Hello, we are interested in implementing the TUSB2046 USB hub on our serial interface PCB to remove the necessity of using an external USB hub which takes up space. We have a few questions regarding the actual implementation of it before we set anything in stone. (Please bear with us if these questions may seem trivial, we are students and are looking to learn as much as we can).
TI EEPROM programming: For the TUSB2046, the frequently asked questions document states that "TI does not have any utility for programming the EEPROM on USB hubs". Does this mean that we will have to manually program the M93C46 EEPROM off the PCB or include a serial header to do so? Also is there a standard library to do so if that is the case?
TI Clock: We want to use the TUSB2046 to combine 4 USB downstream connections into one upstream connection, and were wondering about the difference between using the 6Mhz and 48Mhz clocks. Specifically, how might one or the other affect EMI and data corruption or USB data speed?
TI Overcurrent: For the TUSB2046, if we are using all four downstream ports just for USB 2.0 specification data signaling and not for transferring any power, are there any instances where one of these four downstream ports might trigger an overcurrent condition?
Larger FTDI chip: Currently we use 4 separate UART to USB converters, each of which converts 4 signal channels, to handle a total of 16 signal channels. Does TI (or any other companies) sell UART to USB converter ICs that can convert more than 4 serial channels like 8 receiving and 8 transmitting for example? We are looking to decrease the size of this circuitry for our PCB.
