[Q] USB capibilities (host mode etc) - Nook Color Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

what can be done via USB on the nook?
can it do host mode? (to connect to USB accessories, I would assume the need for a powered hub as I do not epect the nook to be able to power the USB bus)
with the standard firmware it acts like a drive when connected to a PC, with the cyanogen firmware, what other devices can it be made to look like? I haven't been able to access it as a drive since flashing it.
can the USB be made to look like a network?

dlang said:
what can be done via USB on the nook?
can it do host mode? (to connect to USB accessories, I would assume the need for a powered hub as I do not epect the nook to be able to power the USB bus)
with the standard firmware it acts like a drive when connected to a PC, with the cyanogen firmware, what other devices can it be made to look like? I haven't been able to access it as a drive since flashing it.
can the USB be made to look like a network?
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Look in the Dev section. They're working (and getting very close?) to being able to do this (hello external hard drive!).

which feature are they close to getting working?

The one where we can have hosting enabled
So...everything-ish

glad to hear this. any pointers on what threads to look at? (unfortunantly I'm not allowed to post questions there yet)

dlang said:
glad to hear this. any pointers on what threads to look at? (unfortunantly I'm not allowed to post questions there yet)
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Click to collapse
Under deveopment, but working for some devices. Take a look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1105497&highlight=USB

Related

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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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
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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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Click to collapse
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

Does anyone know of a usb host driver that enables usb host on the X1? Another user reported that the Zeno usb host drivers did not work. Any one tried others with success?
it has been discussed here somewere, and the last thing was all agreed it doesn't have a USB Host!
i hope it's not true, only time will let us know!
Uh... Well... I understand what you are asking for, but I don't know what you want to do with it... What would be the need for a USB host function on a mobile phone
Trudi said:
Uh... Well... I understand what you are asking for, but I don't know what you want to do with it... What would be the need for a USB host function on a mobile phone
Click to expand...
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Let's say you have some files on a thumb drive and wanna work on them (.doc , .xls...etc) but you don't have a laptop with you.
Or..Some images on an external HDD you wanna send via email, but no laptop with you...
Or..Show off to your iSheep friends that you can connect usb mouse and keyboard to use on your x1..
Get images off of your digi cam....etc etc
How about pluging in a usb joypad for gaming??
Endless possibilities.
I've recently seen some universal WinMo USB host drivers but the problem with X1 supposedly is that it doesn't power the USB port itself so you might need to power it externally. Dunno if it would really work though.
But you still need a pen drive or ext. hd with mini USB right?
Carty said:
But you still need a pen drive or ext. hd with mini USB right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This http://www.amazon.com/Female-Mini-Male-Adapter-Shipping/dp/B000Y6UL5E
http://tero.mononen.eu/index.cgi/Blog/N800_and_photograhy-2008-07-27-19-01.cgi
Does the amazon actually work on the X1?
Peeps, i have been thinking about this problem for awhile now. Check this thread, there is a link to a site with drivers that should work,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=480279
BUT
BUT
BUT
Xperia doesn't have a powered usb. So, the only two ways to get something working are to either connect something with its own power supply, or to use a usb injector. Sadly the first option defeats the whole point of connecting a flash or a mouse and the latter one, well, i haven't had any luck with a suitable injector for the x1.
Good luck.
Concentrate said:
Does the amazon actually work on the X1?
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NO, not unless we have a driver for USB host for X1
And as above posts stats, power to the USB.

Is the USB master? Can I connect external HDD etc?

I wonder if the USB on the Nexus One allows me to connect an external hard drive. I'm only talking about data transmission with externally powered USB-devices. The N1 doesn't need to power USB-devices for me to be satisfied.
And if not: could the deficiency possibly be mended software-wise, or is it a limitation of the hardware itself?
Thanks beforehand!
no it cannot be the host. Read this on a google forum, someone posted the link as an answer to a similar question yesterday.
Thank you for your answer, britoso!
But oh, what a pitty!!!
Can't it possibly be fixed by booting with another software driver or something?
What's the point of removing this ability? It seems completely ridiculous. It gains nothing at all to "un-specify" USB host capability:
"Now, I have my files on this USB memory stick and here's the Nexus One. Oh, what's the use. Google didn't care at all about this kind of scenaria..."
Well, let's see what can be done with bulky wireless adapters and stuff like that then, to mend this unnecessary fail of the N1... I probably need to use a PC running Windows and a cable internet in order to have any use at all of the N1. Was this the purpose of this deliberate design "feature"?!?
this feature was not removed, but simply never implemented into the Android OS (afaik). if USB was host that means anything connected to it would have to draw power from the Nexus One's battery. Im sure HTC does not want this, because some things connected to USB can put incredible stress on a battery.
I thought the inability was due to a USB design that will allow charging, but doesn't allow hosting.
(at least that what I gathered about the n900 and why it couldn't act as a host.)
edit: nevermind nokia opted to skip on the go support to get the product out faster.
I don't know if there's a hardware limitation in place, but even if there isn't, the software does not support it.
There's an app for the n900 to add host support in the maemo repository. Don't know if it works though. I've always thought host support was due to the software.
Go here:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=738
Sign in with your google ID. Vote for the feature by clicking the star.
(While you are there, click on "Back to list" and browse for other issues/features you care about and "star" them too...)
Its been accomplished on the Droid... Host mode works, but as there are no drivers, anything that runs over usb will turn on / charge but not connect.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/10/droid-gets-a-usb-hack-allowing-it-to-control-printers-and-camera/
mikecyber said:
Its been accomplished on the Droid... Host mode works, but as there are no drivers, anything that runs over usb will turn on / charge but not connect.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/10/droid-gets-a-usb-hack-allowing-it-to-control-printers-and-camera/
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Thanks for posting this as I saw this on another site and came here to raise awareness. I've heard that someone got a USB keyboard working over USB host. Could someone try this out on their N1?

