yes, they’re huge. really huge. and ugly. really ugly. compaq wasn’t a design award heavyweight. they’re also designed with everything on the “back”, so it’s supposed to face forward on your desk, ugly standards logos a-blarin’, with everything going out back… that’s kind of annoying for my setup, YMMV. on the plus side, it’s sized almost just right to fit inside the handles of a PowerMac G5/Mac Pro. the cables are also pretty beefy feeling, and the hub actually feels sturdy. perhaps some spray paint and stencils would brighten up their drab, yesterday’s-future-today look.
they have no power light. i plug it in and… is it on? does it work? guess i’ll have to plug something in to find out…
this thing does charge my 3G 30GB iPod, with the power adapter and computer connected. the hub will not initialize USB or FW power unless the specific bus’ interface is plugged in to the computer. keep in mind that newer iPods, possibly starting with the 4G, will not charge from Firewire. the 5G’s might not even connect through Firewire.
it appears to Mac OS 10.4.8 under System Profiler’s USB info as:
and the Firewire info as:
despite the “unknown” status, my iPod seems to work fine through the hub.
all in all, despite hideous, hide-the-freak-in-the-basement styling, lack of a simple power light, and a net gain (per hub) of just one FW port, these are certainly worth it for a dime apiece. i’ve been looking for a combo hub, and lots of places seem to double the price when Firewire gets involved. this frees up the FW port on the front of my G5, and gives me the room to rearrange my USB setup in a more organized manner.
The 4G iPods will certainly both charge and sync via Firewire and USB 2.0. The 5G iPods, and iPod nanos can charge via Firewire or USB 2.0, but will only sync via USB 2.0.
I haven’t set mine up, but yeah I would agree these are ugly huge beasts. I hope they stack nicely on each other.
It was nice to have a Firewire cable included though. Lots of these dual format hubs tend to ignore the need for Firewire cables.
I have to agree that they’re designed poorly. I’d like to have all the power and connection cables going out the back and have the ports in the front - but you get what you pay for. I’ve made it work so that it’s not too ugly.
Got mine today. I didn’t realize how GIANT they are when I ordered. I had this image of something around the size of a deck of cards…not a large paperback book. My current USB hubs are about the size of a pack of gum. :eek:
I guess I’ll shove them under my desk with all the other wires. As long as they work, I can’t complain too much. I’m going to hook them up later.
HOw can i tell if mine is working. I pluged it into the wall, but when i plug in my 60G ipod, or my shuffle with the USB 2.0 cable it tells me that i can perform faster through a USB 2.0 connection. i can’t tell it its working or not.
