Database Users

USB Host Capabilites

I read that engadget was able to get USB hosting working on the universal, however it appears that this is not possible (reading the threads here). I just wanted to confirm that using a 'usb dongle' to connect other devices to the universal does not work - as I thought that wm5 did support this. Is it just a question of drivers or is the hardward not capable?

Just to remind that topic...
I'm really interested is it possible to connect a portable harddrive to my MDA Pro?

i dun think so its true. If anybody proves this to be true, then please let us know.

noname_nick: have you found the engadget article?
V

@Vijay555,
It was a Q&A article they posted when they had just received the Universal. Should be there in their archives i guess.
Cheers.

I just checked with an sd card reader and a 40gig usb hdd....it didn't detect either :-(
don't think the universal supports usb hosting :-(
hope its just a software handicap and not a hardware one!
San

universaldoc said:
@Vijay555,
It was a Q&A article they posted when they had just received the Universal. Should be there in their archives i guess.
Cheers.
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yeah I even posted in that engadget article asking to reconfirm their findings and thry did reply saying it could be used as a usb host as they had it dine themseves (it was one of the factors that made me get the universal) alas the dumbfuc*ers removed the ABILITY for usb host or maybe engadget was Forced to say yes(as in LIED) under pressure from htc etc??
just my 2 cents !

If I'm not mistaken, the hardware in the Universal supports USB Host. But it is not implemented in the software running on the Universal... It's like having a sound-card in your computer, but with no drivers to use it. Maybe there will be a patch or update for WM5 which supports USB Host.

Suspect that you need a USB host cable to have any chance of testing USB host functionality, this cable tells the PDA that it now needs to work in host mode.
The Sharp Zaurus has a similar arrangement where a single USB port can work in host or slave mode, which is switched using the relevant cable, link to such a cable http://www.streamlinecpus.com/store/product.php?productid=100&cat=0&page=1&featured
Suggest you search Zaurus forum (www.oesf.org) for more information.
Mike

does anyone has this cable and test it already?
It seems it will fit the mini USB port for the Universal?

Don't think it's native on the Universal - if it was, it ain't now. In the meantime, Softick Card Export II PC version 2.10 works great as USB Host services to the Storage Card!

Yes, I use the same thing on my Uni. I like it very much as i do not need a SD card reader anymore. But I still dream to be able to hook up my external slim HDD to my Uni.

Yes, I use the same thing on my Uni. I like it very much as i do not need a SD card reader anymore. But I still dream to be able to hook up my external slim HDD to my Uni.

vijay555 said:
noname_nick: have you found the engadget article?
V
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Here is the article http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/02/...l-questions-weve-got-htc-universal/1#comments

I found driver for Toshiba E740 USB mass storage driver ( for PPC 2002) but maybe is a best way to find solution for Universal - it's look that only soft for this funcionality is missing :?: Deje PocketPC Page

usb host.....
USB standard provide 5 volt DC.
All HTC device have got 3,7v DC battery!! so it is not possible to power any kind of USB device!!.
The only way consist in voltage duplicator that should provide 5v using 3,7 v source, i think that HTC device has not this voltage regulator.
wishes
Antonio

fraant said:
USB standard provide 5 volt DC.
All HTC device have got 3,7v DC battery!! so it is not possible to power any kind of USB device!!.
The only way consist in voltage duplicator that should provide 5v using 3,7 v source, i think that HTC device has not this voltage regulator.
wishes
Antonio
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the universal have the hw to have usb host functions but htc don't have put it to the out side world.
The mini-usb can't be used as initiator.
in thoery you could open the universal and hook another miniusb connector on the usb bus.... and then the drivers nightmare
Deje have drivers for mass-storage on ppc2003/ppc2 and they work fine.
I use both on casio-e200 and on the toshibare800.
btw:neither casio nor toshiba have 5v bateries and they work with external usb devices like keyboards mices etc, for disks i have to use external power...
bye

USB host for Trinity (D810)

The GPS function was disabled in Trinity and may be it will got a chance to re-enable it. But how about the USB Host function? Is there any way to enable it?

u have to buy an htc adaptor

I don't believe it, an adaptor?
I think it will be activated with a rom-update

Energie: source for that comment..?
I too think a rom-update is the thing...

Is their any word about the USB-Host in the new update?

