Database Users

Usb host on dell streak

Looks like the streak might have usb host... if you look in the sdcard settings it has the option to unmount ums (usb mass storage) devices and the option to format them.
Im on the 8105 2.1 o2 rom on a us att dell streak.
Ill make a cable soon to test but was wondering if anyone else tried th already
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

If the option can be found in 1.6, I may already have the hardware to test it.
This would be a beautiful thing!

I just so happened to have the correct hardware on hand to try this so I gave it a go, looks like it does! I'm actually typing this message with a USB keyboard- I can't get it to mount a USB drive yet, but I intend to brush up on my Linux commands and syntax tomorrow and try again- if I can get it to mount external storage, all of my dreams have officially come true (minus the Froyo, that is).
Edit: I'm on the MoDaCo custom ROM r2, 2.1 build 8105, for those interested.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

Hey there, real interested in what you did to mod your cable to handle this. Was it a matter of tying the OTG pin to ground?
Did the streak supply power over usb? Many android devices cant, but I believe given the right cable mod the streak can.

I didn't have to do any mods on mine, I have the home dock (which converts the Streak's port to miniUSB) and a dongle that has male miniUSB on one end and female standard USB on the other. Streak on the dock, dongle in the back of the dock, and keyboard into the dongle.
I don't know if it supplied power or not, what would be the best way to check? Multimeter across the power/gnd should give 5V regardless of if it's powered, do I need to check the amperage as well? I was thinking I might just try firing up the ol' G1 and plugging it in, to see if it charges.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

A good test would be to not have the dock plugged in to any power source. Dock your Streak, then use your adaptor with USB keyboard. Does it work? if so, the power is being supplied by the Streak.
If not, it doesn't prove that there is no way to get powered USB host out of the Streak, it would just show that it may require different connections (a modded cable or dock).

Then yes, it supplies power, my dock was unplugged the whole time. Rejoice! I foresee emulators with a USB gamepad in my near future...
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

That's great to hear! Game controller for EMU's is what I'm looking to do with it as well
Funny though, I tried the same with a gender changer a week or so ago and it didn't work for me. I think the difference must be that the cable you're plugging in to the dock must ground the OTG pin.
Unfortunately that probably means I'd either have to get a dock, or dissect and solder my USB cable to get the same.

Glad to see it works as i suspected. now all we need is some to make it mirror the display over the hdmi out
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

Ah, I wondered what that meant. I have the home dock and saw Win7 did something funny... it's all a bit beyond my abilities so I look forward to someone doing interesting things with it

how can we make a usb cable with "usb host" feature ?

mrmrmrmr said:
how can we make a usb cable with "usb host" feature ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EiHter using the media dock with a male mini usb to female usb adapter, or i think using the standard usb cable with a female to female adapter placed on the end should work too.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

keatonreckard said:
EiHter using the media dock with a male mini usb to female usb adapter, or i think using the standard usb cable with a female to female adapter placed on the end should work too.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately I don't think a female to female adaptor alone will do the trick with the Streak USB Cable. I have one here, and it's not working.
I believe the reason is the USB OTG pin needs to be grounded to identify that we are in USB OTG mode (pin 4 as identified here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDMI).
I think the reason it's working with the dock for that person is because the dock exposes that pin at the mini B port and the cable adaptor he's using is an OTG cable that grounds the pin.
I haven't tried modding my cable for this yet, but will soon. My soldering iron is in storage right now unfortunately.

Ok; I understand that we have to connect OTG pin (no 4 on PDMI) to GND (no 2 on PDMI)
Is that correct ?
Is there a way to do it on the other end (not the PDMI side but USB side) ?
Because I don't want to break my only Dell Streak data cable...

