At 03:18 PM 1/9/2004 -0500, Bob Blick wrote:
>Before I try, has anyone experimented with extending USB cable length on a
>cheap webcam?
>
>If so, how far could you go? 10 feet? 20 feet? 30 feet?
>
>I had an old parallel port color quickcam, it seemed that 15 feet was OK,
>20 feet started to get flaky. I'd expect USB to work a little farther, but
>not much.

You can use hubs or powered repeaters to extend the distance.
Also, IONetworks makes a USBAnywhere that lets you plug USB devices into
your computer over a twisted pair lan.
I have one at home, it's pretty spooky to plug in a mouse across the room,
and watch it running around on the main system screen just like you were
sitting there.

Great prank potential, you could mess with someone's  mouse from a
completely remote place.
It only works when the lan is up, but unplugging the lan would not be my
first guess when having mouse trouble.

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