[bonniescotland]

Have no idea which forum this belongs to, so please move me if I am in the wrong one.

Okay I have an emac approx 1 year old, it only has usb1.1 (or at least I believe this to be the case, as it is the 1gig processor emac, and apple people telling me doesn't have usb 2). Didn't realise at the time that apple was going to start screwing us and putting usb2.0 in all their computers (is firewire on its way out?) so as a result more and more peripherials are usb2.0 have realised I may need it too, so can I upgrade my emac to usb2.0, I have rang Next Byte twice (australian apple reseller) and applestore once and they say no can do, chuck computer out and buy a new one.

However I then talked to applestore technical support and they told me I had two options, either install a USB PCI card which will upgrade the computers usb1.1 ports to usb2.0 ports, or buy a usb 2.0 hub and this will automatically make my computer usb2.0, e.g. anything plugged into usb2.0 hub will run at usb2.0 speed(assuming of course it is a usb2.0 peripherial). The hub option sounds too good too be true so I asked the guy to double check he comes back to the phone and repeats the same thing.

Have since done a search on google can't find any reference to a usb hub which can upgrade your usb1.1. to usb2.0 so was the apple tech guy on acid, or can this really happen?

If I can't use this hub solution, what is involved in installing a pci card. Am a girl and have never touched the inside of a computer, terrifies me to do this, do I have to take the computer apart? My only other solution is to take it to the nearby next byte store (but then these are the guys who told me emacs cant be upgraded to usb2.0) who I am sure will charge me hundreds of dollars to fix and in any case emac far too heavy too carry, and not happy about it being stored away for days/weeks in apple store, someone possibly erroneously erasing my hard drive etc. Would rather have my emac safe at home with me.

So should i just turf the computer and buy a new one!
AAAAGGGGHHGHHH! If I had waited 1 more month I could have got an emac with usb2.0 (know I know why the damn thing was discounted, thought I got a good deal at the time!)

By the way one of the reasons I am asking this is that I have just ordered a griffin powerwave (awaiting its arrival) to plug my mic into so that I can do decent voice overs into fcp, might also plug some speakers up etc, not sure how well audio works at usb1.1 speed, I know video needs usb2.0 or firewire to work well, but not sure if audio needs usb2.0.

[Mithras]

The guy you talked to, as you suspected, is a crack smoker.
1. The eMac has no PCI slots
2. The eMac will continue to use USB1 speeds to communicate with a USB2 "Hi-speed" hub, and any such devices you attach.

So you're SOL with regard to USB-2. That is why some people prefer upgradable machines, i.e. Powermacs.
That said, audio should do fine over USB1. And you do have Firewire which, while rarer, works great for hi-throughput peripherals like hard disks; and video will always be Firewire's domain.

[FireWire]

I've been wanting to do the same for my 17" FP iMac.. stuck at 1.1 speed...

Is there such a thing as a FireWire-USB 2.0 adapter which could convert the signal? As I understand, they're both serial bus protocols, and as we start to hear about crazy technologies (ie: IP over FW, wireless FireWire, etc), would that be possible?

[DeathToWindows]

technically, it might be possible - you'd need both hardware (to reroute the PWR/GND/Data signals) and software (to fool the OS into treating a FW400 port w/ such a cable like a USB2 port). that'd be the real issue... the cable should be a 10-min hack with a good soldering iron