March 05, 2019 by Oliver Rieder
Accessing your USB hub remotely
This is part of an article that you can fully read here.
The majority of modern peripheral devices that you may want to connect to your computer are equipped with a USB connector. Most computers have a limited number of USB ports that can be used simultaneously. This can become an issue if you have multiple devices that you want to connect to your machine at the same time.
You might want to use a Keyboard, scanner, printer, and external hard drive in order to get your work done. Perhaps you also would like to charge your phone while you are working. You can swap devices in and out of the limited number of USB ports on your computer, but this can become frustrating and unproductive. There has to be a better way to make use of your peripheral devices.
This problem is solved by employing a USB hub to provide additional USB ports to your system. A USB hub expands the capability of your machine, allowing it to interact with multiple USB devices simultaneously. It is a piece of equipment that provides multiple USB ports that all communicate with your computer through a single USB connector.
A USB hub will enable you to be more productive by eliminating the need to swap cables in order to access different peripheral devices. Regardless of the number of USB ports built into your machine, a USB hub will allow you to increase the number of devices that you can concurrently support.
A USB hub will enable you to be more productive by eliminating the need to swap cables in order to access different peripheral devices. Regardless of the number of USB ports built into your machine, a USB hub will allow you to increase the number of devices that you can concurrently support.
After connecting all of your peripheral devices to a USB hub you may decide that you would like to provide remote access to them. You might have connected an external storage device that contains information needed by a co-worker located in another office. It is not possible for everyone to be located in close physical proximity to the devices they need to access.
USB Network Gate is an application that enables remote access of USB connected peripheral devices. You just need to install the software on the computer with the USB hub attached as well as the machines that will be sharing the hub or its connected devices. This enables remote access of the peripherals as if they were locally connected to your computer. It is a simple and elegant solution to the problem of sharing USB devices remotely.
A USB hub improves the functionality of your computer and USB Network Gate allows a dramatic increase in the functionality of the peripheral devices attached to the hub. A single computer can have multiple USB devices attached which are all accessible by remote users spread out across the globe.
There are a variety of different types of USB hubs that are manufactured to meet variable user demands. You can use an expansion card that adds a USB hub to a desktop computer. An open slot enables you to use a USB hub with older machines that may not be equipped with USB ports.
The most common type of USB hub is a stand-alone unit that expands the capabilities of a computer with at least a single USB interface. These can be divided into those hubs that are bus-powered and those that provide their own power.
Bus-powered USB hubs obtain their power through the connection to the host machine which can be a computer or another USB hub. This variety of hub is more portable as there is no need to find a power source for the device. They are also generally less expensive than a self-powered hub.
There is a tradeoff involved if you choose to use a bus-powered USB hub. Your computer is now responsible for powering the hub as well as the attached devices if they do not provide their own power. Laptop batteries will drain more quickly with this type of USB hub configuration and the host machine’s performance can be negatively affected.
Employing a self-powered USB hub eliminates these potential issues. You will spend more when purchasing this type of hub and it will result in another cord on your desktop that needs to be plugged into a power source. The main benefit of a self-powered hub is that it can be used to charge and power your peripheral USB devices with no impact to your computer.
USB hubs are available that support either the USB 2 or USB 3 protocol. The connectors and ports are identical so either kind of hub can be used with your USB devices. In order to achieve the full speed and performance offered by USB 3 devices, you will need to use a USB 3 hub. All components, including cables, connections, and hubs need to fully support USB 3 to reap the benefits afforded by the newer protocol.
Small devices such as tablets and cellphones can make use of micro USB hubs. These are great for charging multiple devices simultaneously or for transferring data from external sources to your mobile device...
I am a computer enthusiast, programmer, and electronics tinkerer. I work with PHP, MySQL, HTML, JavaScript, jQuery, CSS as well as C, Arduino.
