire support, load the Apple File System Geometry kernel extension and compile a UFS/UFS+ file system mounting utilities on FreeBSD and get the previously underused FireWire drive shared over the network via SAMBA (as well as it's 2 internal 8GB Drives). All told, it took like 45 minutes to get it up and running.

Unfortunately, the HP is rather loud (the power supply fan) and annoying to have on. A EPIA based setup would be PERFECT to run FreeBSD and serve as a general file server.

Also, I suspect that whatever protocol Apple is using to stream audio over the network to the Airport Express will soon be dissected and reverse engineered (love those Slashdot Hardware hackers!!) and you'll soon be able to stream from your EPIA as well as use your Firewire drives as NAS. But if you want to ditch the EPIA setup right now, drop me an e-mail.

DaveC

Re:Blame it on Linksys by nuckfuts · 2004-05-30 14:39 · Score: 2, Interesting · on The 3Com Saga

I disagree with your glowing commendation of everything LinkSys. These are the geniuses who's early model DSL routers would reveal the login password by clicking on "View Source" at the login page.

With my first LinkSys DSL router I found that Internet traffic would inevitably become sluggish or just stop working after several days of heavy use and would not behave normally until I cycled the power. When I mentioned this to a friend he told me that he had two LinkSys routers at his office plugged into lamp timers so they cycled power every night. I took it as a joke until I visited his office one day and saw the timers attached to the wall beside the routers!

I moved up to a newer LinkSys router to support a couple of laptops via wireless connection. The range was weak and connections would frequently drop when both laptops were used simultaneously.

I'm currently using a US Robotics (3COM) wireless DSL router that is giving me no problems at all.

I must admit, however, that Linksys has the first wireless DSL router I've seen with actual support for Wi-Fi Protected Access. I'm still waiting for a firmware upgrade on my USR box to support that.

Re:Its like.... magic hardware. by petecarlson · 2004-05-25 06:09 · Score: 1 · on Open Source Hotspots

Can you run open-source software on that crappy Microsoft router? I knew you couldn't.

No, but I can run OS software on This crappy USR router. His point, I think, was that it takes more then the card to make a "hotspot".

Re:Other interesting Wi-Fi Storage by -tji · 2004-03-26 20:43 · Score: 4, Informative · on Asus Launching a Wi-Fi Hard Drive

Or, if you've already got an access point, the USR 8200 firewall/vpn/router has firewire and USB 2.0 ports for network storage use.

This device is quite cool.. it's based on an Intel Network Processor with crypto acceleration. So, it can support line speed routing on the 100Mbps interfaces, and also high speec IPSec.

karma be damned...i can't resist by avi33 · 2004-03-24 09:30 · Score: 1 · on Data Security on Windows Machines?

Anti-virus software has proven to be not enough and firewalls create problems while performing daily business tasks on the server from home.

You seem to have a cheap/free/software-only firewall. Try this Router/Firewall/VPN/File and ftp server. It's basically a linux-based router with an Intel IXP422 processor. Disclosure: I work there, but aside from that, it's a pretty sick little toy.

Unlike most cheap/software-only firewalls, you can configure the firewall on many levels (initial/final/input/output/WAN/LAN/PPPoE), you can specifically block/allow AIM file sharing, Kazaa, Half-Life, smtp, etc. You can even put a box in the DMZ if you really want something naked out there. Plus it can be a File and FTP server by adding a firewire/USB hard drive. The firewall configuration capabilities alone are pretty much only matched in products that cost 2-300 more. VPN access while you're on the road, etc, ok, enough marketing shpiel...check out the 'learn how' link on the page linked above. I know folks are lined up to say 'I can do that on my 486 with IPtables and...' but you can pretty much set all this up in half an hour.

You can find it $220 or so, and while that seems high compared to 'old 486' option, personally, the time it saved me was worth it. I know a fair bit about linux, but it would have burned up a bunch of my time to get all that working.

karma be damned...i can't resist by avi33 · 2004-03-24 09:30 · Score: 1 · on Data Security on Windows Machines?

Anti-virus software has proven to be not enough and firewalls create problems while performing daily business tasks on the server from home.

You seem to have a cheap/free/software-only firewall. Try this Router/Firewall/VPN/File and ftp server. It's basically a linux-based router with an Intel IXP422 processor. Disclosure: I work there, but aside from that, it's a pretty sick little toy.

Unlike most cheap/software-only firewalls, you can configure the firewall on many levels (initial/final/input/output/WAN/LAN/PPPoE), you can specifically block/allow AIM file sharing, Kazaa, Half-Life, smtp, etc. You can even put a box in the DMZ if you really want something naked out there. Plus it can be a File and FTP server by adding a firewire/USB hard drive. The firewall configuration capabilities alone are pretty much only matched in products that cost 2-300 more. VPN access while you're on the road, etc, ok, enough marketing shpiel...check out the 'learn how' link on the page linked above. I know folks are lined up to say 'I can do that on my 486 with IPtables and...' but you can pretty much set all this up in half an hour.