Unfortunately, no. only 4 wires run through the cable and are exposed at the other end. You would need a 5th (the USB ID, aka OTG lead).
So I just finished creating my own modded cable and it is working great.
I've attached pictures of the build here. I found that this only works in Android 2.1 (8150 build for me, may work with other 2.1 builds). 1.6 seems like it doesn't have the drivers for this.
DISCLAIMER: If you try to duplicate what I did here, you're taking the risk of damaging your cable beyond repair, and if you do something incorrectly and plug the cable in to your Streak, there is a definite possibility you will damage your streak permanently. So anything you do, do so carefully and at your own risk!
I will say this; this cable is HARD to de-shield! It has metal shield all around the parts we need to get to, and I had to cut with metal clippers and desolder parts of it to get the shielding off. Not pretty, and pretty risky for damaging the cable. I would advise you buy an extra cable before trying this. I didn't have an extra, but I was really risking not being able to charge my device or something if I broke my cable.
After removing the shielding you can see that there is a small PCB with traces marked 1 3 on the left, and then 2 5 on the right. These correspond to the PDMI specification at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDMI .
For my build, I chose to solder a switch to bridge the OTG pin 4 to GND pin 2. This way, my cable can still be used as a normal USB cable as well. In one image I have flipped the opened PDMI connector over and you can see an orange wire I have soldered on to pin4. (One side of the PDMI connector has ODD pins, like 1,3,5,7... the other side has EVEN 2,4,6,8...). Pin 2 is the first pin on the right on the EVEN side, and pin 4 is the second.
As was stated in earlier posts, you can use a female to female gender changer for the other end of the USB cable, rather than soldering on your own connector or something.
Note that having the cable in OTG mode when plugging your streak in to your computer or power adapter over USB could damage something because OTG mode will start outputting power over the same pins that it's usually inputting from!!!

0TheRain0,
This is great !
Thanks for sharing your findings.
I sent you a PM; please check it when you have time...

When I built my Dell Streak Mini USB adapter, I brought out PDMI pin 4 to the OTG pin on the Mini USB.
I tried it with 2 different cheap Mini USB to Standard USB ("A") female adapters, and tried several devices including a Apple Mini Keyboard/Hub, and USB Flash drives.
I also tried the same components on the Dell Home Dock.
They did not work, but I suspect that the Mini USB to Standard USB female adapters do not short the OTG pin to ground.
What we need is some that do. Then it would be plug and play at least for dock owners.
Edit:
These claim to enable USB host mode when Connected to a N800:
http://www.electronicproductonline.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2043
Therefore Should require no modification to use with the dock, as long as the dock brings out pin 4, which as far as I remember, my testing said it did.

This thread is currently of great interest. Should it, in theory, be possible to hook up my Canon digi SLRs as mass storage devices then?
Sometimes being able to get the image onto a bigger screen has it's benefits. The Streak's screen is actually very well calibrated as well, compared to my hardware calibrated monitor!
In the ideal world i'd be able to tether and shoot using the streak (like I can with my laptop) but I'm realistic and know that's not likely to happen!
What I DON'T get is why Dell have put in USB host functionality without implementing it in the lead?

Well, I was going to hold off on cutting up a cable to try something, but I just had a cable go through the washer and dryer... and it was looking pretty bad and actually cut through the jacket and shielding on the wire... so I cut off the PDMI lead and about 3" of cable (right before the break).
Inside the jacket are 4 wires. Black, White, Green, Red. Obviously they correspond to the USB 2.0 spec... so I guess in some way, VDC, Ground, Data+, Data-... but no OTG wire.
Would anyone that opened up the connector know how these wire colors correspond?
What I really want is for my 80GB iPod to have it's music available to the Streak in my car, so here's what I was planning:
1) Cut up the Dell PDMI cable (done).
2) Cut up an old iPod to Firewire cable I have laying around
3) Splice VDC+ and Ground on the iPod and PDMI to the corresponding VDC+/Ground USB end of the original Dell Cable. This will plug into a 12V->USB Adapter (probably the Dell one) to power and charge both devices.
4) Splice the corresponding PDMI and iPod data transfer wires.
5) Ground OTG on Streak side and add a micro switch, like TheRain did...
I can then wrap this up in some custom cable thing shround thing that I'll figure out.

