What's possible on a 266 MHz?

[Max]

I have a Toshiba laptop, 266 MHz, with a USB I connection and no
internal cd or dvd drive.

What's the fastest cd-write speed it could manage from an external
writer? (approx)

Any chance it could handle a DVD rom and play a movie?

cheers,
Max


(to reply by email, remove the year from my address)

 

[Eric Gross]

The fastest I've seen native USB 1.1 writers be able to write at is 4x
(600KB/sec). To try to go faster would be a bit close to USB's 12Mbits of
bandwidth, especially when you allow for overhead. I'd suggest trying one of
the newer USB 2.0 writers (even though you only have a 1.1 port). The
reasons are this: They're not that more expensive and they usually use newer
drives with both larger buffers and buffer-underrun protection. This last
feature will help a heck of a lot on an slower machine. If the device
doesn't lock out higher speeds when connected via USB 1.1, you may be able
to push it higher to 6-8X and just barely be able to get by with the help of
the overrun protection in case the interface can't quite keep up.

I've seen USB 1.1 DVD readers, but the MPEG2 video on DVD Videos has a
variable bitrate that I *think* can go over the maximum rate that USB 1.1
can offer. However, since you'll have some buffering done by the DVD video
player app and Windows itself, you can probably get adequate enough
performance to watch videos without skipping. Of course, a 266Mhz laptop
might be a bit slow to decode DVD video perfectly well to begin with.

-Eric Gross

 

[Trent©]

I have a Toshiba laptop, 266 MHz, with a USB I connection and no
internal cd or dvd drive.

What's the fastest cd-write speed it could manage from an external
writer? (approx)

Any chance it could handle a DVD rom and play a movie?

cheers,
Max


(to reply by email, remove the year from my address)

A lot would depend on the operating system...and the RAM and page file
you can set up.

If yer running 98...with a lot of RAM...I'd say it might be possible
to use a DVD. Just buy it locally...in case you want to take it back!
lol

Good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.

 

[Mike Walsh]

CD/DVD reading and writing should not be a problem as these are not CPU intensive. A software video decoder is very CPU intensive and a 266 Mhz CPU will not be adequate for a decent picture.

 

[half_pint]

I have a Toshiba laptop, 266 MHz, with a USB I connection and no
internal cd or dvd drive.

What's the fastest cd-write speed it could manage from an external
writer? (approx)

Any chance it could handle a DVD rom and play a movie?

I am no expert but I doubt your CPU will be a problem, more
likely you harddrive speed. as it is buffer underruns which are normally
a problem.
The CPU should be the least of your worries, as it will be by
far the fastest component in the pipeline in my humble
opinion. Far faster than anything inside your DVD I
would imagine.

 

[Mike Walsh]

DMA must be enabled on all drives; CD, DVD, and hard drives. If you still get buffer underruns you can eliminate them by reducing write speed.

 

[JT]

I have a Toshiba laptop, 266 MHz, with a USB I connection and no
internal cd or dvd drive.

What's the fastest cd-write speed it could manage from an external
writer? (approx)

USB 1 limits you to about 4x record, 6x playback for CD.

Any chance it could handle a DVD rom and play a movie?

If your laptop will do Cardbus (which is very likely) you can get a USB 2.0
adapter. Then you can do DVD movies (provided you video card can keep up)
and do higher speed CD recording a playback.

cheers,
Max

JT

 

[Trent©]

USB 1 limits you to about 4x record, 6x playback for CD.
If your laptop will do Cardbus (which is very likely) you can get a USB 2.0
adapter. Then you can do DVD movies (provided you video card can keep up)
and do higher speed CD recording a playback.

One caveat...

The operating system must be able to handle 2.0


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.

 

[Max]

Thanks a bunch for the replies!
-Max