USB to ethernet converter?

[ABA]

Has anyone ever used a laptop as a driver station with out an ethernet port, and instead a usb to ethernet converter? and if so how did it work on the feild? was it succesful? did it lag at all? any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Mark McLeod]

I've used USB-to-Ethernet converters to make the Driver Station/field connection before.
I'd recommend keeping it on one of the laptop USB ports and not on a Hub.

It works fine.
No lag or other issues to report.

[ABA]

ok thank you very much

[Joe Ross]

I've used USB-to-Ethernet converters to make the Driver Station/field connection before.
I'd recommend keeping it on one of the laptop USB ports and not on a Hub.

It works fine.
No lag or other issues to report.

What model USB to Ethernet converter? We tried a Linksys and a Startech in 2010. The Linksys worked fine in practice, but never worked on the field. The Startech worked on the field, but would randomly stop working after awaking from sleep.

[Mark McLeod]

I'll have to check the make/model. It's sitting on my desk at home, but it's now an out-of-date model several years old, so I can't recommend a current model to purchase.

As a general rule, we never let our Driver Station go to sleep or hibernate in competition, so those kinds of issued wouldn't have manifest with the way we used the device.
USB communication and power re-negotiations on wakeup give indeterminated results - hubs, FIRST Touch, joysticks, or any USB device can go missing unless close attention is paid. You've seen it I know.

[ABA]

has anyone used a USB to internet converter before on the field, has it worked? if so did it work well?
I posted this before but in the wrong forum, sorry for repetitiveness

[SuperS_5]

At least one team in this thread has:

I've used USB-to-Ethernet converters to make the Driver Station/field connection before.
I'd recommend keeping it on one of the laptop USB ports and not on a Hub.

It works fine.
No lag or other issues to report.

And some have had issues:

What model USB to Ethernet converter? We tried a Linksys and a Startech in 2010. The Linksys worked fine in practice, but never worked on the field. The Startech worked on the field, but would randomly stop working after awaking from sleep.

I've used various adapters for computer tech work. They generally work great, but USB doesn't have the best connectors, or cables. If the USB cable is loose, you will see issues. Drivers are not always great either. I generally don't have any issues with USB hubs, but I tend to use powered hubs.

[BobbyVanNess]

We used a ethernet converter with our samsung driver station, and it worked fine. We never had any problems with lag, and to keep it from coming loose, we secured it to our driver station board with tape and velcro. The only one problem that we had was at our off season competition two weeks ago, where in our first match we forgot to bring it to the field.. It just adds another thing that you need to remember. A simple check list could've resolved that problem.