Little bit of research led me to the micro-AB receptacle that basically determines if a device is acting as a host or slave. So, I would say the preferred way to do this, instead of wiring in a switch, would be to find a receptacle and hack into it... so here's one you can get cheap:
http://www.retractablecables.com/US...ro_AB_Female_Adapter_for_USB_OTG_Devices.html
This should be able to wire up something that basically puts the device into OTG mode when you connect a micro-A cable to the device, and a slave device when you connect a micro-B cable.
So solder/wire that up.. connect the Streak with a micro-A cable to a powered USB hub, connect the peripherals to the hub, and you should be good to go without a micro switch.
On an edit note, I also found a bare micro-AB female that you can buy... but it's more expensive than the previous adapter, so uh I guess it depends on how much time you want to spend tearing the adapter apart.
http://ntcdistributing.com/products/usb-connectors.htm

How To Make Your Own OTG Cable : Video Tutorial and Demo of USB Mouse

So if you are like me. Waiting a week for your OTG cable to come to your doorstep is not an option. Especially if I can make one with existing cords and equipment I have laying around. If soldering happens to be one of your skills then this is the guide for you.
This is what you need.
Micro USB Cable … Really you need the Micro USB Head
Female USB Cable Head … Pulled mine out of an old computer
USB Cable … to connect the two heads … I used the cable from the Micro USB
Solder Kit … connect the Heads to cords
But this video puts everything in context and you also can see how the mouse works on 3.1
http://youtu.be/COkLEJGo6vo

Orrr get a bluetooth mouse
Sent from my 4G LTE Thunderbolt using XDA Premium

DroidHam said:
Orrr get a bluetooth mouse
Sent from my 4G LTE Thunderbolt using XDA Premium
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Click to collapse
True. Which I have, the USB mouse was just to show it works.

Nice to see you here too sleeplessninja!
Followed your tut, gonna do my update, I can't wait for my OTG cable from china to arrive, its almost half way but I can't wait any longer! thanks dude. Off to flashing some updates.
EDIT:
Finished installing the update, all fine and dandy!! tried the camera with the xoom, F-awesome! kinda slow but thats what you get off 18Mpix pics, tried a mouse, kb, all worked perfect...

DroidHam said:
Orrr get a bluetooth mouse
Sent from my 4G LTE Thunderbolt using XDA Premium
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Click to collapse
Can't use bluetooth for flash drives or the ps3 and xbox game controllers (or the other ones the 3.1 update lets you use) XD
I think I'll try this guide when I get home tonight.

sleeplessninja said:
So if you are like me. Waiting a week for your OTG cable to come to your doorstep is not an option. Especially if I can make one with existing cords and equipment I have laying around. If soldering happens to be one of your skills then this is the guide for you.
This is what you need.
Micro USB Cable … Really you need the Micro USB Head
Female USB Cable Head … Pulled mine out of an old computer
USB Cable … to connect the two heads … I used the cable from the Micro USB
Solder Kit … connect the Heads to cords
But this video puts everything in context and you also can see how the mouse works on 3.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't watched the video yet, but couldn't you also just use a USB extension cable instead of a separate usb cable and female usb port? Using an extension cable instead you could just replace the male end with the male micro usb and use heat shrink to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

Congrats to OP for the DIY job. My preferred method would be not to cut up the cable, but by shorting pin 4 to pin 5 directly at the shell. This is easiest if all 5 pins are present (sometimes either pin 4 or 5 is missing), as you can simply bridge the two pins with a bit of solder, and quickly apply heat to the connector shell to melt it in place. If one of the pins is missing, then things get a bit more difficult.
The solder bridge wouldn't last for too many insertions, but it should be more than good enough until the real host cable gets to you.

