UKC

Hmmm. Judging by the slow scan import rate from my newly delivered lovely shiny CanoScan 8400F, it appears that I do indeed only have USB 1.1 ports on my iMac (kind of fair enough, I bought it as a refurb in Sep 2002 and have made no hardware upgrades). Never noticed any USB sluggishness with my 1Gb memory stick or the modem, but reading up, it would appear that it's impossible that I have USB 2.0 on a machine bought in 2002.

So how do I go about upgrading, is it a hardware thing, unscrewing the base and all that, or can it be somehow routed through the 1.1? I know nothing about such things. Have just made myself dizzy searching through google to no avail.
(Oh specifically I have iMac PowerPC G4 800MHz - the "anglepoise lamp" flatpanel and round base thing - 512Mb RAM currently running OSX 10.2.8)

In reply to Kenny: Do you have Firewire as an option ? I use that for my slidescanner with an almost as old iBook

In reply to Doug:

I don't think so, no reference to it on the box or in the "quick start" manual for the scanner. Remind me what Firewire is though! Honestly, as soon as I think I've taken a step onto the techno ladder, I find that I'm actually lagging behind

The iMac is probably due a minor overhaul anyway, I know I ahve to upgrade the OS just to run MatLab...so I was thinking of making it USB 2.0 compatible at the same time (especially with this scanner!) so any tips are appreciated

In reply to Kenny:

Give up and get a PC

iMac has had its day and current intel processors and XP do it better AND cheaper

In reply to Kenny:

http://www.theimac.com/info/iMac_G4_1_7_2002.shtml

suggests to me that the USB 1.1 controllers are on the main motherboard. Available upgrade options are also listed, but USB 2 isn't one of them.

In reply to kevin stephens:
Point taken. To a point. I am one of the few Mac users who thinks perhaps i should have got a PC. Then again I've only had one crash (a minor one at that, and caused by faulty external hardware - a mate's dodgy scanner), and no viruses in three years.
Might look into getting a shuttle PC.
If I really can't upgrade my USB without basically replacing the computer's guts, that's a pisser...

In reply to Kenny:


Errr... That's Macs for you, especially iMacs. Very limited upgradeability. It's more like a laptop in that case, but presumably without PCMCIA card slots - I don't know what sort of cards fit in the card slot for the optional "11-Mbps AirPort Card; IEEE 802.11b DSSS compliant" - but presumably only an airport card, and nothing else...

In reply to Kenny:

USB and USB2 is different hardwaare. I dont know anything about Mac's and the upgrades you can do to them. But you will need a new USB controller and how/if you can get that i dont know.


Had a guy call me at work he wanted drivers so he could upgrade his USB to USB2, when i told him that there was no such drivers he started arguing
"but a friend of mine who works with IT bought this CD with software update but he havent got it to work yet"

If you get a PC you'll only ruin it with Windows. You might aswell stick with Macs, much safer and more secure. The new iMacs are quite nice, or wait for the Intel based Macs that come out next year.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Or upgrade to an iMac 1.8 Ghz Power PC G5, with 1 GB DDR SDRAM, with DVD-R, Airport EXtreme......Oh and 20 inch screen. Mac OS X, version 10.4.2 Adobe CS, MS Office, iChat, ITunes 5, ...Firewire........and USB 2 of course.

Oooooo let me stroke you darlink!

It's sweet Kevin.

Mick

In reply to Kenny:

I think the hardware upgrade to USB 2 is about $100....£60 or so?

In reply to Kenny: if u do decided to be silly n get a pc get and amd chip not an intel
and to answer your question email apple

In reply to kevin stephens:


True, just a pity it's ruined by the operating system.

In reply to Kenny:

Don't buy a PC just for one problem - you will end up with hundreds!

I think I remember seeing firewire to USB2 adapters (your machine has firewire). Looked briefly on the web but only found the following- http://www.macally.com/spec/usb/connecting_device/hubuf.html - which might be what you need (couldn't quite understand on the site how it works - need to send them a query). Definitely cheaper and more satisfying than a PC!

In reply to Kenny:
Firewire is an alternative to USB for connecting things to your Mac & is much faster than USB 1. I'm fairly sure your iMac will have a Firewire socket (sort of rectangular with one of the corners cut of) although maybe not the scanner. Always worth checking if peripheries have firewire if you want a fast connection to a Mac, but maybe too late for you now.

In reply to Gavin Taylor:

I think that's just a USB2 hub and Firewire hub in one box - it doesn't convert one to the other. I've never seen a Firewire to USB2 converter and would be surprised if they existed.

Kenny - unfortunately I don't think there's any option for upgrading an iMac to USB2, however yours will definitely have Firewire unless it's one of the very oldest ones with a CRT screen and tray-loading CD drive. If you want to connect an external hard disk, CD/DVD drive, iPod, video digitiser or high-end sound gear, Firewire is the way to go. For everything else, there's Masterc... er, slow old USB1.1.

Dominion and assorted snidey commentators: in the time Kenny, Mick and I have spent NOT having to piss about with the insides of our Windows/Linux PC's, we have more than earned any extra cost associated with the Mac - or alternatively gone out and had a variety of worhtwhile life-enhancing experiences not involving staring at a computer screen ;-P

In reply to tmh:

OK, just read OP properly. Yes you have Firewire. You could have got a Firewire scanner, but I think they're going extinct now most people have USB2. The anglepoise iMac was upgraded to USB2 just after you bought yours, sadly!

In reply to Mick Ryan:

..all for around £700, I've never had a crash......and what pray tell are computer viruses?!

In reply to Kenny:

thanks all. I'll see what I can do, maybe my scanner does have firewire. agreed about not getting a PC to sort just one problem(*), only to receive hundreds though I am not totally anti-PC at all.

* and slow scanning of negatives is not a huge problem, i won't be doing it in bulk anyway

In reply to Kenny:
agreed about not getting a PC to sort just one problem(*), only to receive hundreds

You allready had more problems with the mac than i have with my PC but i have always claimed PC problems is down to the user, so your probablyt right in the hundreds :0)

In reply to mik:

What, one?