You can find it $220 or so, and while that seems high compared to 'old 486' option, personally, the time it saved me was worth it. I know a fair bit about linux, but it would have burned up a bunch of my time to get all that working.

U.S. Robotics--Who knew? by Rescate · 2004-03-13 11:07 · Score: 2, Funny · on I, Robot Trailer Available

Best line from the featurette--"...lots of U.S. Robotics technology starts to malfunction around me..."

Reminds me of my early days online.

U.S. Robotics--Who knew? by Rescate · 2004-03-13 11:07 · Score: 2, Funny · on I, Robot Trailer Available

Best line from the featurette--"...lots of U.S. Robotics technology starts to malfunction around me..."

Reminds me of my early days online.

Re:Any color but RED by frankie · 2003-10-23 07:05 · Score: 1 · on Branding Mozilla: Towards Mozilla 2.0

look at all successful organizations that use red as the prominent color in their brand... Basically, nobody.

Gee, I believe you 're right!

USR8200 by metamatic · 2003-06-09 08:24 · Score: 1 · on Notebooks and Mini ITX Machines as Home Servers?

US Robotics have just launched the USR8200 storage router. XScale based, runs Linux. Plug in a Firewire drive and it's a file server.

making it *slower* than (upgraded) 802.11b by avi33 · 2003-05-22 10:54 · Score: 3, Informative · on 802.11g Slows Down

hm.

U.S. Robotics has a free software upgrade for their 802.11b products, getting it up to about 54+ Mbps (ok, so you have to run it in a homogenous USR-upgraded 802.11b environment to get 54 Mbps throughput). You can also run 256-bit WEP as a bonus, something not available in .g.

That makes 802.11b about 50% cheaper, some degree safer, and 100% faster? I think I'll skip this upgrade for now.

Re:Only problem with x86 architecture by dasunt · 2002-11-26 15:57 · Score: 2 · on Mini PC in an Actual Lunchbox

Lumpy write:
Please tell me where I can get a US robotics V.everything modem that is USB or PCI...

Right now, I'm using a USR 56K FaxModem with a 5610 Chipset, which is a PnP PCI Hardware modem. Newegg sells it for $70 about. But wait! There is the OEM version, which NewEgg used to have but is out of stock. It runs about $45 dollars, and goes by the name of a USR Robotics 2977 Modem. I own the OEM version, which does identify itself as a 5610 under lspci. Its a solid modem, purely hardware based - just needs a basic serial driver.

I'm quite fond of external modems, since they are easy to debug and setup, but my server is relatively free of cord tangle - only power, network, printer and phone. (Printer sits on top of it.) I didn't want to go to the hassle of finding a spot for an external modem.

Now serial and parallel ports rock for home electronics - The kits to develope on USB can be rather pricey. And I have been burned enough with USB in the past (back when it was new) to realize that some OSes and hardware start to have problems as soon as you have a half dozen USB devices.

Inexpensive wireless MP3 to your stereo by DocJohn · 2001-12-17 08:47 · Score: 1 · on SonicBlue's Digital Audio Center

US Robotics makes a very inexpensive product called SoundLink which transmits MP3s from your computer to your stereo without any of that messy wiring to worry about. Only $80:

US Robotics SoundLink Website

For the kinds of prices these folks are charging, you could easily buy a dedicated PC and DIY for at least half the cost.

Right on... by talks_to_birds · 2001-11-08 11:22 · Score: 1 · on Dump Broadband, Dig Out Your Modem!

Choose the USR Sportster 56k V-Everything analog modem.

See: this link

"The U.S. Robotics® V.Everything® 56K* Analog Corporate Modem is the perfect choice for users who demand secure, reliable, flexible connections. Designed for virtually any computer with an RS-232 port, this external modem saves your business from lost connections, sluggish transfers, and security worries.
Perfect for users who demand secure, fast, reliable connections with cross-platform capability, the U.S. Robotics V.Everything 56K Analog Corporate Modem helps your business succeed-every hour of the day, every day of the week."

Rock steady, and fast.

You can't go wrong.

I've had one for years...

t_t_b

Re:I have never heard of this 'mbs' before... by sporkraper · 2001-07-07 16:13 · Score: 1 · on 155Mbs Over Copper Lines

Sure...Wonderful Magical modems from the land of fairies and elves. Looking at http://www.usr.com, the web site of a popular modem manufacturer in this universe, and indeed even on this planet, I see that their modems are mostly limited to 56 Kbps. They also have some ISDN hardware and other networking hardware that is much faster, but their modems are far behind your mystical fairy modems.