Ok,
I was reading a post over at the PSP Linux forum about suspicions that the PSP has USB On-The-Go abilities. USB On-The-Go basically means a device can be a USB Host or a USB Client, and is usually restricted to a a certain class of USB devices - eg you might want a USB OTG camera to only act as a host with Storage Devices.
Now to quote this page http://www.beyondlogic.org/usb/otghost.htm ...
As a device can be either a host (A-device) or peripheral (B-device) and that the USB specification calls for different types of connectors for upstream and downstream ports, the OTG spec introduced two additional connectors. One such connector is a mini A/B connector allowing a mini A or mini B connector to plug into the one recepticle. A dual-role device is required to be able to detect whether a Mini-A or Mini-B plug is inserted by determining if the ID pin (an extra pin introduced by OTG) is connected to ground.
This basically says that tradictional USB uses A connectors for Hosts and B connectors for Clients. Because they needed to allow OTG devices to be used as both a Host and a Client, they designed a port that could accept both mini A and mini B connectors. Unsuprisingly, this is called a mini AB connector
So, for small USB Client devices, a mini B connector is used. They look like this:
http://www.cypressindustries.com/products/images/ccmusbb-32005-201.gif
For small USB OTG devices, the new miniAB port is used. They look like this:
http://www.cypressindustries.com/products/images/ccmusbab-32005-700.gif
so go look on the bottom of the Magician. Low and behold, a mini AB connector! In fact you'll see the cable they gave you with your magician is a mini B but it still fits into the mini AB connector on the jam, even though it's a slightly different shape.
Now, it could be USB Host was planned or the port was added to allow backwards compatability with the Magician2 or whatever, but all the same it's a pretty interesting feature, given that a company can probably source mini B connectors for cheaper than mini AB, (as not many companies are making them yet).
So... does the Jam have USB host functionality or not???
If so, here's some drivers to take advantage of this function. Use at your own risk.
http://www.deje.gmxhome.de/
http://www.anypakusa.com/PPC/
Maybe one could connect the jam to a hard drive???
I've did some research, and if the Magician supports USB On The Go (why else would there be a MiniAB connector on the bottom of the device in stead of a normal MiniB (4p) connector) it should be able to play USB Host.
I'm ordering a MiniA to A Female connector and I'm hoping it will work out so I can connect a USB Flashdrive, GPS reciever etc.etc.
Why do people need USB host on their Magician? I can only imagine using an USB keyboard, but everything else I can do with bluetooth and my 4 GB MMC card.
And for using my Magician as "USB-Brick" I use this here:
http://www.softick.com/pocket-pc/cardexport2/
Well... I don't like wireless That's the most important reason.
I want to use a wired GPS-reciever in my car.
I want to be able to connect a USB mass storage driver.
And I'm a geek who just wants to explore every possible option
So why shouldn't I give it a try
esackbauer said:
Why do people need USB host on their Magician? I can only imagine using an USB keyboard, but everything else I can do with bluetooth and my 4 GB MMC card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I think most of the people are interested on the fact that you can actually use an ext hdd, e.g. you have 80GB+ of videos, mp3s that you play on your unit (although I doubt it is able to power the 2.5" type). You can print documents from your unit to a printer, get your pictures off your dig camera, use a USB ext wifi, etc.
hanmin said:
Well, I think most of the people are interested on the fact that you can actually use an ext hdd, e.g. you have 80GB+ of videos, mp3s that you play on your unit (although I doubt it is able to power the 2.5" type). You can print documents from your unit to a printer, get your pictures off your dig camera, use a USB ext wifi, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excuse me for being a pain, but all these options are nonsense IMO, because Magician is the ultra portable device.
What is the sense of attaching a bulky 80GB hdd and cables to the Magician? To have its batteries empty in only 15 minutes?
Printing can be done wireless via infrared (HP printers) or WLAN, digicam pictures I can load by directly inserting its card in Magician. USB Wifi is also a joke as it drains the battery immediately.
If you want all these options, do it right and buy a Subnotebook and a 3G UMTS PC-Card.
esackbauer said:
Excuse me for being a pain, but all these options are nonsense IMO, because Magician is the ultra portable device.
What is the sense of attaching a bulky 80GB hdd and cables to the Magician? To have its batteries empty in only 15 minutes?
Printing can be done wireless via infrared (HP printers) or WLAN, digicam pictures I can load by directly inserting its card in Magician. USB Wifi is also a joke as it drains the battery immediately.
If you want all these options, do it right and buy a Subnotebook and a 3G UMTS PC-Card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ditto
I really doubt it supports USB Host. The board definately supports it, but HTC don't implement it. I think this will yield no results....
Hope you prove me wrong
And dude...... 1.8" Hard Disk Drives are TINY!!! so just quit being a spoil sport
Of course I wouldn't be connecting an periperal eventhough how small it is while walking around, but while at home or in the car sounds ok.
Well USB OTG would be great as I could dump all of my pictures on my digital camera (1GB card) onto my Charmers 4GB SD card. On holiday and stuff this would be really handy so I don't run out of space.
to be honest its not about what you can do with it, its partly bragging rights, hey look i can do so and so on my phone.... etc..
I, for one, would like to see a USB host hack.
Yes, there are SDIO wifis.
Yes, there are SDIO cards that allow wall projector connection.
But these require that I give up my memory card, where I store my stuff, making these things have only limited use.*
I could use Bluetooth, but:
- A standalone BT <-> Wifi bridge that isn't a PC or doesn't connect to a PC does not yet exist. There is a Bluetooth portable GPS receiver, but that's it.
- Projectors with BT enabled are FREAKING EXPENSIVE. Not to mention they aren't common. I've always wondered what that stray miniusb port on the more common small business models are for...
So why not buy a laptop, you ask?
