Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 June 22

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June 22

What hub has THE MOST USB ports you have EVER seen (that I can buy?)

I don't think a 28-port is enough of a USB hub in the long-term. --70.179.161.230 (talk) 06:27, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

The biggest I've found is 49 ports at [1]. If you read our article USB hub it goes into what the maximum number of devices you can get nesting hubs and such, which is 127-#of hubs; it looks like you can only layer them up to seven layers too. What are you using this for that 28 isn't enough and that there is no alternative for?Phoenixia1177 (talk) 10:35, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

Wow and I thought the 6 I used to have on my old desktop was overkill! --Yellow1996 (talk) 20:20, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict) This thread I uncovered seems to support what Phoenixia said; and one of the commenters also mentioned an 80-port hub... but I discovered that it's only for charging stuff. Still interesting, though. --Yellow1996 (talk) 20:28, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

Would I be able to BUY that forty-niner hub? Do you know where I'd get a good deal on it? --129.130.36.175 (talk) 20:25, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

Right here. Yours for only $1,539.90! --Yellow1996 (talk) 20:32, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

Wow-ee! Thanks anyway, but how about for under $100? --70.179.161.230 (talk) 05:47, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

I seriously doubt that you'll find any with that many hookups for under a $100. Moreover, there seems to be some indication that the bigger hubs don't have large power outputs, so depending on use, may not be that useful. What is it you are trying to do? Perhaps there is another way. If not, you might be better served by nesting smaller hubs. How many ports do you actually need for your purposes? You might also consider buying an old computer and using it for a second collection of nested hubs; given that the bigger hubs are one unit, if it fails, you lose the whole thing; multiple cheap pieces may be easier to maintain (this depends on your needs though).Phoenixia1177 (talk) 06:51, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Sorry for not wording it correctly. What I meant to say was: "What USB hub will offer the most ports for under $100?"

Also, I have two laptops (one of which will stay at home at all times.) I suppose once I get to connect the 126th / 127th device, I'll probably afford a new laptop anyway, so the one that currently travels will be another stay-at-home. --70.179.161.230 (talk) 11:10, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

You are under no obligation to answer, I think we are all just curious: Why do you need so many USB ports? Mingmingla (talk) 16:29, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

The large-quantitied hubs are generally geared towards companies, making the prices quite high (because they'd have a lot more money to spend than the average home user.) So, you probably won't find one that large for under $100. --Yellow1996 (talk) 17:28, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

The MondoHub (28 ports) from your initial post seems to be the winner of the "most ports for less than $100" award. I found this blog post which seems to confirm it. And I also am curious just what you need so many USB ports for. Dismas|^(talk) 01:10, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

If I buy a primary item (in this case, a computer itself), I soon end up buying secondary accessories / components, bells-and-whistles, and other odds-and-ends to expand the functionality of the computer.

I may even buy a power-extender that is intended to keep a laptop's battery charged longer in case of a power outage just through feeding power through the USB back into the laptop, while all other times, the power-extender gets charged.

But if there are more humorously frivolous uses through USB connections, I'd like to find them out too. (I do hope to find a wireless power hub in order to mitigate clutter at the same time, however.) --70.179.161.230 (talk) 16:37, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

Sounds cool! Thanks for explaining your motivations to us! :) --Yellow1996 (talk) 17:05, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

Oh, and I thought the OP was replicating my Cheap-o RAID of 21 USB devices.

I set up a RAID of 20 flash drives for quad redundancy (up to 3 drives may fail) once. The hubs are USB-3. They support 16 devices (including one USB fan, because the array heats up quite a bit) each.

And that's the reason I bought two large hubs. It generates less waste heat than 5 small hubs (the tiny DC supplies are quite inefficient - that would be even more waste heat), and you don't need another HUB to connect those. - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 05:57, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like fun! How efficient did your setup prove to be? --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:02, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

It's close to saturating the USB-3 interface (and the PSU, unfortunately); however, it's not even close to a "real" RAID. It's meant for fault tolerance rather than performance. It uses a rectangular setup, 4x5, which can be rebuilt "by row" or "by column." The RAID will rebuild by column as well as by row if there's one device missing. The price is that of the 20 drives, only the equivalent of 12 drives can be used for data - the rest is used for XOR checksums.

The advantages - it's as cheap as triple-fault resistant systems get, and it's quite responsive even when rebuilding (and a 12:20 ratio isn't TOO bad either at that price).

Visit my talk page if you want more info about it, - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 09:10, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

Ah, thanks for explaining more in depth for me. RAID is not one of my strong areas of knowledge, but luckily I was able to process all that you said ;) thanks again! --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:09, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

Do you have a link to information on that power extender? The power circuitry in a laptop isn't designed to allow the entire system to be powered through a USB port. The internals of the laptop need several voltages to operate, and they are regulated down from the battery voltage. They aren't designed to take a 5V supply from one of the outputs and convert it to the other voltages required by the system. I suppose the power extender could have keep other USB devices powered without draining the laptop battery, but I wouldn't trust it unless the other devices were routed through it, rather than assuming that they'll be on a common power bus inside your computer. 209.131.76.183 (talk) 12:57, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Caterpillarpillar India country head profile

Hello,

I was looking for Caterpillar's country head's profile but I did not get any details about him.. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.214.113.170 (talk) 17:13, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

This is not really the right desk for this question, but I'll answer anyway. The country head for India and other parts of southeast Asia is Kevin Thieneman, also the president of Caterpillar Forestry Projects. It's hard to find much information about him, but here is a link to an interview he did last year. Looie496 (talk) 17:48, 22 June 2013 (UTC)