Enabling Windows Update on Windows XP

Posted on 26. Feb, 2010 by in Windows

Windows 7 and Vista have Windows Update on by default, as do most recent Windows XP machines. So when a new USB device arrives, the system is able to go out to the Internet and check Microsoft’s huge library of drivers to find a match — a great plug and play experience for devices like those we make here at Plugable.

But Windows XP, when it originally shipped in 2001, didn’t have this capability. So to enable Windows Update on XP, if you don’t already have it on, just upgrade to XP Service Pack 2 or later, and follow Microsoft’s steps:

  1. Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then press ENTER.
  2. Click the Automatic Updates tab, and then click to select one of the following options. We recommend that you select the Automatic (recommended) Automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them option.

Microsoft has more information in their knowledge base article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525

UD-160-A automatic driver download and install via Windows Update

Posted on 21. Feb, 2010 by in Windows

Here’s the result when you connect the Plugable UD-160-A universal laptop docking station to a completely fresh Windows 7 system:

  • Windows automatically finds, downloads, and installs drivers for all the devices on the dock — the built-in USB C-Media audio, ASIX ethernet, DisplayLink graphics functions are all supported.
  • *NO* driver disks to find, no web addresses to enter, nothing – you get the latest drivers automatically.
  • This will work with the Plugable dock and any Windows 7 machine, now and in the future.

If you have Windows Update enabled on Vista and Windows XP – the story is the same (although Microsoft’s UI looks different on each OS). So go ahead, lose your driver disks — just get that off your mind. You won’t need them. Cool.

Explaining multiseat benefits

Posted on 19. Nov, 2009 by in Windows

Following on the announcement of Windows Multipoint Server 2010, HP has announced their first product to connect with it: The HP MultiSeat thin client T100. It’s a DisplayLink-based device with VGA, PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, and audio. It’s a focused competitor to the product that Plugable sells here, and they do a great job of explaining the benefits in video form here and here.

DisplayLink’s new thin client materials also provide a bunch of additional detail, with good bullet points on why simple USB connectivity provides real value for this scenario.

Companies like Sun, nComputing, Miniframe, and Userful have sold products for Windows and Unix in this space for some time. The unix world has had various forms of multiseat capability forever — not to speak of traditional X terminals and all the thin client network protocols like RDP, ICA, and VNC on Windows and Unix, which people think of first when they think of terminals.

But when it comes to true multiseat (locally connected devices, treated as terminals), Linux has had it first, has lots of advantages in terms of licensing cost and performance, has gotten hundreds of thousands of seats in use — and yet hasn’t quite make it easy enough for end users for it to reach its full audience.

So these new product launches, now with Microsoft on board, definitely have the ability to raise more awareness of the potential of this scenario. It’s a challenge to the Unix and Linux crowd to leverage their built in advantages — and continue working on the shortcomings of Linux as a client desktop — in order to continue to provide compelling competition in this market.

Either way, the additional exposure is great for communicating the potential of multiseat.

Page 14 of 15« First...1112131415