entrega (now
Xircom)
4 Port USB
Upgrade
A versatile upgrade card with added ports
By
Jeffery Roberts - Hardware Editor
Review
Date 9/12/1999
89 A
In 1997, Entrega Technologies was formed
as a company with a total focus on USB technology. The brainchild of two techno-marketing gurus named Eric
Seedman and Greg Wilkes, Entrega
positioned itself for the anticipated boom in USB demand.
One problem though, Entrega lacked
real USB technical expertise. Enter
David Murray, engineer and a principal USB patent holder.
The combination of talent clicked and in May 1998, Entrega started
shipping product to coincide with the
June release of Windows98.
SETUP
Plug the card into an open PCI slot and
secure it. The new Upgrade Card is
recognized by Windows98 at boot up and installation is pretty much automatic.
Mac users need to install the included Mac OS drivers.
In the Box
·
PCI / USB Upgrade card
·
Installation Pamphlet
·
Mac OS Driver CD
·
Warranty Card
What you need
·
Windows98 or Mac OS
·
Available PCI slot
·
486/66 or faster PC
·
16 MB RAM
Features
The Entrega 4 Port USB Upgrade Card features:
·
Guaranteed 100% USB compliant
·
500mA of power in each port
·
3 year, “Fix it or Replace it”
Warranty
·
Individually switched ports, (If
one USB device fails the others keep working)
·
Auto Recovery, (If a port shuts
down it will automatically reset itself when a new device is plugged in)
·
Made in the USA
Performance
I connected the new upgrade card to my
440BX-based system running Windows98 SE. The
Entrega 4 Port USB Upgrade Card took everything I could throw at it and worked
flawlessly. I connected an HP
scanner, a web cam, an HP DeskJet printer, a Xircom 7 port hub, two mice, a
keyboard and an Ethernet adapter. I
punished the Entrega card for over two hours, simultaneously running devices,
printing, scanning, taking still shots with the camera, downloading files and
playing Quake2. I was absolutely
merciless. The card just would NOT
say, Uncle.
I also tested the Entrega 4 Port on systems with the following mainboards:
- VIA - K6-2 - 350 / Win98 FE
- AMD - Athlon - 550 / Win2000
- SiS - K6-3 - 450 / Win98 SE
The card performed well on all systems tested except for the SiS based computer which locked
the system when the scanner started. I attribute the failure to the PC
Chips motherboard..
Conclusion
The
Entrega 4 port upgrade card is like buying an internal 4 port hub with an
additional 12Mb/sec of USB bandwidth. The Entrega 4 port has 12Mbs of
USB bandwidth and is based on a single OPTi USB Host Controller. This upgrade card is a
stable and adequate performer but does NOT deliver the same amount of bandwidth
as the newer Belkin Quadra Port or the ADS Turbo Quad.
Editors Note:
Entrega has been
acquired, (corporate jargon for bought), by Xircom, a maker of quality mobile
connection devices based in Thousand Oaks, California, USA.
Hopefully, the folks at Xircom will have the good sense not to change a
thing about Entrega USB products.
10-18-1999
Update:
Xircom has been purchased by
Intel. All Devices formerly known as
Entrega are now Xircom. This card is based on a single OPTI USB Host
controller. The 4 ports share a total bandwidth of 12Mbps. This card
does NOT compare to any card based on the Lucent USS-344 chipset.
6-15-2001
Search for best price at Price
Grabber (Xircom 4 port PCI)
USBMan
6/18/2001
