Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology allows hardware to be simply plugged in and automatically recognized (Plug and Play) while the computer is running, unlike conventional serial and parallel ports. This "hot-swapping" technique is one of several features that USB shares with the faster, more expensive IEEE-1394 FireWire standard.
The user no longer has to be concerned with tiny DIP switches, IRQ conflicts, or internal adapter card installation --- all of which add a magnitude of error possibility and a magnitude of setup time. Currently, the only operating systems that fully support the USB specification are the popular Windows 98/2000/XP and Apple OS 8.x/9.x. platforms. Most USB peripherals will provide USB drivers compatibility for these major operating systems.
USB also features simplified communications protocols, which means that host and peripheral interface controllers can be comprised of relatively few components. Typical USB host controllers and peripheral controllers use less than half the total number of components needed by FireWire adapters, resulting in significant cost savings and simplified interfacing.
USB keychain drives are one of the latest useful peripheral devices for computer data backup and transportation. They get their name from the fact that they are small enough and designed to conveniently attach to a key ring. They can be used in place of floppy or zip disks, and make backing up and transporting your data easy.
USB keychain drives are also called "flash drives" or "USB-based flash drives." They are in fact sold-state memory devices which have the ability to act as floppy disks or hard drives under most personal computer operating systems. The Lehigh University Bookstore will be selling the 128MB Lexar Media Jump Drive pictured in the photo above.
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