After having a quick chat with cr2 about the process of linux i was surprised to see that external usb host support on the universal is still unknown (obv it uses usb host internally for phone)
basically i have a dongle which on one end has a mini-usb plug (i.e. goes in phone) and on the other end has a usb a receptacle.. i got it with a development kit for an AVR micro-controller that has onboard usb client/host... plugging in the cable switches its mode.
now from what i understand of the pxa270 dev manual
http://www.balloonboard.org/hardware/300/ds/PXA270-dev-manual.pdf
(section 20.4) is that the chip has 3 onboard host ports. the first is dedicated (which i assume is the one used for the phone) the other 2 are shared by usb client mode and must be configured to use host mode. there also is usb-otg supported on chip which may be how things are set up.
to me this suggests that physically the external usb port we have access to can be set to host mode via setting registers (or some software based setup) however i have not looked properly at the pin layout (and electronics is only a hobby) so if someone could try and decipher from this doc
http://pdf1.alldatasheet.net/datasheet-pdf/view/82521/INTEL/PXA270/datasheet.pdf
to progress we need to see whether this is the case or whether there is a physical aspect to setting host mode (if there is then seeing if it wired up)
then we need someone with a bit of low level coding skills (prob linux based coding route) to do any initialisation then on to testing.
as i said i have a dongle but i'm not willing to risk my exec (poor student y'see) until i know a few bits... i have no intention of frying my phone due to test usb device drawing to much power from phone and melting something (i am not sure how the usb spec handles it...i know pc's shut the port down if it draws too much power but a pda i'm not so sure... especially if it isn't expecting it!)
what are other peoples thoughts on all this can anyone investigate anything or verify any of my thoughts etc
i'd like to settle the mystery which ever way it turns out...usb host mode under linux would sure be shiny
it would also be interesting to see whether the 3rd port is connected up
also see section 12 of the first pdf it covers more in depth the details regarding usb
Anyone know why "logcat" works when run via ADB but not when run from a local console (EG via connectbot)? I assumed they would use the same UID but in hindsight I'd guess that any android app that starts a shell would be running with the parent app's UID and ADB would provided a different UID again .
I'm trying to investigate what the N1 currently does with a powered (hacked together) USB OTG cable (say connected to a flash drive) I know the kernel doesn't currently support the host mode switch (or at lease it didn't when I was messing with my G1, don't know about 2.1 ) but I wanted to see if anything at all happened.
Anyone done any OTG experimentation of the N1?
I haven't done debugging yet, but I'm interested in your efforts. I'm looking to USB OTG support in an Android phone for MIDI sequencing purposes (record MIDI data on the phone from a USB powered MIDI device). Many people are saying that WiFi/Blutooth solutions are the way to go, but that requires the devices to be powered separately. USB OTG would solve the power problem and in the case of MIDI, solve the latency problem (not to mention that most devices are USB and don't have wifi/bluetooth support...so that would mean making an in-between widget to convert USB to wireless on the device side while powering it).
Greetings! I've been lurking on XDA for quite some time, and first I would like to give a big thank you to all the developers. I would never have purchased a Kindle Fire if I didn't have faith in your ability to unlock the hardware's true potential. You guys/gals rock.
Here's my question: I develop and troubleshoot municipal and commercial wired/wireless networks and I would really like to be able to use the KF with backtrack. I understand that OTG support under ICS is very close to being a reality, would it be possible to support an external wifi adapter via OTG?
Drawing power is the first problem that comes to mind, so my thought is to mod a USB OTG adapter to draw from an external DC source instead of the KF.
This could have some awesome potential if it could work. I'm willing to do whatever I can to make this happen, so if one of you veteran developers could set me on the right track to backtrack it would be greatly appreciated.
I'm no wifi/kernel expert but as far as i have understood it:
It should be possible if you get the right wifi modules to work. Android uses a modified wpa_supplicant, so even if you have linux wifi drivers for usb you would need to patch them to get it running. The current kernel does not have mac80211/cfg80211 modules compiled it, but i think that you probably would need them (i think they are in the kernel source, they are just not set yet). The current module for the tiwlan is proprietary and is also uses some strange ibCustomWifi as wrapper around WEXT, not sure if they also did some changes there.
If the 3.0 kernel boots we should anyhow change to a mac80211 wifi driver and also use wpa_supplicant 0.8 instead of 0.6 so your chances should be a lot better with the 3.0 kernel.
So it strongly depends if your external wifi adapter is very well supported for linux (or better for Android ....) und if we get otg running. (There might be some hidden problems to discover).
Sengwall,
There are several threads in the xda forums for similar projects on different devices that might be useful as the steps are basically the same (assuming that somebody gets OTG working). Here's one of them:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1484339
Thanks for the input...ill look and see if there has been success on other devices with the same board.... great suggestion.
Putting these out there so that dev's could address and all others should be aware of:
- No "USB Mass Storage" support. ICS out-of-the-box doesn't support this, however it can and has been added into ICS-based roms for other devices. Definitely possible to be addressed via software.
- Cannot move/install apps to the external microSD card. With ~4-5GB of available space on internal flash memory, this can become an issue for some.
- supports only microSD formatted in FAT32. Which effectively means if you have a video or other media file that is over 4gb in size, you cannot copy it onto the card. This is certainly a problem when you have HD quality movies you wish to play back on the device.
- wifi "can be" flaky. Many have experienced "low" wifi strength while only a few feet from their routers. Possibly could be improved through kernel driver updates, etc.
Please add on to this list as you come across limitations!