What do you mean by "USB Host" ? I mean, that is hardware related thing so if you want to connect eg. flash disk to Trinity you must have some kind of adapter to do that, am I wrong?

banesi said:
What do you mean by "USB Host" ? I mean, that is hardware related thing so if you want to connect eg. flash disk to Trinity you must have some kind of adapter to do that, am I wrong?
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Yeah i think you're wrong.
It was said it was hardware implemented already (just like the GPS) but it just had to be activated with the new rom (just like the GPS)...
Any News anyone?

if we use this device http://cgi.ebay.de/USB-2-0-OTG-On-T...160683QQihZ016QQcategoryZ131881QQcmdZViewItem
does that mean, i can connect my trinity directly to a mobile USB HDD and access say 250 GB of music or pictures or movies?

Guys, STOP. There shouldn't be any USB host in Trinity, because if it has one, where would you find an idiot to buy any other PDA phone??????? That would kill the market. Even without USB host it's one of the best machines around. LOOX T830 was the only machine to have GPS and 3G, but it's a monster...
Trinity is the only PDA to ombine Wi-Fi, BT, 3G (inc. HSDPA), and GPS. Asking for USB host would be to much I'm afraid...

is this something you think or do you have proof?
Cuz this page says the trinity does have USB-OTG...
http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools
Look at the second page, last part....

Well actually I want USB-Host (didnt know Trinity had the ability until today), Fm Radio (still not sure if there is a build in FM Radio Chip but Chinese site states it), and I want Airbag, ABS, DVD reader/writer (double sided ... no, better Blue Ray Disc), a Coffee machine, two bathrooms and an pop out 23 inch screen for TV...
It is a great device.

Well dudes, why do you keep on whining? The topic starter asks a serious question. You all keep posting crap. Please quit it, we all want answers.
I only know that the chip does support USB-OTG, but if it's hardware implemented? We don't know at the moment. But if it is, it's up to HTC to enable it.

Well, can someone explain to me what is USB Host and what good is it for?

banesi said:
Well, can someone explain to me what is USB Host and what good is it for?
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u can use www.google.com & u can found it

What a smart guy, instead of posting stupid, useless reply maybe you can try again and find some info back in the dark corners of your brain?

banesi said:
Well, can someone explain to me what is USB Host and what good is it for?
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http://sharp-developer.net/Fun/img/I-will-use-Google-before-asking-dumb-questions.gif

banesi said:
What a smart guy, instead of posting stupid, useless reply maybe you can try again and find some info back in the dark corners of your brain?
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Well actually it is a good idea to use information sources by yourself first. By the way: Could you give me an overview of the history of Belgrade?

saminegm said:
Well actually it is a good idea to use information sources by yourself first. By the way: Could you give me an overview of the history of Belgrade?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrade
I do not see any mention of the HTC Trinity or USB Host.. but that could change

Man, that's exactly what I want to see with this question, many of you don't know either what USB host is and what is it for?! You keep posting things about hidden features in Trinity and moaning about it everyday but actually don't know what good it will get you, very strange.
So, smart guys, what will you do with your "USB Host" enabled Trinity ?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the Trinity can act as a Host, you could connect an external HDD to it and transfer files. Or you could connect a memory card reader to empty your camera's card on the move.

Has anyone tried plugging in a USB HDD?

i was wondering, what if i got a USB harddrive, and plugged it into my hermes?
would WM6 even notice its there?
this is assuming i've got a externally powered HDD that uses the normal USBHOST.
i searched "usb harddrive" in the hermes forums and not many things turned up..

If you have one lying around, give it a go?!

JamesHolden said:
i searched "usb harddrive" in the hermes forums and not many things turned up..
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that might be the clue to your answer..... the usb port in the phone lacks the capability to host an actual usb device, whether the external device is powered or not... But give it a go anyway... i cant think of any harm in trying... unless there is some kind of major power backflow, but that shouldnt happen unless your external device is faulty

the OS may support it, but hardware-wise - i dont think the Hermes supports USB hosting? or does it?

My brain says no...
But the hope in me says yes...

