Bluetooth Transceiver USB1 or USB2?

[JeffTex42]

Does anyboy know if a USB Bluetooth transceiver (specifically the Microsoft
one) requires a USB2 port or is USB1 good enough? I want to connect it to
the PC via a Sabrent USB-RJXT USB extender
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156020) and it
appears that this particular extender only supports USB1 speeds.

 

[JeffTex42]

Does anyboy know if a USB Bluetooth transceiver (specifically the
Microsoft one) requires a USB2 port or is USB1 good enough? I want to
connect it to the PC via a Sabrent USB-RJXT USB extender
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156020) and it
appears that this particular extender only supports USB1 speeds.

Is there anyway to tell in the Device Manager? I'm looking but don't see it.

 

[Paul]

...

Is there anyway to tell in the Device Manager? I'm looking but don't see it.

Start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

Version 2 has a data rate of 3Mbit/sec. USB 1.1 has a data rate of
12 Mbit/sec. That means USB 1.1 should be fast enough to handle the
data. I don't know if Bluetooth relies on any other features of
USB 2.0, that would make it essential.

Paul

 

[JeffTex42]

Start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

Version 2 has a data rate of 3Mbit/sec. USB 1.1 has a data rate of
12 Mbit/sec. That means USB 1.1 should be fast enough to handle the
data. I don't know if Bluetooth relies on any other features of
USB 2.0, that would make it essential.

Paul

It should work, so I spent the $40 to get it.

Though I'd still like to know if there is anyway to tell from the OS if a
device hooked to a computer is USB1 or USB2. Ideas?

 

[Paul]

...

It should work, so I spent the $40 to get it.

Though I'd still like to know if there is anyway to tell from the OS if a
device hooked to a computer is USB1 or USB2. Ideas?

Yes, there is.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/stream/vidcap/UVCViewdwn.mspx

Download the program and fire it up. Look for your Bluetooth transceiver.

There are two entries of interest (at least, that I've seen so far).

This one is near the top of the list. It tells you the transfer
mode currently being used. I presume the values here might be 01
or 02. The example here, is what is seen for my USB mouse.

Current Config Value: 0x01 -> Device Bus Speed: Full (i.e. USB 1.1)

The second entry of interest, is "bcdUSB". Valid values are
0100, 0110, and 0200, for USB 1.0, USB 1.1, and USB 2.0 standards.

bcdUSB: 0x0110 <--- My mouse is USB 1.1 max.

http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb5.htm

"The bcdUSB field reports the highest version of USB the device supports"

If you examine the bcdUSB field, that will tell you the maximum rate
the device supports. But it doesn't tell you the minimum rate that
would make the device useful. For example, if you had a USB video capture
device, and forced it to operate at USB 1.1 rates, I presume it would
drop frames. I don't know if there is a mechanism in the enumerated
info, to indicate the device's preference or not. For example, I'm not
aware of any error message in Windows that says, in effect, "this device
won't work unless you use USB2". It seems that backward compatibility is
the assumption, but that may not always be the case. There is bound to
be an application, with a "hard" datarate requirement.

Looking at some video devices today, although they didn't come right
out and say it, it looked like the device would switch to lower
resolution capture, if the interface speed dropped. So that seemed
to be their solution to finding an inadequate data transfer rate.

Paul

 

[Spajky]

It should work, so I spent the $40 to get it.

ATTENTION !!!

if you plan to use that Usb device over 5m away with this, it may NOT
work if it is not self powered Usb device or attached powered Usb hub
at the end at the device !!! It will work as advertised if on the
other end would be something like (self powered) Usb printer or so ...

It is not a signal problem, but powering problem (voltage drop over
larger connection wires) since BT devices consume almost same current
like usb WLAN stuff ! Probably at the end (close to that BT adapter)
you will need externally powered Usb hub if planning to connect That
Usb BT device over 5m away! Maybe you´re gonna be lucky to work it
maybe at 10m away, but its a lottery. Be aware about this !

 

[Paul]

ATTENTION !!!

if you plan to use that Usb device over 5m away with this, it may NOT
work if it is not self powered Usb device or attached powered Usb hub
at the end at the device !!! It will work as advertised if on the
other end would be something like (self powered) Usb printer or so ...

It is not a signal problem, but powering problem (voltage drop over
larger connection wires) since BT devices consume almost same current
like usb WLAN stuff ! Probably at the end (close to that BT adapter)
you will need externally powered Usb hub if planning to connect That
Usb BT device over 5m away! Maybe you´re gonna be lucky to work it
maybe at 10m away, but its a lottery. Be aware about this !

Yes, a powered hub at the Bluetooth end, may be needed to
give a nice +5V feed to the Bluetooth transceiver. It'll be
a "play it by ear" situation - try it without a self powered
hub, and see if it works. If it doesn't, sticking a self powered
(wall wart) hub at the end of the 150 foot run, will give
enough power for any compliant USB device (up to 500mA).

The extender is effectively a bus powered hub, and those
are normally limited to 100mA. If the extender was compliant
with that, and the Bluetooth device used less than 100mA,
then it would work without further assistance.

Paul

 

[JeffTex42]

Yes, a powered hub at the Bluetooth end, may be needed to
give a nice +5V feed to the Bluetooth transceiver. It'll be
a "play it by ear" situation - try it without a self powered
hub, and see if it works. If it doesn't, sticking a self powered
(wall wart) hub at the end of the 150 foot run, will give
enough power for any compliant USB device (up to 500mA).

The extender is effectively a bus powered hub, and those
are normally limited to 100mA. If the extender was compliant
with that, and the Bluetooth device used less than 100mA,
then it would work without further assistance.

Paul

Thanks for the input. I picked up the extender after work last night, and it
worked. I've got about 75-80 ft of CAT5e between the extender bits. If it
starts to give me problems, I'll try the powered hub suggestion.

Thanks again!

 

[JeffTex42]

Yes, there is.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/stream/vidcap/UVCViewdwn.mspx

Download the program and fire it up. Look for your Bluetooth transceiver.

There are two entries of interest (at least, that I've seen so far).

This one is near the top of the list. It tells you the transfer
mode currently being used. I presume the values here might be 01
or 02. The example here, is what is seen for my USB mouse.

Current Config Value: 0x01 -> Device Bus Speed: Full (i.e. USB
1.1)

The second entry of interest, is "bcdUSB". Valid values are
0100, 0110, and 0200, for USB 1.0, USB 1.1, and USB 2.0 standards.

bcdUSB: 0x0110 <--- My mouse is USB 1.1
max.

http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb5.htm

"The bcdUSB field reports the highest version of USB the device
supports"

If you examine the bcdUSB field, that will tell you the maximum rate
the device supports. But it doesn't tell you the minimum rate that
would make the device useful. For example, if you had a USB video capture
device, and forced it to operate at USB 1.1 rates, I presume it would
drop frames. I don't know if there is a mechanism in the enumerated
info, to indicate the device's preference or not. For example, I'm not
aware of any error message in Windows that says, in effect, "this device
won't work unless you use USB2". It seems that backward compatibility is
the assumption, but that may not always be the case. There is bound to
be an application, with a "hard" datarate requirement.

Looking at some video devices today, although they didn't come right
out and say it, it looked like the device would switch to lower
resolution capture, if the interface speed dropped. So that seemed
to be their solution to finding an inadequate data transfer rate.

Paul

That's exactally what I was looking for. Thanks.