Made the cable well kinda i used a adapter to convert male to female should this still work or does it need to go straight to female?

brilliant guide, used a different style on mine but this guide is solid gold, thanks very much

Great post, i used your method with good results
Probably more expensive than an OTG adapter, yet I found a supplier of micro usb plugs with solder tags, more useful perhaps in a DIY dock?
http://ntcdistributing.com/products/usb-connectors.htm?gclid=CNnGtN-U7K0CFZQgfAodLQvL5g

machina77 said:
Great post, i used your method with good results
Probably more expensive than an OTG adapter, yet I found a supplier of micro usb plugs with solder tags, more useful perhaps in a DIY dock?
http://ntcdistributing.com/products/usb-connectors.htm?gclid=CNnGtN-U7K0CFZQgfAodLQvL5g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have the bits lying around then its very useful. If your having to buy the components then its cheaper to buy the cable. Like many of others on here, i have thousands of usb cables so was easy for me.

D.i.y usb otg adapter/cable

Hi,
I made my own usb otg adapter from a plain usb a to micro b adapter. You have to connect pin 4 /which is not connected/ to ground to fire up host mode.
Edit: It is not easy to dismantle a usb connector or adapter and it requires soldering. So I guess anybody with the necessary skills will find the pin on his own. I will not post photos because my solution is far from being pretty.
For everybody else: the nokia USB OTG cable is wired the same way so it is very likely that it will work. (on Hungarian forums I saw references that it works, but I can not guaratee it.)
Tommorow I will go buy one and report.
USB Host mode will allow to connect USB pendrive, mouse, keyboard etc. to the SGS II.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

richyy74 said:
Hi,
I made my own usb otg adapter from a plain usb a to micro b adapter. You have to connect pin 4 /which is not connected/ to ground to fire up host mode.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
this is very useful for people like me who knows how to solder things, but for the people who have absolutly no Idea what you are talking about, you should add more details/pictures to the OP so the people who doesen't know much about electronics know what you are talking about, and what benefits it brings for them.
I myself will probably make one or more, so I don't have to always take my USB OTG with me all the time.

kaukassus said:
this is very useful for people like me who knows how to solder things, but for the people who have absolutly no Idea what you are talking about, you should add more details/pictures to the OP so the people who doesen't know much about electronics know what you are talking about, and what benefits it brings for them.
I myself will probably make one or more, so I don't have to always take my USB OTG with me all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May be you dint know about this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1092493
This was explained with pics a long time ago

Yeah sorry. I never saw that. Thanks.

richyy74 said:
Yeah sorry. I never saw that. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why be sorry. This forum is to help each other out.

OTG Cable USB (B) to Micro USB (A) Powered with AAA batteries
As one knows, Samsung has promised a HMI Cable
You noticed it is not only a cable but a box out of which you may plug in an extra power supply.
The obvious reason is if the passive monitor does not furnish 5V, the phone will rapidly be out of power.
Now you know that to obtain video rather than anything less, Pin 4 (sense) and 5 (Ground) of micro USB (male A) must be connected with a 365K resistance.
I suppose the dock Samsung is selling for I9100 (yes, I have it) is grounded at 1000K as it provides audio with remote, and yes, the dock provides power supply via extra micro USB as well.
I come to my point: If I want to access any USB data On the Go, I need a cable OTG with 2 ports: USB 2.0/3.0 (female, B sided) to a micro USB (male, A sided, grounded but with no resistance = 0K). Many of them exist on the market out there.
But it is quite impossible to use because of lack of power supply in the passive device (let’s say a handy 1T HDD usually powered via Host connexion !
Would it be possible to insert some sort of receptacle for AAA battery in the middle of such a cable to provide for power while you are for a long time out of access to an electric plug ? Does such a cable exist somewhere to buy ? What would be the sheme to mount this ? HELP !

Instead of shorting pin 4 and 5 from within the cable head, would it also be viable to short them from within the device itself? Say if I disassembled the phone to access the back of the female usb micro connector and soldered the pins. Would there be any damage caused if the permanently shorted pins 4 and 5 (within the device) is connected to a charging adapter/PC?

