04/22/96 NOW THIS IS PLUG AND PLAY

NOW THIS IS PLUG AND PLAY
New PC connectors will make setup a snap and speed the transfer of data
My desktop computer has 12 connection outlets on the back. The bits and pieces I usually hook up use eight different types of connectors and a rat's nest of cables. Still, it's not enough. A modem and scanner take up my two serial ports, so every time I want to attach a digital camera or a link to an electronic organizer, I still have to unplug something.
Help is on the way, however, and it will do a lot more than just clean up that mess of wires lurking behind my computer. The Universal Serial Bus (USB), which is being promoted by a group of companies led by Intel, will let you, in theory, hook up as many as 127 different devices, using a single type of connector. And it will transfer data at 12 million bits per second, which is up to 100 times as fast as the current links. Beginning later this year, Intel will include USB connectors on many of the PC motherboards that it makes. Since Intel boards go into about half of all personal computers, the manufacturers of add-on devices will find a ready market for the new standard. Plus, add-in cards with a USB connector should also be on the market late this year.
With the USB, the computer industry is finally cleaning up some of the mess left by the Intel PC's haphazard evolution. The serial ports that are used to connect modems go back to an era when a speed of 300 bits per second was considered fast. The printer ports, designed at the dawn of the PC era, were never intended to handle printers that talk back to computers.
In addition to boosting performance, the new format will help PCs start to live down their reputation for being difficult to set up and maintain. The USB will hook up devices with a thin cable that uses a plug about a half-inch wide and an eighth-inch high. And add-ons don't have to connect directly to the computer. For example, you might plug only your keyboard and printer into the computer. Your mouse and joystick could then plug into the keyboard, while a modem and scanner might attach through the printer. Because the system is completely plug-and-play, you can hook up attachments in any order and even disconnect and reconnect accessories without rebooting.
BETTER EAR. Of course, it wouldn't be the computer industry if everyone agreed on one standard. Another group is pushing a connection method, capable of speeds of at least 100 megabits per second, called IEEE 1394. (Apple Computer, with a better ear for names than Intel or Texas Instruments, calls its version of 1394 ``FireWire.'') The USB is cheaper and should be available at least several months earlier than the 1394, so consumers will see a lot more of it at first. But consumer-electronics companies are very interested in 1394 as a method of hooking up a new generation of digital TVs, stereos, and other home-entertainment gear to one another or to computers.
Fortunately, both new methods of connecting add-ons can happily coexist on the same computer, although it means you'll have at least two kinds of connectors. These new systems are one step toward what Microsoft calls the Simply Interactive PC. The goal is computers more flexible than today's machines in boxes that owners will never have to open to upgrade. Hewlett-Packard and Compaq have shown ``sealed-box'' prototypes that sport both USB and 1394 connections.
More important than the details of these new connections is the philosophy they represent. The industry knows that most people still find PCs too complicated. By making simplicity a top priority, hardware makers will create a market for themselves while making life easier for their customers.
BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM