Database Users

USB on Universal

Hi,
I'm looking to buy a Universal but I've a question on the USB port.
Has anyone tried connecting a USB hard drive directly to the Universal? I have a Archive Gmini 220 and I was wondering if the Universal would see it as an external drive and if this is the case can it run media on the drive such as MP3 or AVI files? Also has anyone tried connecting a card reader to read CF or Memory sticks etc.
Any rumours of a Universal with internal hard drive?
Captaink

Olnly thing i've heard is it does support but peoples who already tried says nevr made it work.

That's because just as with a normal PC it needs drivers to work with your device.
It's just a matter of time........ :lol:

rob_van_triet said:
That's because just as with a normal PC it needs drivers to work with your device.
It's just a matter of time........ :lol:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. This picture
http://www.tekguru.co.uk/reviews/images/xda_exec/Exec_012.jpg
clearly shows the mini-AB receptacle
http://www.hardware-bastelkiste.de/usb.html

Having a USB socket doesnt mean its a USB host!!!
It has to have that mini usb socket so that you can sync and charge, as they dropped the old style 21pin connector now. Its just like the Magician with usb only now.
There have been rumours it supports USB host mode, but ive not heard any confirmation or proof.

in this review of the device they say it does host
http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7031

Pyrofer said:
Having a USB socket doesnt mean its a USB host!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The PXA270 has a builtin USB host and
can operate as an OTG device. The guys
at HTC must be really sick if they have
not wired it.
I don't get only one thing: what USB 2.0
means here ? OTG ?

in which case it seems that HP and DELL are sick aswell
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=26742&highlight=usb
8)

USB GPS, Universal and USB Hub - is the following possible?

Hi,
I have a USB GPS receiver that is powered via the USB cable wired into my car which I occasionally use with my laptop.
I would like to connect this to my universal, but am worried about it draining the battery.
I have a small Belkin USB hub that has external power (which I can provide from a transformer in the Cig lighter socket) that has one mini USB socket which is usually used to connect to the PC and then 4 standard USB ports.
If I connect the GPS to one of the USB ports and then Universal to another they should both be powered, but will the Universal be able to 'see' the GPS?
I know I could go and just try it, however it would be useful to know before hand incase it doesn't work when it is supposed to due to some driver issues or something similar.
Any thoughts appreciated.

To My understanding this is not possible, the mini usb port on the uni is not capable....there is a word to describe it but cant remember at the moment. The port can onl charge and sync.

it won't work
Sadly this won't work as the uni does not support usb host - it can charge and sync but thats all as far as i'm aware.

that was it "usb host" :lol:

THanks. That's a shame, I'll have to get a BT one now.

Or look for a cradle that will act as the host for both devices. Sadly when I searched on google, most of the returned results are blocked by my work firewall, so I can't see for sure that one exists for recievers with usb plugs.
edit* Although thinking about it, the price of a cradle could well equal a new bluetooth receiver, and bluetooth would be vastly more practical use of your cash.

Thanks, already trying to track down a BT receiver.

Why not?
What makes me wonder is that when my MDA Pro is connected via activesync with my PC, I can browse with my MDA over my PC-Internet connection into the Internet. Why should it not be possible to use the usb connection of the MDA with other hardware? :roll: Isn't it just a driver problem?
Any ideas???

hm
My thought on that would be that your MDA is acting as the slave device when attatched to your PC, not the host.

Hey, here's a market opportunity for you USB GPS manufacturers - add USB Host capability and TCP/IP protocol to your USB GPS device... What? Can't hear you. Ah, Too expensive?. Ah, ok :-(

htc universal usb host driver

Anyone got a wm5/ce5 usb host driver for htc universal (pxa270 intel arm processor)? I'm trying to write one, but if someone could save me the effort, please do? I know it will work, as it does under linux.

USB Host on a universal will be great. Didn't know it works under Linux.

driver for view a universal as a sd writer and reader or a driver for the universal for attach a pendrive to a universal?

drivers for attaching a pendrive.
A USB host driver enables you to hook up USB devices like memory key, keyboard/mouse etc. to the universal. This feature is only available on a few pda models made by toshiba, fujitsu, asus, acer etc.
imesh said:
driver for view a universal as a sd writer and reader or a driver for the universal for attach a pendrive to a universal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't it have to be supported by the hardware? As far as I know the Universal does not have USB host so getting a driver wouldn't be much help...

apparently it works under linux so the hardware must support it

Good question. I need the host driver and then a driver for mass storage (e.g. pen drive, hard driver, etc), HID (for keyboard mouse), etc. The htc universal has a usb host controller built into the arm processor (pxa270). The problem is that it also has a usb device controller build in which takes precedent for the mini usb out, so you can use activesyn. However, with the right bit of code you can reconfigure port 2 to act as a usb host. The other problem is that port 2 doesn't have any power (but that is easy to fix with an external power source from a usb hub or battery [I use a single AA battery, (giving 5 volts at 0.5-1 amp), that lasts for 2 hours]).

hi any success yet with the usb host function? is it possible or just a hoax?
nothing personal it just seems that some ppl like to make fun about this topic and spread hoax!
u have any evidences that it works under linux?
maybe this link is helping you in creating a driver!
http://www.deje.gmxhome.de/index.html
cheers
Mike

Suspect that you will also need the proper USB host cable that is used on the Sharp Zaurus under LINUX to let the Universal know that you want the USB port to work in host mode, they are about £10 & available from here http://www.figlabs.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/33
I have the Zaurus & Universal so I know the cable fits but I don't have a driver to test.
Mike

Mikew said:
I have the Zaurus & Universal so I know the cable fits but I don't have a driver to test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The USB host is used by Linux on HTC phones, but not for the external USB connector
(BT on magician, and gsm_data on some others http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Serial)

Mikew said:
Suspect that you will also need the proper USB host cable that is used on the Sharp Zaurus under LINUX to let the Universal know that you want the USB port to work in host mode, they are about £10 & available from here http://www.figlabs.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/33
I have the Zaurus & Universal so I know the cable fits but I don't have a driver to test.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have one for wm2003, I not if it worked in wm05.
Yuo can try it?

any success yet??