Wondered about this myself before.
Doesnt the HTC have the ability to act as an external UsB drive through the USB port when connected to a PC using the Advanced USB settings. Maybe its just a question of reversing the settings maybe with an added utility or something i have an external hard drive but not converter to convert the full usb to a mini usb

4Site said:
Wondered about this myself before.
Doesnt the HTC have the ability to act as an external UsB drive through the USB port when connected to a PC using the Advanced USB settings. Maybe its just a question of reversing the settings maybe with an added utility or something i have an external hard drive but not converter to convert the full usb to a mini usb
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having the device mimmick and external drive and plugging in external storage through USB are 2 completly different things... and it all comes down to the USB host... when you plug your phone into your pc your computer then is able to act as a usb host, as it has the power and the drivers necessary for that... the phone itself lacks the abiltiy to be able to become a usb host...
but hey, at least your thinking

So it may be possible to access a USB HDD if we catered for it using a driver of some sort (written by us guys ofcourse). This may even show up in the file manager as something like /Hard_Drive.?

main procesor (and also OS itself) have support for USB host, but for some reason HTS decide to not enable this feature, it was asked many times, but solution doesnt exist yet... I used this functionallity on my old Fujitsu-Siemens LOOX n500 without necesity to install any drivers, or registry hack, after connection device had available after few second. It was WM5 device.

well think about this:
keep a laptop usb HDD in your car, 160GB of music at your command, with TCPMP who needs a ipod?
i've already modded my stock headset cable to have a 1/8" miniplug AND RCA's on it, so i'm set for the output, but my 4GB of microsd cards just don't cut it
so i'm working on tryin' to find a usb mini b male to usb b male cable right now, might just have to solder one up myself-- i'll post to see how it goes.

I think I've seen them for sale at Radioshack and Compusa - might try peaking in there though if you have a bunch of USB cables kicking around probably cheaper to solder

IF you look around on the net somewhere, someone successfully made a wifi hard drive, and i think it was fairly inexpensive... He loaded tons of mp3's and would access them from his phone via wifi.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/consumer_electronics/DAVE/
How about this?

skunker said:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/consumer_electronics/DAVE/
How about this?
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Now I got to get me one of these. So many toys, not enough time.

jcb_home said:
Now I got to get me one of these. So many toys, not enough time.
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Looks nice!

I just tried this. And nothing happens. Tried a usb memory key (low power), an external HDD (on its own power supply) and a card reader, none of them did anything.

thanks for the go.. after my weekend spent messing with *nix and tryin' to get into locked up wifi, i was spent.

USB Host disconnected pin?

hello,
i've heard that the universal WOULD support USB host drivers if an unconnected pin inside the universal was connected... could anyone tell me;
- if i manage to get the pin connected, would i get usb host features like on any other usb host phone with proper drivers?
- how hard is it to do?
- WHAT to do?

Oh man,really really nice interesting idea,hope it's true and possible,i hope someone knows all about that and soon writes here how that is possible maaan,would be really awesome to play with that

PalDragan said:
Oh man,really really nice interesting idea,hope it's true and possible,i hope someone knows all about that and soon writes here how that is possible maaan,would be really awesome to play with that
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nice to hear someone else would like to get it to work too
EDIT: just found this on another thread on another forum about a PXA270 phone, someone was trying to get it to work, seems like all we need is
- switch the pin to host mode
- a driver (maybe zenos latest ones?)
After about 6 months of not touching this project, I decided to take another quickie look at the PXA270 docs and programmers reference. What I now see is very interesting.
Originally, I was looking at bringing out the USB Host 1 interface pins to the outside world as they were only terminated internally on the motherboard. Only about 1% of users might be able to do that.
I then started to look at the USB OTG (On The Go) interface that this chip supports. The USB OTG interface can be used as both a client and host. It shares the same pins as the Axim's serial port. Unfortuately, there are two serial control lines pins that are not brought out to the connector, so I scrubbed that idea.
This past weekend I picked up the programmer's design reference book to look at how the various USB interfaces are programmed and I saw something that I missed before as this was in the USB Client section. It appears (to me anyways) that the USB Client pins can also be programmed to act as a USB Host when in the USB OTG low power operation mode. The manual discusses how the additional control registers are used along with an output mux and charge-pump circuit (to provide the +5v). Refer to the PXA27x Processor Family Developer's Manual - dated Jan 2006, sections 12.5.2 and 20.
I will be looking at this more closely to see if a simple driver can be written (Afarre, where are you...) to switch the USB client pins into Host mode. In addition to this, the USB device drivers would be needed. Please remember, an additional IO interface circuit will be needed to connect between any USB device and the Axim as the proper voltages are not on the sync connector.
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the_fish said:
nice to hear someone else would like to get it to work too
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Suuuuuuuuuure,every crazy idea to abuse my PPC and i'm in for the quest

PalDragan said:
Suuuuuuuuuure,every crazy idea to abuse my PPC and i'm in for the quest
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haha same, btw thats the link to the topic:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/x50-x51-forums/140071-hacking-pxa270-internal-usb-host-24.html
Unfortunately, this means it's not for 99% of users as it requires a delicate hardware mod/addition to the motherboard (see my earlier posts & photos in this thread).
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seems like they were still working on the driver (which we already have(?)) so we only need the hardware mod.... i guess...

