On Dec 25, 2010, at 3:45 PM, George & Jan wrote: > My SignaLink (USB sound card) worked just as easily.
It is a completely different story with that one. 16 bit Audio is an integral part of the USB Class specifications. The chip in the SignaLink (TI/Burr-Brown) is compliant with the USB specification, so it "just works" on Operating Systems that has implemented USB completely. However, you will still expect to need a driver to use 24 bit sound cards. Some sound cards get around this restriction by transferring 16 bits to the computer even though the internal codec is 20 bits or more (the early Griffin Technology iMic was like that). Common USB classes include Mass Storage (e.g., hard drives, thumb drives, built-in memory in digital cameras), HID (mouse, keyboards), Imaging (still camera image capture), and Audio (sound cards and MIDI). But Serial Drivers (or Virtual COM Port, as some call it) is not part of the USB specification. If your OS does not already come with the serial adapter manufacturer's driver pre-loaded, you will need to install the driver yourself. Many people make the mistake of "upgrading" to a different OS without checking if drivers are available. If you depend on serial ports and high end sound cards, it is probably best not to upgrade (or buy a new computer that can only run the new stuff) until you know the drivers which you need are available. 73 Chen, W7AY ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
