USB ethernet, serial, SATA and IDE
Since USB is still ‘all the rage’ I thought I might take the time to show you some of my USB devices, which are compatible with Linux and which I personally find useful.
USB - IDE/SATA
Konig Electronic USB 2.0 to IDE / S-ATA adapter (external, CMP-USBIDESAT2)
Just useful if you have some harddrives around which you need to test, format or fill and then want to put away again (or destroy). It ships with an external power supply, so you are all good to go.
swat@decius:~$ lsusb Bus 002 Device 008: ID 152d:2338 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JM20337 Hi-Speed USB to SATA & PATA Combo Bridge
USB - RS-232
RS-232 is still used when you configure switches or as a back-up interface for a server. Unfortunately netbooks do not tend to have a RS-232 port anymore, so this is the perfect solution.
swat@decius:~$ lsusb Bus 005 Device 043: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port
USB - Ethernet
If you need more than your standard (one) ethernet port on your laptop, this is a good solution. It is small and just works. The downside is that it is an Apple product and it’s only 100Mbit/s.
swat@decius:~$ lsusb Bus 002 Device 012: ID 05ac:1402 Apple, Inc.