the_fish said:
haha same, btw thats the link to the topic:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/x50-x51-forums/140071-hacking-pxa270-internal-usb-host-24.html
seems like they were still working on the driver (which we already have(?)) so we only need the hardware mod.... i guess...
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Ummm it's definately a crazy idea. We were discussing with mamaich (our guru) last year. Unfortunately it's not that simple to provide the power in sync connector, which is acting as a usb client (connector) at the moment.

tomal said:
Ummm it's definately a crazy idea. We were discussing with mamaich (our guru) last year. Unfortunately it's not that simple to provide the power in sync connector, which is acting as a usb client (connector) at the moment.
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did you read in the thread i posted a link to? they had the same problem, but also found out that it maybe is possible to provide the nessecary +5v too, they were not sure tho, and i thought maybe zenos drivers contain the code to do that.

the_fish said:
did you read in the thread i posted a link to? they had the same problem, but also found out that it maybe is possible to provide the nessecary +5v too, they were not sure tho, and i thought maybe zenos drivers contain the code to do that.
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Ok, seems there is a new idea of power injection from outside.
Anybody tried it...?

Couple of months ago, I was trying with outside +5v power but nothing happens

Win_XP said:
Couple of months ago, I was trying with outside +5v power but nothing happens
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did you use one of those special USB cables that have two female USB-A, one for power and the other for the device to plug in?

http://htc-tytn-ii.handster.com/software.php?id=3339&for=HTC+TyTN+II
i don't know anything about this.. i'm actually looking to hook up something that normally has a rs-232 port.. but is also made in usb.. It draws power from another source
with something like that program doesn't that suggest usb host is possible..

http://gnalpgnarf.handster.com/software.php?id=3339&for=gnalpgnarf

hmmm....am I right or am I wrong?
Theoretically speaking the idea with a pin is supposed to redirect power from intake to output, however, not only Uni is incapable of supporting the output (you are essentially attempting to piggyback another device), the external support will not be possible due to pin configuration, regardless of the cable used.
Another thing, other than sheer experimentation, what would be the real point of such USB host?
STOP TORTURING YOUR UNIs, GUYS!!!!

I am pretty sure, that the Universal doesn't support USB Host.
It did not, it does not, it will not.
Sorry guys!
To be honest:
Yes, the PXA270 chip supports USB Host, but in most HTC devices they use this feature already for something else, like: WLAN or 3G connection.
DOMy

seen this?:
http://hhtinker.blogspot.com/2008/10/usb-host-on-treo-650.html

do you know what USB Host already busy?
it used as data call transfer radio <-> CE.
USB hub will not solve this problem easy.
also if you want attach it to miniUSB connector, you need additional OTG chip.
=> Host on universal is very hard to do, ...impossible.

IrDA on X1

I have a Scuba Diving computer that I use via IrDA on the Dell Axim that my X1 has just been purchased to replace.
Can anyone tell me if it would be possible to use an external USB IrDA dongle with the X1. I've only seen Windows XP/Vista drivers listed against these dongles.
What would be involved in developing a driver?

This might be tricky, as I read somewhere on the forum that the USB port is not powered, and therefore connecting dongles (including e.g. USB drives) is difficult.
The last I saw was that it might have been possible to connect the X1 to a powered port adapter, into which USB dongles were attached.
Would it not be easier to connect X1 to a Bluetooth / IRDA dumb client which is in between the IRDA device?

it require a pda to support usbHost to operate any type of usb devices
as far as i know x1 and most htc pda's dont support usbHost

Calvin H said:
Would it not be easier to connect X1 to a Bluetooth / IRDA dumb client which is in between the IRDA device?
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Sounds like a useful suggestion. Could you point me to the type of device you mention.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

Rudegar said:
it require a pda to support usbHost to operate any type of usb devices
as far as i know x1 and most htc pda's dont support usbHost
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You're right on this one. It's not possible to connect USB devices to the X1 because there's no host. Even with a seperate power source, the X1 will not recognize it. Look at it this way, whenever you connect the X1 through USB, it'll act as a slave, waiting for input. Dongles need input themselves, so both devices will keep waiting for each other forever... It's like a bad fairytale!

Angelusz said:
... It's like a bad fairytale!
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This this the sort of device that might enable Price Charming (the new name for my X1) to get together with Cinderella (the new name for my lonely, but very beautiful Dive computer)?