[Duo2400] Re: ADB to USB?

[Ivan Drucker]

Ok, I wonder whether I should take this bait, but here goes. I enjoy 
hacking, and I particularly enjoy making old hardware do things it was 
never intended to. I never say die, and, like you, have frittered away 
many hours making something work just to say that I did. I have gone to 
great lengths to (for example) make my 2400 run Linux and OS X before it 
was easy to do so, support hardware it couldn't have dreamed of, etc. Yet 
if someone on the list asked whether it was possible to put a G4 in a 
2400, I would have responded the same way: there is no way that it is 
possible. I imagine that you would say the same.

Now, of course it's technically possible. With enough engineering effort, 
anything is possible; that's a given. But we are presumably restricting 
our solutions universe to stuff that we know to exist, and so we exclude 
theoretical homebrew low-level engineering. And, the way I understand 
things, there would be no conceivable way to use a USB device via an 
adapter, unless someone designed such an adapter and wrote a driver for 
it, and that hasn't happened.

The USB drivers in 8.6 (or Windows 98) and later need to see a USB port 
of some kind to operate. No matter what you attach you attach to serial, 
ADB, SCSI or any other interface, the OS is, of course, not going to see 
those ports magically become USB ports. If there were a driver that 
represented itself between the OS and the older interface as a USB port, 
or if the driver was designed to make the OS use a specific USB device 
through a specific adapter, there'd be some possibility -- after all, the 
computer has to know, somehow, that it is talking to the serial or ADB 
port to access a CD-ROM drive (to use your example). But no such driver 
exists, to my knowledge. Therefore, I feel comfortable saying there's no 
way to use a USB device on a Mac without a USB port, and since there are 
no USB cards available for pre-PCI Macs, it is not possible to use USB 
devices for these machines, just as it's not possible to put a G4 in a 
2400.

I'd be delighted for you to show me what I don't know here. I'd love to 
deepen my understanding of how the Mac works. I'd love to know there were 
more possibilities for older hardware. But I think you are mistaken when 
you say that you've seen this work, since it defies all logic available 
to me. I want to set the technical record straight for the benefit of the 
list, and that's why I'm being stubborn here. If you can prove me wrong, 
I will both congratulate you and apologize. But you won't.

To answer your question, I am a consultant who has to figure out these 
sorts of issues for my clients all the time, when I'm not doing Java 
coding. I have also spent three years at Apple, helping develop the 
software you now know as the Classic Environment for Mac OS X. What my 
profession and investment savvy have to do with a technical discussion, 
I'm not sure, but you asked.

Obviously, this is unresolvable -- you say it you made it work, and I say 
you didn't. I enjoy your presence on this list and don't really want to 
start a flame war, nor make it anything less than the friendliest place 
on the net, so I suggest we move on.

Ivan.


----------------

>ADB is just to old to invest alot of time and money in.
>Am I glad your not working for a tech company, supplier and  definitely 
>not an engineer.  Being negative wouldn't get you very far.
>NO WAY is what they said about computers in the first place. Windows, 
>Apple..... NEVER Happen...therefore they missed the boat. (didn't invest 
>or buy stock)
>Could be why I have Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, HP, Compaq, Dell. Do 
>you even have a Portfolio?
>
>ivanxqz at yahoo.com wrote:
>
>>There is NO WAY.  I am sorry 
>>to be the bearer of bad news.
>>
>>Ivan.
>>  
>>
>
>
>
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