[Q] usb otg gamepad question

I have an otg cable, yet none of my accessories work with it and my RAZR MAXX. My question is whether or not I need a powered hub when using the OTG cable. I have seen set ups of other android models using a SIXAXIS controller and otg cable, yet no hub. In this case, it the powered hub not needed since the controller itself is supplying its own power?
Thanks,
Neverused

USB controllers don't work?? I'm interested in this as well
Sent from my Xoom using xda app-developers app

Download USB Device Info:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=aws.apps.usbDeviceEnumerator
When you open the app you should see 0 devices under Android and Linux tabs. Now connect just your OTG cable nothing plugged into it and hit refresh, something should show up, usually under the Linux tab that identifies the USB host. Even if the USB host doesn't supply power this will still work as I have tested it on my Touchpad which has no OTG power.
If you saw something appear when you connected the OTG cable, than OTG is in the Razr M. Now try connecting your gamepad and refresh the device list. If its not showing up then there is either something wrong with OTG or you need external power. This program will ID any USB device connected, even those which Android doesn't support since its just matching the device against a list it has. Try getting a USB keyboard/mouse working ad those are universally supported on Android and would confirm if USB host works.

Questions go in the question forum too...

Here's a dumb question. I just ordered a female USB to male micro USB. I wanted to be able to yank pics off my camera and drop them on my phone. Would I need an OTG adapter or does that plane adapter work?
Sent from my XT907 using xda premium

agent888 said:
Here's a dumb question. I just ordered a female USB to male micro USB. I wanted to be able to yank pics off my camera and drop them on my phone. Would I need an OTG adapter or does that plane adapter work?
Sent from my XT907 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
An OTG cable has a extra pin in it that is tied to ground in a OTG cable which tells the hardware to switch to OTG mode. A regular USB cable will leave this pin open.

If I'm able to peel open this adapter that I got, and jump pin 4 to 5 should it work as an OTG cable?
Sent from my XT907 using xda premium

agent888 said:
If I'm able to peel open this adapter that I got, and jump pin 4 to 5 should it work as an OTG cable?
Sent from my XT907 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its possible, as shown here:
http://tech2.in.com/how-to/accessor...sb-otg-cable-for-an-android-smartphone/319982
For me I'd rather just buy an OTG cable, but if you have regular microUSB cables laying around, go for it.

Bought an OTG cable
Bought a simple OTG adapter from newegg. So far....plugged in a mouse and my camera. Both work flawlessly, my camera gives me the choice of either either MTP (?) that goes straight to gallery and image import, or Storage which prompts to a new usb mount. Have not tried a gamepad yet, I have 2 floating around somewhere but not sure what game to try.

[Q] USB3 cable from ebay

Hey, i just received my usb 3 cable (my s5 came with usb2...) and i think i got a fake one...
I bought it from here: ebay.com/itm/291161252997?var=590311054317&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Now the problem is, when i plug cable in it USB options there is no "Media device (USB 3.0)" option... Which if i am not mistaken should appear?
I don't understand... 190 cables sold and no one is complaining... Maybe i am doing something wrong?

You might connect it to a USB 3.0 Port, are you sure that you connected it in 3.0 port?

Velcis Ribeiro said:
You might connect it to a USB 3.0 Port, are you sure that you connected it in 3.0 port?
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Click to collapse
Yes i am sure i connected to usb 3.0 port. I just found out that my external monitor connected via usb using same type cable as i ordered (but it's very short cable) and it is usb 3.0. Tried connecting with it and now i can see that option. So i guess that means i got fake cable...

trajektorijus said:
Yes i am sure i connected to usb 3.0 port. I just found out that my external monitor connected via usb using same type cable as i ordered (but it's very short cable) and it is usb 3.0. Tried connecting with it and now i can see that option. So i guess that means i got fake cable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based from my experience, buying micro USB charging/data cable for Samsung is tricky since the wiring may not be the same as the normal USB cable. There should be 5 pins on the micro end, but sometimes there are just 4. But Samsung uses only 4 pins that might have been rewired. I'm not sure whether only Samsung does this or the same can be said of the other brands, but they may be the cause why there are microusb cables being sold that does only charging and no data function, and vice versa. And sometimes the pins may not be protruding out enough to make contact with the phone's charging pins.
I hope this helps.

You should try plugging in another USB 3.0 device such as a USB stick to determine whether the fault lies within your computer or the eBay cable!