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30th October 2005

REVIEW - USB DATA LINK

Brian Grainger

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brian@grainger1.freeserve.co.uk


 

When you have more than one computer to contend with, and most of us do, file transfer is an important consideration. When we have computers that are not networked, especially mobile PCs, we need a cheap solution. A USB data link is such a solution.

Some of you may remember a product from the dim and distant past called Laplink. I first came across it when I bought my first mobile(?) computer - an Epson Portable that ran on MSDOS 3.2. At that time the Laplink software came on 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" floppies and a cable to connect the serial ports between 2 PCs was provided. Run the software on both machines and you were presented with a File Manager type split screen with the local machines directories and files shown in the top half and the remote machine in the bottom half. Files could then be transferred from one to the other by using either connected machine. Laplink has since developed to transfer via parallel port cables and the Internet.

You will know, if you read my review on USB Flash Drives, that I have been using such a device to transfer large files between home and work. Since that time I have bought my laptop PC, which is so much faster than my ancient home desktop. This has made me more conscious of the time taken to boot Knoppix on my desktop, which I use to transfer files from the flash drive to my PC. This got me thinking and Laplink came to mind again. If I could connect my laptop and desktop together with a Laplink type cable and software, then I could transfer the files on the flash drive into the laptop, (which is very quick). I could then transfer them from the laptop to my desktop through Windows, so avoiding the time taken to boot up Knoppix in order to recognise my flash drive.

My laptop is one of these modern varieties that does not come with serial and parallel ports, but with USB and ethernet ports. I therefore quickly surmised I needed a cable that could connect my laptop to my desktop via USB, the only port common to both machines, and the appropriate software to transfer files. One other requirement concerned the version of USB. My desktop is v1.1 compatible and my laptop v2.0 compatible. I needed a software solution that would work with both.

First port of call was the local Maplins. They had such a cable at £30 (less a penny). Unfortunately, it said it would work with Windows XP but no mention was made of Windows 98 First Edition or v1.1 USB, necessary for my desktop.

My next port of call was to Google for USB data link - which was the term used by the Maplins product. As is usual when you want to buy something it is more appropriate to look at the sponsored ads returned than the Google links. It did not take me long to find one from Lindy, http://www.lindy.com, which proved interesting. Lindy specialise in computer connection products. They sold three different items, one for USB 1.1, one for USB 2 and a USB network product. As USB 2 is backward compatible with USB 1.1, I looked at the first and was pleased to find it supported Windows XP, needed for my laptop, as well as Windows 98 First Edition. The price, at £9.80 (plus £2.75 p&p via normal post), was interesting too, compared with the Maplins price. To be fair though the Lindy USB 2 product was priced much higher.

I rang Lindy's sales department to confirm the p&p price and place an order. They answered my questions and then directed me to order via the Internet! Now, I appreciate Lindy deal more with business than individual clients, but I was a bit put out by this. I said that if I had to order via the Internet I would go elsewhere and then the salesman offered to take my order!

A couple of days later I had my 2 metre cable and a CD containing software. A day later I had printed the manual from the pdf file and was ready to install. Bearing in mind the warnings about installing new USB hardware I tried to ignore the manual a little bit. Rather than connect the cable and follow the screen prompts, I tried to install the drivers manually WITHOUT connecting the cable. I failed! I then threw caution to the winds and followed the manual. I have to say this is one of the clearest instruction manuals I have ever seen. Each operating system has a separate set of instructions and every step of the procedure has a screenshot provided. It gives you the feeling that the manufacturers have actually done it themselves to provide this level of detail, which means it should work. It did - both on the Windows 98 desktop and the Windows XP laptop.

Now for the moment of truth. Connect the cable to both machines. Click on the PC-Linq desktop icon on the laptop. Click on the PC-Linq desktop icon on the desktop. Bingo - an Explorer like double paned window appears on both machines and drag and drop works. I now have a way to transfer stuff from my laptop to my desktop. I transferred a 250MB file in about 4 minutes. Of course, the USB v2 product would work much faster, if you had no need for v1.1 compatibility.

A short while later I was beginning to realise the other benefits of my new acquisition. I could transfer files from my desktop to the laptop - irrespective of the fact that the laptop has an NTFS formatted partition. This is something Knoppix, or any other Linux, cannot reliably do at present. The other big plus point was that the USB Link software supported, via the File - Print menu option, the ability to print a file from the remote PC to the printer connected to the local PC. This assumes the relevant software is on the local PC. If it is a Microsoft Word document file then Word software would need to be on the local PC for this to work. I now have a simple way to print files on my laptop without buying a new printer with a USB interface.

I am pleased with my USB Link. Having bought the v1.1 type it will work with just about any PC that has a USB port, albeit at a lower transfer rate than a v2 type. I was even more pleased when I found that the week following my purchase the cable had gone up in price to £13 plus p&p. Still a good bargain if you have the need for these capabilities.

Update: 11th February 2007

Mike Williams wrote to say:

I read your piece on the Lindy data link transfer PC to Laptop which is exactly the problem I have. I bought from Maplins a USB datalink / USB turbo link connector which looks very much like the Lindy one. I had some difficulty following the manual, (must be different Korean writers). In the end I got 3 icons on the desk top

1. PcLinq2 (ANSI)
2. PcLinq2 (Unicode)
3. Pc-Linq

Only the latter works. One sees two little traffic lights and only in Pc-Linq are they both green. In the other cases they are red. Pc-Linq works well but I am puzzled about the other two that are, according to the manual, the ones that should work. (Pc-Linq is not even mentioned!) Also the manual suggests that the section in the middle of the cable should blink and flicker when data is transferred. Mine does not, even though data is going through.

Do you have any thoughts on this and have you come across similar 'problems'

My response was:

The problem is very strange. As you say both the ANSI and UNICODE programs should work on XP and in the latest literature pclinq is not even mentioned - I presume it is an earlier version of the program. Nevertheless I don't think it is anything to worry about.

Nowhere in the literature does it say what the separate programs are for. I presume the ANSI program will transfer files using ANSI code for characters and similarly UNICODE will transfer using UNICODE to represent characters. This does beg the question of what happens with a binary file, which is not made up of characters!

It is important that both computers are running the same program.

I did a Google search for pclinq2 and came up with a link to a (readable) manual. It is here:
http://www.usbfiletransfer.com/PCLinq2_Hi_Speed_USB_Bridge_Cable_manual.pdf

Mike subsequently commented that the manual above was certainly far superior to his.


 

 

 

 


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