homemade usb splitter wont work. ARGH!

[endoplasmic reticulum]

with the keyboard and mouse plugged into my computer, i got only 1 usb port left thats not used. major problem. i tried to solve it by cutting in half two usb extention cables. i took 2 female ends and 1 male ends. i twisted wires of the same color together so i twisted groups of 3 wires together. i plugged the male end into the computer. then i plugged my mouse into 1 female end. worked. the other female end worked, too. but when i tried to plug in 2 things with the cord i "made", it wouldn't work. it just said that windows does not recognize this device or something. sometimes only the first 1 i plug in works. tried all of my usb stuff. still wonnt work. i thing there might be a little more to it than twisting wires together. wat i mainly want to do is plug in the keyboard and mouse into the cord i "made" so i have 2 empty usb ports.

 

so can any1 give me a little help here?

[miskie]

Ill be blunt.

It'll never work. Sorry.

 

Why ?

 

USB and other 'chainable' interfaces rely on polling to get the job done - one can connect 127 devices to a single USB port, but one also needs polling circuitry to call each device in series to keep the port from getting confused.

 

Consider it like an intersection with a stop light. The light goes red, the other traffic moves. then it switches. What you are doing is setting up an intersection with no light, which, as you could imagine, results in data smashing together and going nowhere.

 

to complicate matters further, USB port powered devices try to claim the port as their own, and will deny any intrusion from anything else, So, if you plug a passive device into a USB port, and a cellphone that can be charged via USB into your split-cable, the cellphone will win every time.

[ken_cinder]

I don't know why anyone would even try this, you can get a USB hub on Ebay for under $5 with shipping included!