loaded USB bus causing inconsistent performance on Pogoplugs

[permitivity]

Hi,
So I've been playing around with various Pogoplug setups. I think different devices and number of devices plugged into the USB port causes inconsistent performance.

For example, I have this one setup for video surveillance and it looks like this:
USB Port 1: root file system on USB flash drive
USB Port 2: wireless USB adapter (older wireless G)
USB Port 3: USB webcam (microsoft brand)
USB Port 4: USB flash drive, larger capacity

I've noticed that if I power off and power on several times, I about 20% of the time where Motion works find. Most of the time it fails to start, or sometimes the wireless USB adapter fails to connect so I can't even ssh in. Swap the wireless USB adapter for a wired ethernet, and everything works. Or take out the extra storage flash drive and it works most of the time too. The wireless 802.11G USB adapter is a major energy hog. I can feel it get really hot. Also, this performance issue seems to be worst when the Pogoplug is warmed up...not very certain about this since I haven't experimented that much, but the couple times it's worked seemed to be when I boot up cold.

On another setup, I have a USB sound card and the root file system flash drive. Without any other USB devices on the bus, it works pretty consistently, good audio quality. Swap the wired network for the USB wireless adapter and it still works alright. Put another flash drive or a USB webcam onto the bus, and it starts often starts to segfault or other errors.

At least, that's what I've noticed. Sometimes you try to find a reason for why things happen, and it's just coincidence. Just putting this out there to see if anyone else sees something like this happening.

[WarheadsSE]

Consider a powered hub.