USB 2.0 auto switch?

[spiffy]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if there's such thing as an USB 2.0 auto sharing switch that does not require using hotkeys or manual buttons to select devices, and I can just plug multiple USB 2.0 devices (printers, scanners, external hard drives) into it and they can all be shared by multiple PCs? I've seen lots of hubs, manual switches, or auto switches that are USB 1.1; but I can't seem to find any for USB 2.0.

Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Spiffy

[greengate69]

Never seen one of those, but out of interest why would you want to? Something like a scanner will normally trigger the associated software on the PC at the other end of the usb cable when you open it, so this would be very difficult to control with multiple PCs.

Unless there is a very specific need for this exact configuration, I would have thought that dedicating one PC (which would need to be kept powered on) as the "server" would be preferrable. connect all the USB peripherals to that and share them with the other PCs across a wired/wireless network (probably cheaper too).

Just an idea.

[mats.hogberg]

A problem is, that many USB devices (like scanners) can't be shared over a network.

/Mats

[spiffy]

I don't want to share the devices over the network per se; because I try to utilize all my machines for transcoding, I don't want to use the scanner on the PC that is busy doing the conversions (for example). So I want to be able to have all my boxes see the USB devices, then for instance if machine A is transcoding, then I can use machine B to scan & print, and vce-versa.

I realize this setup seem somewhat convoluted; but when it takes 6+ hours to rebuild a movie, I find it much more productive to use all of my computers than dedicating specific tasks to each one.

On the scanner issue: wouldn't whichever PC started the scanning software get the job? I have never use the buttons on the scanner to scan -- I always use the software to control the hardware, so I don't see how that would be a problem.

I may be totally off-base and don't know what I'm talking about, of course.

[greengate69]

I see what you mean. This is the closest I found to what you describe:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=309420

However, aside from the scanner, you can get network hard-drives, network printers which are stand-alone and can be shared without a dedicated PC. Of course if you already have all the kit that's no help and the above switch (or similar may help). I would still favour either dedicating one of your PCs, or buidling/buying a low-spec one as a server (and dedicated scanning station).

Good luck anyway!

[INFRATOM]

dedicate an old computer to scanner, printer etc any other way it will cost you more and also you have to install same software on all of your computers and save the scanned file in separate computer each time eg and have to keep track. If your computers are powerful you shouldn't worry about multitasking for a couple of minutes that you are scanning.