I remember reading somewhere that some Dell laptops don't work with
M-Boxes because (I think) the voltage out of the USB port isn't high
enough. I was thinking of using an Inspiron 8200 with a Tascam US-122;
anyone know if similar problems will apply?

"Karl Engel" wrote in message
om...
I remember reading somewhere that some Dell laptops don't work with
M-Boxes because (I think) the voltage out of the USB port isn't high
enough. I was thinking of using an Inspiron 8200 with a Tascam US-122;
anyone know if similar problems will apply?

I don't know if this will help, but does that Dell have a VIA chipset? I
found out recently (when hooking up a wireless DSL connection that used a
USB port) that motherboards with certain VIA chipsets tend to have
less-than-adequate power delivered to the USB ports than is needed to run
certain pieces of hardware. If you have a manual or specs for that laptop
(or specifically the mobo), you might be able to reference how many
milliamps and at what voltage the USB ports get supplied with. If it's less
than what the MBox requires, then yeah you could obviously have a problem.
--


Neil Henderson
Progressive Rock
http://www.saqqararecords.com

"Karl Engel" wrote in message
om...
I remember reading somewhere that some Dell laptops don't work with
M-Boxes because (I think) the voltage out of the USB port isn't high
enough. I was thinking of using an Inspiron 8200 with a Tascam US-122;
anyone know if similar problems will apply?

I don't know if this will help, but does that Dell have a VIA chipset? I
found out recently (when hooking up a wireless DSL connection that used a
USB port) that motherboards with certain VIA chipsets tend to have
less-than-adequate power delivered to the USB ports than is needed to run
certain pieces of hardware. If you have a manual or specs for that laptop
(or specifically the mobo), you might be able to reference how many
milliamps and at what voltage the USB ports get supplied with. If it's less
than what the MBox requires, then yeah you could obviously have a problem.
--


Neil Henderson
Progressive Rock
http://www.saqqararecords.com

In article writes:

I remember reading somewhere that some Dell laptops don't work with
M-Boxes because (I think) the voltage out of the USB port isn't high
enough. I was thinking of using an Inspiron 8200 with a Tascam US-122;

I have a Dell Inspiron 2650 (yeh, I know - nobody else in the world
has the same model. I think they made it for about fifteen minutes)
and I reported in a review (Recording Magazine Dec 2003, no freebies)
that when connected to the laptop, switching the phantom power on took
the US-122 off line and required disconnecting the USB cable and
reconnecting it in order to bring it back to life (with phantom
power). I didn't have that problem with my Dell or Mongrel desktops.

TASCAM said they've tested it with "several" laptops and didn't
observe this problem, but they didn't ask that it be deleted from the
published review (so it was included).

Otherwise, I was reasonably impressed with the US-122. It's no Great
River mic preamp (I compared it with several mic inputs including the
GR) but it's quite servicable particularly if you have reasonably high
output microphones or are not trying to record super quiet sources.
The best thing about the US-122 is that it's well thought out.
Everything you need to overdub a multitrack project from two inputs
and monitor what you need to hear is right there, accessible with a
knob or a switch. You really don't need a mixer unless you actually
need to mix multiple mics to a single track.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

In article writes:

I remember reading somewhere that some Dell laptops don't work with
M-Boxes because (I think) the voltage out of the USB port isn't high
enough. I was thinking of using an Inspiron 8200 with a Tascam US-122;

I have a Dell Inspiron 2650 (yeh, I know - nobody else in the world
has the same model. I think they made it for about fifteen minutes)
and I reported in a review (Recording Magazine Dec 2003, no freebies)
that when connected to the laptop, switching the phantom power on took
the US-122 off line and required disconnecting the USB cable and
reconnecting it in order to bring it back to life (with phantom
power). I didn't have that problem with my Dell or Mongrel desktops.

TASCAM said they've tested it with "several" laptops and didn't
observe this problem, but they didn't ask that it be deleted from the
published review (so it was included).

Otherwise, I was reasonably impressed with the US-122. It's no Great
River mic preamp (I compared it with several mic inputs including the
GR) but it's quite servicable particularly if you have reasonably high
output microphones or are not trying to record super quiet sources.
The best thing about the US-122 is that it's well thought out.
Everything you need to overdub a multitrack project from two inputs
and monitor what you need to hear is right there, accessible with a
knob or a switch. You really don't need a mixer unless you actually
need to mix multiple mics to a single track.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

I have the US-122 and it works fine (with respect to power)
with my Inspiron 7500. I saw occasional dropouts using n-track
for windows, but then I have bad luck in that area. I have tried
at least 100 combinations of OS/CPU/soundcard/software, and I have never
found one that gave me the integrity of say a $20 cassette
recorder with regard to dropouts (missing samples).

I found that the quality of the mic pre's on the US-122 was
surprisingly fine for the price ($120-150, particularly
with regard to the noise level.


Karl Engel wrote:
I remember reading somewhere that some Dell laptops don't work with
M-Boxes because (I think) the voltage out of the USB port isn't high
enough. I was thinking of using an Inspiron 8200 with a Tascam US-122;
anyone know if similar problems will apply?

I have the US-122 and it works fine (with respect to power)
with my Inspiron 7500. I saw occasional dropouts using n-track
for windows, but then I have bad luck in that area. I have tried
at least 100 combinations of OS/CPU/soundcard/software, and I have never
found one that gave me the integrity of say a $20 cassette
recorder with regard to dropouts (missing samples).

I found that the quality of the mic pre's on the US-122 was
surprisingly fine for the price ($120-150, particularly
with regard to the noise level.


Karl Engel wrote:
I remember reading somewhere that some Dell laptops don't work with
M-Boxes because (I think) the voltage out of the USB port isn't high
enough. I was thinking of using an Inspiron 8200 with a Tascam US-122;
anyone know if similar problems will apply?