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I have a K8055 and program that runs OK when conencted direct to the PC. Now I want or run it from the PC but over a distance of several metres I have thought of using an extended usb or usb over ethernet extender. A wireless solution would be ideal but then powering the K8055 is an extra problem.
Has anyone got a neat solution to comms and power for operation of several metres (or more).

The maximum length of a USB 2.0 cable is specified as 5 meters (3 meters for USB 1.0). You may get away with a little more, but I would not bet on it.

There are "active" USB extension cables like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Active-Extension- ... 379&sr=8-2

Something like that contains electronic circuits that make it act like a one-port hub, that essentially repeats the signals. I haven't used any of those yet since I have USB ports in every room of the house. But the concept makes absolutely sense and I don't see a reason why it would cause any problems.

Yes thats the type. Didn't really want to run a cable and have just a single connection point.
I wondered if there was something that could be set up similar to a wireless print server or run the usb cale to a USB wireless router (not sure that would work).

Then you are looking for a "wireless USB hub". It leaves you with needing a power source at the other end, but I guess you need one there anyway to power whatever the K8055 is controlling.

Ahh the penny just dropped. Power source at location is not a problem.
I think what you suugest is to connect the k8055 to a powered wireless hub (that has already been set up for my local network by initally connecting to a pc). Then setting up the hub and k8055 in the remote location.
I was trying to figure out how a usb wireless dongle would connect to the board (it cannot becuase it is not in itself programmable). The wireless dongle goes at the pc end for mobility of connection.

Please correct me if I got it wrong.

I meant a wireless USB hub such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Port-USB-2-0-Wire ... 258&sr=8-1

or this:

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Wireless-U ... 58&sr=8-13

These are USB hubs where the cable from the computer to the hub has been replaced with a special wireless dongle. They appear on your PC as a USB hub.

Please do not confuse this with a WiFi router or access point. Some of the newer WiFi routers and access points also offer USB ports, but those are usually restricted to be used with external USB hard drives and/or printers and the WiFi router acts like a SAN or print server, offering you an SMB file or print share. This is not the same and you will most probably not be able to communicate with your K8055 through them.

I have an old wireless router modem (no usb) and I was thinking of using it in conjuction with a belkin F5L009 (link below) which uses an ethernet connection to a seperate router.

http://www.belkin.com/uk/networkusbhub/ (then click the get connected tab)

The overall set up would be like the belkin F5U003 unit in your link. Unfortuneatly the F5U003 only works on Vista my OS is XP.
The question mark still hanging is compatibility, will it communicate. I won't know that unless I try it.

Thanks for the comments and pointing me in the right direction. I think I have a solution brewing. I'll post the results here when I'm done.

Looking at the F5L009 manual, that may work too. Again, this one does appear as a USB hub on your local computer, not as an SMB protocol network share.

That overall compatibility question mark will remain until somebody actually tries it.

Another possibility would be virtual USB over IP, if there is another computer available at the remote location. Something like this: http://usbip.sourceforge.net/ (I don't know if that is actually a working/stable project yet, there are similar commercial products out there).

The belkin usb hub works with a wireless router for remote operation of the K8055 board at a distance without cables. Not tried the analogue I/O yet but the the digital I/O works OK. Very easy to set up.

Thanks for the feedback. This is good to know.