Chapter 4: Desktop Operation
USB Ports
While the parallel and serial ports of your WinBook notebook provide you with connections for many current external devices, your WinBook notebook also comes equipped with two USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports, which allows you to take advantage of a high-speed connection to newer devices. A USB port can allow you to connect up to 127 devices through a single port, at very high data transfer rates of up to 12 Mbps (Mega-bits per second). Devices can be connected through a USB hub (a USB external device that provides power and connection for other USB devices) or con- nected one to the other in a chain. Your WinBook notebook will automati- cally check the USB ports to determine what devices are attached. If they are new to your system, the Plug and Play interface will detect and identify the new equipment. The constant communication between the USB ports and your devices allows you to connect and disconnect devices without shutting down your system. You can connect a USB device by plugging the USB cable into the USB port (one is on the rear of your WinBook note- book and the other is on the left side of the unit). Since the USB devices can be chained together, you can plug USB devices into each other or into a hub that connects to the USB port of your WinBook notebook.
Note: not all USB devices provide a pass-through port for other devices. You might need a USB hub to allow several devices to be connected to the USB port of your system. The system should automatically detect the new device and make it available for use. If the device is not immediately recog- nized, check the documentation for the device. If the device is new to your system, you might be asked to set up the device before use (for example,
a new printer will need to be set up to run under Windows).
The USB ports not only provide a connection between your WinBook notebook and external devices, they are also capable of providing electrical current to run those devices. If you make considerable use of your WinBook notebook under battery power, you should consider how USB devices might drain your battery or slow battery charging (when the AC
