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A USB decoration is a decorative device that uses the Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector for electrical power, and sometimes the protocol, on a computer or other host. In addition, some lightweight devices (e.g., a small lamp on a gooseneck stalk) use the USB connector itself for mechanical support.
Decorative computer peripherals have been around for a long time; in the days of CPU front panels, computer hackers would sometimes use them for entertaining or amusing "Blinkenlights" displays. Today, USB-powered decorations are the most prominently seen examples, since the popularity of USB lets them operate on most modern computers. The USB standard can also be used to power devices via AC adapters traditionally used for mobile devices, allowing manufacturers of these decorations worldwide compatibility without the need for any power converters for different socket form factors.
Many USB decorations do not use the communications features of the USB bus, or fully comply with USB standard power discipline. This can interfere with the purposes for which the USB bus was designed, especially if the device suddenly attempts to draw the full 500 mA of power nominally available. The default power consumption is only 100 mA, which should not impact the computer's PSU if a device is suddenly connected without identifying itself first. A newly connected device is supposed to then use the USB protocol to communicate a request for more DC power, if needed.
Often, several decorations are connected to a single USB hub, which is limited to 400 mA if it has no external power connection and is drawing all its power from a host computer. With each device drawing 100 mA, it is therefore only possible to run four low-power decorations.
If instead a USB hub has an external power adapter, it may be able to support much higher power loads. In many cases, the powered hub may not even need to be connected to a computer host, but can serve as a stand-alone power source for USB decorations that need only DC power.
USB decorations may have no useful functionality other than aesthetic ornamentation. For example, lights, lighted cables, displays, miniature disco balls, [1] aquariums, [2] terrariums, [3] waterfalls, [4] and pole dancers [5] are all available in USB-powered versions.
Arguably, there are many USB-based decorations embedded in existing products—keyboards with impractical backlighting (such as ones that only turn on while pressing a key, and ones that flash to the beat of a song), mice that (when the computer is turned off) turn on/off their light to a pre-programmed beat, or printers that show random quotations on LCD screens when not in use.
A similar concept exists in the form of decorations that are powered by car adapter plugs. USB adapters for automobiles (and built-in USB ports in newer models) can also power USB decorations. Some USB devices can even be jury rigged to work on 12 volts with a simple resistor, in which is the electrical opposite of converting a light-up ornament to a DIY USB decoration.
Some USB decorations have a non-passive and at least nominal practical purpose. Nightlights, cooling fans, typing speedometers, [5] a beverage chiller, [6] and nodding dogs that guard internet connections [7] are all examples of USB semi-decorations.
Flash drives may similarly be themed for aesthetic or amusement value. Such devices can be viewed anthropologically as pocket-sized versions of the "decorated shed" architecture celebrated by Robert Venturi in his influential book, Learning from Las Vegas: the Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form. Although these functional devices are not pure USB decorations, they still have prominent decorative aspects. Usually, these types of devices are simple modifications of ordinary designs, with most or all of the power used for the main function, not for the decoration.
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, best known for its use with storage devices such as hard disk drives. SCSI was introduced in the 1980s and has seen widespread use on servers and high-end workstations, with new SCSI standards being published as recently as SAS-4 in 2017.
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that allows data exchange and delivery of power between many types of electronics. It specifies its architecture, in particular its physical interface, and communication protocols for data transfer and power delivery to and from hosts, such as personal computers, to and from peripheral devices, e.g. displays, keyboards, and mass storage devices, and to and from intermediate hubs, which multiply the number of a host's ports.
ACCESS.bus, or A.b for short, is a peripheral-interconnect computer bus developed by Philips and DEC in the early 1990s, based on Philips' I²C system. It is similar in purpose to USB, in that it allows low-speed devices to be added or removed from a computer on the fly. While it was made available earlier than USB, it never became popular as USB gained in popularity.
A host controller interface (HCI) is a register-level interface that enables a host controller for USB or IEEE 1394 hardware to communicate with a host controller driver in software. The driver software is typically provided with an operating system of a personal computer, but may also be implemented by application-specific devices such as a microcontroller.
An adapter or adaptor is a device that converts attributes of one electrical device or system to those of an otherwise incompatible device or system. Some modify power or signal attributes, while others merely adapt the physical form of one connector to another.
A disk enclosure is a specialized casing designed to hold and power hard disk drives or solid state drives while providing a mechanism to allow them to communicate to one or more separate computers.
An AC adapter or AC/DC adapter is a type of external power supply, often enclosed in a case similar to an AC plug. AC adapters deliver electric power to devices that lack internal components to draw voltage and power from mains power themselves. The internal circuitry of an external power supply is often very similar to the design that would be used for a built-in or internal supply.
Wireless USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a short-range, high-bandwidth wireless radio communication protocol created by the Wireless USB Promoter Group, which is intended to increase the availability of general
A multitap is a video game console peripheral that increases the number of controller ports available to the player, allowing additional controllers to be plugged in simultaneously in a manner similar to a power strip or a USB hub. A multitap often takes the form of a box with three or more controller ports which is then connected to a controller port on the console itself.