Well, I already have a PC.
If you're suggesting I buy one, either you have never carried one around before, or you're so rich you can buy the lightest, least bulky ones without burning a hole in your pocket.
*That Sandisk 256/Wifi can't quite contain everything I'd want on my 1gig, leaving my only recourse to be (hopefully) the Eye-Film which is currently only in prototype stage. Sandisk already EOL'd that product anyway.
There are only 2 possibilities to get USB Host:
1. Wait for the WM2005 ROM for Magician, maybe HTC implemented the USB Host driver with it ;-)
2. Wait for HTC Trinity, maybe it has USB Host.
However, both options are not very realistic, because a WLAN USB Stick pulls 500 mA from the battery, so you get about 30 minutes battery life...
An USB Host has to provide power to the connected devices, and this is the reason why we probably won't ever see it on a mass market device.
You think you connect any USB device on that Host and it works? Like printers, scanners etc? Sorry, but you're dreaming. You need drivers for this and they just don't exist. There are no USB GPS mice that work with Pocket PCs and there are no Wifi sticks that work with Pocket PCs, period.
The only thing you could do is connect some mass storage device and use this. Besides that I'm 100% sure that the Magician doesn't support USB Host functionality, period.
So get a new PPC with Wifi and use Wifi disks etc. USB host would be nice but no Phone Edition device that I know of has it.
It would be SOOOOOO nice to connect a harddisk to my magician. A 4GB SD Card cannot store all my MP3s. And I want them all in my Car.
Dandie said:
So get a new PPC with Wifi and use Wifi disks etc. USB host would be nice but no Phone Edition device that I know of has it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, Eten M500 supports it.
You need drivers for this and they just don't exist
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Certain drivers do exist; like the JetCet unofficial ones. You'd also need to load drivers for SD-IO cards as well (IIRC the Sandisk Wifi/Mem combo needed a driver), so drivers are actually a non-issue. What matters is that it can be done.
jackleung said:
Actually, Eten M500 supports it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Magician also supports USB host, because
your BT is attached there. So what? It is the 500mA
current source and the electrical connection to
the USB socket that counts.
Currents not a problem i should think. All USB devices are standard 0.5A supply.. and all USB devices use the same supply.
Hi Folks
I've been playing around with a 101 Gen9 and in particular the Full Size USB Slot on the back.
On the Archos WebSite in the FAQ they state:
What can I plug in the USB port on the back of the tablet?
The USB host port on the back of your G9 tablet is reserved for only the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick. You will not be able to plug any other USB devices in this port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been doing some of my own testing on this port and found that not to be the case
Every device I plugged into it has worked in one way or another (very much another in some cases)
1. The tablet has been rooted using letma's method.
2. You need to turn on the "3G Stick" in the Wireless Settings
3. The tablet Was Plugged In
On point 3. I have no idea how the battery was doing. especially with some of the more power hungry usb devices.
Here's a list of what I've tested
Not Working:
Keyboard (USB 1.1)
Working:
Kingston Data Traveller II+ (USB 2.0) - Picked up as external storage
HTC Hero Mass Storage
HTC Debug Bridge (Required Root for adb)
HTC Sensation Mass Storage
HTC Sensation Debug Bridge (Required Root for adb)
4 Port HUB (USB 2.0)
A Couple of observations.
After turning the 3G Stick on I restarted the device
I had to plug the USB devices while the tablet was starting for it to be picked up.
The Keyboard worked when plugged into the 4 Port USB Hub. I think the keyboard will function on its own with the right kernel modules
No Device showed up as The "External Storage" in the "Files" program when plugged into the Hub, even though I mounted the device (/dev/block/sd*) from terminal emulator to the /mnt/ext_storage folder.I suspect it is looking for a specific USB device number as the external storage device.
I suppose it would be good if some other people to test what USB devices they have to hand to see what works, maybe we could build a list of functioning devices. I'm going to investigate getting the Keyboard going on it's own, which is what sparked this off and also test some external hard drives with various file systems.
I hope someone finds this helpful
Trev
For me the usb stick and hard drive is working on the stock archos firmware without reboot!
So the Nexus 4 doesn't have USB OTG support. That sucks. I'm fairly certain the answer on the following question will be "no", but I've still got hope.
With SlimPort, you can connect your Nexus 4 to a HDMI monitor, similar to MHL. It also charges your device. In my amazing Dell ST2220T touch monitor (well, the touch isn't so amazing, but the screen quality is), there are four USB ports. When I connect my Nexus 4 to my monitor with SlimPort, would I be able to plug in a keyboard and mouse in the USB ports on my monitor?
If not, I could use bluetooth (if you can connect multiple devices at least, both mouse and keyboard) or use the touch functionality on my monitor, but I'm not sure that works because it's a seperate cable.
It would be really cool to use the N4 as a sort of mini computer. Like Ubuntu had in mind. I can connect it to my speakers, to my monitor, I'm only hoping that I won't have to buy bluetooth accessoires. I prefer to use my wired accessoires, or if that isn't possible the touch functionality of my monitor, but I'm fairly both won't be possible.
the usb on your monitor would have a upstream connector that goes into your pc, so it won't work with phone,
you have to use bluetooth keyboard and mouse
republicano said:
the usb on your monitor would have a upstream connector that goes into your pc, so it won't work with phone,
you have to use bluetooth keyboard and mouse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So even if the N4 had USB Host support, I still wouldn't be able to use a wired keyboard and mouse together with the SlimPort, right? I doubt there's some adapter that can do both.
The slimport controller acts as a switch, it either routes usb or displayport signals though the data pins, the usb lanes are not connected while it's in use.
While displayport does contain aux pins for handling additional stuff such as usb (hypothetically?), those pins do not exist in our setup.