Looking for a really COOL looking usb2 hub for the tr…looks are everything, and right now my tr looks like a baby octopus with all these translucent usb cables and ugly black hubs snaking outwards into the bowels of that area behind my desk that even didi dare not go. currently i have 7 cables i need to plug in, so i would want hub(s) with room to grow.  I have a usb hairdryer on order with icube.us - gotta be small, lite, and gotta look like a futuristic hand grenade or something mac like. preferably it would match my mouse, a translucent dark blue and silver kensington pocket mouse se, model 7211, that makes my hands hurt but it looks good. 

i know this sounds trite, but this look thing is workin for me.  sitting in a coffee house in tourist thamal, kathmandu, hot syncing my ipod from the tr1, as they have a really grand music collection there, and the chicks were all over me. or maybe they just needed a napkin, dunno
:arrow: DesignerPuba_of_Miruba :!:

I don’t know about a portable one but the one I use on my desktop machine is this one:

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/proddetail.html?sess=no&language=English+US&prodkey=XHub7plus&cat;=/Technology/USB/USB+Hubs

It works well and makes organizing the cables a snap. It does require external power so it’s definitely not for taking to the coffee shop…unless they have power outlets. You have to know that even if you do get a hub you “might” be limited by bus power and bandwidth. So, if you get an unpowered 4-port USB2 hub, you still might not be able to use all 4 ports if there’s not enough juice to power all of the devices on the hub.

Adaptec also makes other 4 port hubs and a notebook based one as well.

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/proddetail.html?sess=no&language=English+US&prodkey=XHub4SLIM&cat;=/Technology/USB/USB+Hubs

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/proddetail.html?sess=no&language=English+US&prodkey=AUH-4100&cat;=/Technology/USB/USB+Hubs

be really modern if it was a digital photo stand!  why all the software?  it does not use the xp-supplied usb2.0 drivers?  well, the 7port stand thing is perfect, no need for hub in coffee shop, just at home. i am coming to realize that while i have always detested portreplicators (ugly and expensive), an innovatively designed on for the tr1 would be appreciated.  anyway, let me know about the drivers and about usbcontrol software, that looks interesting.
jig

You don’t need any drivers or software (other than XP Service Pack 1 installed) for the hub to work. It’s just added software that lets you see how everything is connected (which you could do with device manager) but it’s more simplified.

You plug it in and it just works. Windows will find a USB2 hub and install all necessary drivers and you can use it within a few seconds. Yeah, you can actually put a picture inside of that little square area if you want.

hard to judge size…ya wanna do this for us?  i guess they are stackable.  the laptop version looks dorky, but i am thinking about just getting a 4port for the road as well as the picture frame 7port version. is there a little cable that goes from the back of the hub to the laptop?  they are pricey, but at least silver.

I just picked up a Kensington Mini 4 port USB2 hub for my TR2, and it wasn’t a bad deal at $20. You can use it powered or unpowered, and it’s pretty small and nice-looking.

well, as we all know, in sony’s wisdom and possible space constraints, our ports are on the side, and this device is just like the ugly black belkin ... short cord and spreads things out horizontally across a desk.  my desk is very narrow, it’s a sub-desk so to speak, so it just does not work for me.  i guess i could use anything with a long cord, and just snake it all to the back, down in the neverneverland of behind the desk. but i was hoping for something unique.  so far the adaptec picture frame usb hub has my eye.
thx,
jig

http://www.macally.com/new/new_hubmini.html

well, depending on how long the cable is from unit to pc, this is probally messy desk as well, and if it’s a mac hub, it’s probally usb1…assumption because it’s not stated on webpage and it’s only 20$ ... a great price for a usb2!

There is a usb hub that you can get which fits into the pcmcia slot, you can then eject it and it has 4 ports or so, it is a hub rather than an expansion card and it just slides into the slot for traveling. sounds quite cool to me, if only i could find it again…

Rod

this is the best hub to create a port-replicator-like soho system out of a tr1…and matches the design too.  even has a placeholder for gf’s pic!!  the sowtware that comes with is cool too, shows you what is connected to what and where, and the hub also allows a mix of usb1 and usb2 devices without slowing things down a bit. highly recommended but pricey.