Century's 16-port USB 2.0 hub for two PCs
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 30th 2007 7:01AM
posted Jan 30th 2007 7:01AM
We've got USB hubs from all walks of life, including wireless, three-port, and duck-inspired, but Century has 'em all topped with its new CHMP-16. This 16-port USB 2.0 hub sports a brick-like design, (obviously) requires separate AC power, and can be connected to two PCs simultaneously. With just the flip of a switch, all 16 of your USB peripherals can instantly be operated on a secondary computer, which just might cause an unstable OS to completely self-destruct. Although we're not sure on how much coinage this thing will demand, we've got to admit, this should be a required purchase for the avid Thanko collector.
All that's left is prefixing it with an 'i' and it's worth 3x as much!
I must prefix you with an i and send you to the slavery market.
Idiot..
At last! I've been after a 16 port USB hub for years.
It is not even pretty, it reminds me of a cheap KVM switch back from good old pre-millenium age
Those old KVMs were built like tanks and designed to last compared to these newer cheaply Chinese made plastic boxes.
...I think I'm going to hold out for a 32 port hub.
Sweet. It could make a cheap (if it's cheaper) USB-KM for my desktop and laptop.
Imagine the "found new hardware" ding spam switching that from computer to computer.
my one question is: why do they have such a tiny switch? if you're gonna be frequently switching from one machine to the other, wouldn't you like a big easily togglable switch?
excellent idea, bad baaaaaad design.
it needs urgent design
mauricio
chile
I built one of these 5 years ago : (
I've used a Belkin USB switch similar to this to share a keyboard and mouse between two machines. XP would sometimes take a while to recognize the new hardware, and OSX _really_ didn't like it. About every 4th time you switched over, it would kernel panic.
I love the idea, but as everyone else has mentioned the design sucks the big one. I feel a little inspired to build one of these myself, but go a little ott with a monster switch, like something you would find next to an electric chair.
*Ben runs out to the lab*
Its going to be sweet!
Check out the AnywhereUSB which provides five USB ports on an Ethernet. Any PC on the network can connect to, and use, the USB devices.
Now imagine plugging more hubs into this one and switching the full 127 allowed USB devices at once.
That AnywhereUSB is expensive. The 16 port USB hub is about $70-100US depending on where you find it at.