USB On-The-Go is a specification first used in late 2001 that allows USB devices, such as tablets or smartphones, to also act as a host, allowing other USB devices, such as USB flash drives, digital cameras, mouse or keyboards, to be attached to them. Use of USB OTG allows devices to switch back and forth between the roles of host and device. For example, a smartphone may read from removable media as the host device, but present itself as a USB Mass Storage Device when connected to a host computer.
A USB hub is a device that expands a single Universal Serial Bus (USB) port into several so that there are more ports available to connect devices to a host system, similar to a power strip. All devices connected through a USB hub share the bandwidth available to that hub.
The PS/2 port is a 6-pin mini-DIN connector used for connecting keyboards and mice to a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal computers, with which it was introduced in 1987. The PS/2 mouse connector generally replaced the older DE-9 RS-232 "serial mouse" connector, while the PS/2 keyboard connector replaced the larger 5-pin/180° DIN connector used in the IBM PC/AT design. The PS/2 keyboard port is electrically and logically identical to the IBM AT keyboard port, differing only in the type of electrical connector used. The PS/2 platform introduced a second port with the same design as the keyboard port for use to connect a mouse; thus the PS/2-style keyboard and mouse interfaces are electrically similar and employ the same communication protocol. However, unlike the otherwise similar Apple Desktop Bus connector used by Apple, a given system's keyboard and mouse port may not be interchangeable since the two devices use different sets of commands and the device drivers generally are hard-coded to communicate with each device at the address of the port that is conventionally assigned to that device.
Xircom, Inc., was an American computer networking hardware and mobile technology company. Headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California, Xircom was one of the first companies to develop network computing products for notebook computers. Products included computer memory cards, LAN adapters, modems, and remote access server products. The company's products enabled notebook users to share information over a network connection.
A wireless repeater is a device that takes an existing signal from a wireless router or wireless access point and rebroadcasts it to create a second network. When two or more hosts have to be connected with one another over the IEEE 802.11 protocol and the distance is too long for a direct connection to be established, a wireless repeater is used to bridge the gap. It can be a specialized stand-alone computer networking device. Also, some wireless network interface controllers (WNIC)s optionally support operating in such a mode. Those outside of the primary network will be able to connect through the new "repeated" network. However, as far as the original router or access point is concerned, only the repeater MAC is connected, making it necessary to enable safety features on the wireless repeater. Wireless repeaters are commonly used to improve signal range and strength within homes and small offices.
Universal Serial Bus 3.0, marketed as SuperSpeed USB, is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. It was released in November 2008. The USB 3.0 specification defined a new architecture and protocol, named SuperSpeed, which included a new lane for a new signal coding scheme providing full-duplex data transfers that physically required five additional wires and pins, while preserving the USB 2.0 architecture and protocols and therefore keeping the original four pins and wires for the USB 2.0 backward-compatibility, resulting in nine wires in total and nine or ten pins at connector interfaces. The new transfer rate, marketed as SuperSpeed USB (SS), can transfer signals at up to 5 Gbit/s with nominal data rate of 500 MB/s after encoding overhead, which is about 10 times faster than High-Speed. USB 3.0 Type-A and B connectors are usually blue, to distinguish them from USB 2.0 connectors, as recommended by the specification. and by the initials SS.
IOIO is a series of open source PIC microcontroller-based boards that allow Android mobile applications to interact with external electronics. The device was invented by Ytai Ben-Tsvi in 2011, and was first manufactured by SparkFun Electronics. The name "IOIO" is inspired by the function of the device, which enables applications to receive external input ("I") and produce external output ("O").
IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony and Panasonic. It is most commonly known by the name FireWire (Apple), though other brand names exist such as i.LINK (Sony), and Lynx.
A USB-to-serial adapter or simply USB adapter is a type of protocol converter that is used for converting USB data signals to and from serial communications standards. Most commonly the USB data signals are converted to either RS-232, RS-485, RS-422, or TTL-level UART serial data. The older serial RS-423 protocol is rarely used any more, so USB to RS423 adapters are less common.
USB-C, or USB Type-C, is a 24-pin connector that supersedes previous USB connectors and can carry audio, video and other data, e.g., to drive multiple displays or to store a backup to an external drive. It can also provide and receive power, such as powering a laptop or a mobile phone. It is applied not only by USB technology, but also by other protocols, including Thunderbolt, PCIe, HDMI, DisplayPort, and others. It is extensible to support future standards.
The initial versions of the USB standard specified connectors that were easy to use and that would have acceptable life spans; revisions of the standard added smaller connectors useful for compact portable devices. Higher-speed development of the USB standard gave rise to another family of connectors to permit additional data paths. All versions of USB specify cable properties; version 3.x cables include additional data paths. The USB standard included power supply to peripheral devices; modern versions of the standard extend the power delivery limits for battery charging and devices requiring up to 240 watts. USB has been selected as the standard charging format for many mobile phones, reducing the proliferation of proprietary chargers.