Dont think I would want to try a WM2003 driver on a WM5 device.
Mike

Mikew said:
Dont think I would want to try a WM2003 driver on a WM5 device.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do one backup before installing it.
I have installed it in my Universal and I have not had problems with wm5, but it has not worked with my standar cable

I've had no success with it either.. I have a cable that has the correct connectors.. originally used for connecting a usb pen drive to my lcd picture frame.. but like I said no luck with this RATOC driver.

Mikew said:
Suspect that you will also need the proper USB host cable that is used on the Sharp Zaurus under LINUX to let the Universal know that you want the USB port to work in host mode, they are about £10 & available from here http://www.figlabs.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/33
I have the Zaurus & Universal so I know the cable fits but I don't have a driver to test.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think that this cable is not enough, what about a 5v power source for the usb pen drive you'd connect?
your universal couldn't supply that, then you need a usb cable that can connect to a power source aswell.

You need to use a powered USB hub if the slave device requires power, there are one or two hubs that run on batteries so you can still be mobile.
You will need a hub if you plan to use more than 1 USB device at the same time.
Mike

allmycrud said:
Anyone got a wm5/ce5 usb host driver for htc universal (pxa270 intel arm processor)? I'm trying to write one, but if someone could save me the effort, please do? I know it will work, as it does under linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know we had it in Linux yet??
In any case, while many devices do use a USB Host or USB Slave chip from a higher level, I believe the Universal talks to its USB as a raw stream device, and therefore can (and does, on occasion) act as a pure Serial communication channel (no discernable protocol beyond 8,n,1) or, therefore, any other type of serial-based channel. Yes, what I am saying is that you could, in fact, hook up a Serial ATA hard disk to an RS232 or USB port directly, so long as the device with the port has low enough level access to the port to absolutely control the data I/O.
The problem you face, however, is that to use the USB port as if the device were the host, you would first need to remove or disable whatever makes it work as the slave. In Windows Mobile that's really not an easy job given the number of different devices and different drivers, some with USB chips, some without... On many devices I can imagine that doing that alone would really bugger up general operation. What happens, for example, to ActiveSync when you suddenly get rid of the port it usually talks to for sync?

Mikew said:
You need to use a powered USB hub if the slave device requires power, there are one or two hubs that run on batteries so you can still be mobile.
You will need a hub if you plan to use more than 1 USB device at the same time.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some USB devices have batteries, or have their own power supply You can also get USB cables with an extra (mains or battery) feed wired to the USB's power lines in parallel.

whatever happened to this thread?
allmycrud have you seen the thread from Zeno with USB host drivers?
there is at least one report of it working on a Universal, but I can't get it working on wm6.1... still have hopes though, as all reports suggest that USB host is possible on a uni... can never get verification from anyone though...

Can I use an external hard drive?

Is it possible to connect an external hard drive to the Vogue to use it as an MP3 player hooked up to my stereo to play music? My hard dive has a USB slot. Does anyone know how I can use the MiniUSB cable to USB cable and use the songs on the hard drive?

wow
wow... really? wow... umm...
probably not, USB doesnt actually stand for universal... i'm assuming you'd need some type of drivers or simple deviece support.
MAYBE.... you could use bluetooth to access it? but you'd need to build some hardware, and software.... so... probably no
im not an expert by any means though... somebody check out?
[everybody be easy on him, it's a pretty damn creative idea]

I've heard of prototypes of Bluetooth/WiFi accessible portable HDD's, but I've never seen one in production.
As far as hooking up directly via USB, I don't think it's possible since almost no (if any) PPCs can serve as a USB host.

Eh?
I bought a 4 port USB Hub (powered(?) Never got it yet..)for the Touch from cellphoneshop.net, and I'm guessing that maybe USB Caddy might if it is a Microdrive, but yea, you'll probably need some driivers to make it work...
Interesting Idea, and I had that thought some time ago...I was about to add 5VDC (external) to my USB Caddy, and attach it to my touch... never did finish that project...

I tried a powered hub, and had no success.

Converting Headset to USB port

I got the standard headset which comes with the HTC Kaiser. I now want to plug it into my PC and use also the microphone. Since its a mini USB device I would need a converter. I searched google and came over ordinary mini usb to usb converters.
Question: Did anybody do this already and did the microphone work?

Bump! Anyone?

Did you already find an driver for it.
It's a usb-device.
I would say give it a try.
Better buy for the money an microfoon. Hope you've great soundcard, so it will filter the background noise. You shouldn't hear your echo.

the usb port in most htc devices is not normal usb which is just a digital serial interface
but is extUSB which also carry audio IO
no pc have extUSB so it can't get access to the audio part
but a client server software running on both the pc and the pda
would be able to what you want
if anybody made it I can't tell

how about this?
http://shop.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=01945&dept_id=002&cat_id=0312
you'll need the reverse thing of that =)