[Q] Which USB cameras work with nook color?

Is there a list of supported USB cameras that work with the nook color's USB host mode? Especially ones that have build-in microphones - I would like to start using Skype with the nook color if possible or at least be able to take a picture/video from time to time.
I could be wrong, but I don't think any webcams work with the USB host mode yet.
Sent from my NookColor using xda premium
Hey. I apologize if I'm asking a question that's been answered. But how can I get USB Host mode enabled? Do I still have to use that special kernel? If I do, the link for it doesn't work anymore. I have the micro-USB gender adapter, NOOK Color Tweaks, Cyanogen Nightly 8-31-2011, and that's it. Do I need something else? I have looked everywhere and can't find a comprehensive guide for enabling USB Host mode for USB peripherals. Please help me!
hodriver83 said:
Hey. I apologize if I'm asking a question that's been answered. But how can I get USB Host mode enabled? Do I still have to use that special kernel? If I do, the link for it doesn't work anymore. I have the micro-USB gender adapter, NOOK Color Tweaks, Cyanogen Nightly 8-31-2011, and that's it. Do I need something else? I have looked everywhere and can't find a comprehensive guide for enabling USB Host mode for USB peripherals. Please help me!
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Click to collapse
Yeah, that thread is a bit of a nightmare. USB Host is built into the nightlies now, and I think it has been since before 8/31, but you may want to grab a more recent nightly. You enable USB Host in the Nook Tweaks app. A lot of peripherals won't show up unless you run them through a USB hub, ideally a powered one.
I think a lot of things need to be mounted via terminal commands, too. I'm just offering a digest of what I've seen in the thread, though--I haven't gotten any of my peripherals to register on the NC, but then I wouldn't expect any of them to register without a hub, except maybe my card reader.

No USB?

Hey,
So I ordered the Nexus 4 about a week ago but I just read that there is no USB support. However do you transfer files from your phone to your computer and how do you get new roms onto your phone? I typically download on my computer because its so much faster in terms of internet connection and then I plug my usb in and just drag the roms or files or whatever onto my phone.
ImHavenHart said:
Hey,
So I ordered the Nexus 4 about a week ago but I just read that there is no USB support. However do you transfer files from your phone to your computer and how do you get new roms onto your phone? I typically download on my computer because its so much faster in terms of internet connection and then I plug my usb in and just drag the roms or files or whatever onto my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where on earth did you read that???
There is just no USB-OTG (on the go) support, AKA support for USB keyboards/mice/thumbdrives
ImHavenHart said:
Hey,
So I ordered the Nexus 4 about a week ago but I just read that there is no USB support. However do you transfer files from your phone to your computer and how do you get new roms onto your phone? I typically download on my computer because its so much faster in terms of internet connection and then I plug my usb in and just drag the roms or files or whatever onto my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is USB support, just not as the host.
Thanks! Some people obviously have their information wrong. Yeah I had read about no on the go support but I read that there was no USB port either, someone was blogging and about and ranting about how annoying it was going to be to have to access files wirelessly on his computer instead of being able to plug it in. It's good to know he had his info wrong! lol
ImHavenHart said:
Thanks! Some people obviously have their information wrong. Yeah I had read about no on the go support but I read that there was no USB port either, someone was blogging and about and ranting about how annoying it was going to be to have to access files wirelessly on his computer instead of being able to plug it in. It's good to know he had his info wrong! lol
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even without using usb you can always transfer the files over the LAN from your PC using ES file explorer or some such. :good:
honestly transferring files over WiFi isnt anymore inconvenient then always having to carry around your micro usb cable, run airdroid on the phone navigate on your pc browser, drag and drop files...
djkinetic said:
honestly transferring files over WiFi isnt anymore inconvenient then always having to carry around your micro usb cable, run airdroid on the phone navigate on your pc browser, drag and drop files...
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it is less inconvenient than the other 2 options imo.
Or is that what you meant?
i think what you are concerned about is the usb mode in which the phone acts when plugged in via usb. it defaults to mtp mode rather than the old USB Mass Storage.
I had the same question as the OP. Did a little research, and with Windows you just plug your device in; on MacOS you need to install an app on your computer. It's not quite as convenient as having it appear as a connected device in MacOS Finder -- can't preview the images in place, for example -- but it's OK.
(I can't post outside links yet as a new user; google "stackexchange nexus 4 usb storage connect", it's the first result)

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