[EDIT]
- Per Macadamia Daze: Lack of Ad-hoc Wi-Fi support
- Per doraemon14: No face-unlock enabled in ICS
- [ CONFIRMED WORKING ]: Support for USB OTG (Host Mode).
I'm not sure who all cares, but it lacks ad hoc Wi-Fi support.
this is my first android device so not sure if this is only for ICS or all other previous versions.
- hope charging via USB is working even though it is not power-off.
nohctis said:
this is my first android device so not sure if this is only for ICS or all other previous versions.
- hope charging via USB is working even though it is not power-off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most tablets now need 2A to charge, USB only provides 500ma. I don't think it works, it's not an ICS limitation.
slopokdave said:
Most tablets now need 2A to charge, USB only provides 500ma. I don't think it works, it's not an ICS limitation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the info. just assuming (more on hoping) it might also work while on power-on since charging via USB is working if the device is turned-off.
as far as the - supports only microSD formatted in FAT32. Which effectively means if you have a video or other media file that is over 4gb in size, you cannot copy it onto the card. This is certainly a problem when you have HD quality movies you wish to play back on the device.
I found that if you use a rar. format you can break the file up into small file. which let you put it on the sd card and then extract the file and put it back together in the card. it may take longer doing that but it works.
Bluetooth issues... device tends to pair and connect, then randomly disconnect, say it's still paired, then constantly pop-up the "Pairing" dialog asking for the PIN number. Once this happens the device will not stay paired.
This is happening with my PLX Kiwi OBD 2 adapter in my car... happens to my friend on the stock original firmware (I'm on the updated version) we're both rooted.. this happened before rooting as well though.
Two more cases can be seen here:
http://torque-bhp.com/forums/?wpforumaction=viewtopic&t=2076.00
http://code.google.com/p/android-bluez-ime/issues/detail?id=162
after i read this thread. I found a work around for usb host in the htc one s forum. Found by nerd65536
[Guide] USB Host
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USB host lets you hook up external USB devices to your phone, like a keyboard, mouse, USB drive, etc..
Unlike devices which are designed to support USB host, the One S doesn't provide power to the peripheral. That means we need a few more adapters/cables to get it to work (and we need an external power source).
Purchase links are listed for all the required cables/adapters.
You will need:
•USB Host adapter (The otherwise unused 5th pin on a micro-usb connector is grounded) dx.com/m-129671
•Mini USB power Y cable (this kind of cable is often packaged with portable hard drives) dx.com/u-65630
•Mini USB Female to USB A Female adapter This package comes with two, but you only need one. dx.com/u-55613
•Your charger
Assemble the cable:•The micro USB of the "USB Host adapter" connects to your phone.
•Your peripheral plugs into the female end of the "Mini USB Female to USB A Female adapter"
•The "Mini USB power Y cable" has three connectors:1.Mini USB connector - connects to the "Mini USB Female to USB A Female adapter"
2.Male USB A Power (the thinner wire) - connects to your charger
3.Male USB A - connects to the "USB Host adapter"
That's all. As long as your ROM supports the peripheral, it will work.
Some fun peripherals to try:•Powered USB hub (You can also power the adapter from one of the hub's ports)
•Keyboard
•Mouse (a cursor will appear on your device)
•USB flash drives and USB hard drives must be FAT32. You have to run a few commands to use a USB drive. Mount manually from the shell (use Connectbot or Terminal Emulator):
Code:
su
mkdir /media/sdcard/usb
mount -o uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702 /dev/block/sda1 /mnt/sdcard/usb
To unmount:
Code:
su
umount /mnt/sdcard/usb
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1629134
Diablo2424 said:
Bluetooth issues... device tends to pair and connect, then randomly disconnect, say it's still paired, then constantly pop-up the "Pairing" dialog asking for the PIN number. Once this happens the device will not stay paired.
This is happening with my PLX Kiwi OBD 2 adapter in my car... happens to my friend on the stock original firmware (I'm on the updated version) we're both rooted.. this happened before rooting as well though.
Two more cases can be seen here:
http://torque-bhp.com/forums/?wpforumaction=viewtopic&t=2076.00
http://code.google.com/p/android-bluez-ime/issues/detail?id=162
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE on BT!
I just called Samsung Mobile Support and let them know about my issue. I mentioned that the original and current firmware's both have this problem, the agent put me on hold for a few minutes and came back saying that they are aware of this issue and the next firmware update (OTA) should be resolving it!
Thank you Samsung for having great customer service (I was only on the phone with Samsung 12 minutes total, including the non-existent wait time!)
yeah, recap:
you:Im having a BT issue
sammy: please hold, *call developers on other line* *yelling at developers* Bluetooth is broken! fix it!
sammy: *back on call with you*, we're aware of the issue and will be fixed in an OTA update.
just kidding although I love pounding Sammy every chance I get.
cbetso said:
after i read this thread. I found a work around for usb host in the htc one s forum. Found by nerd65536
[Guide] USB Host
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USB host lets you hook up external USB devices to your phone, like a keyboard, mouse, USB drive, etc..
Unlike devices which are designed to support USB host, the One S doesn't provide power to the peripheral. That means we need a few more adapters/cables to get it to work (and we need an external power source).
Purchase links are listed for all the required cables/adapters.
You will need:
•USB Host adapter (The otherwise unused 5th pin on a micro-usb connector is grounded) dx.com/m-129671
•Mini USB power Y cable (this kind of cable is often packaged with portable hard drives) dx.com/u-65630
•Mini USB Female to USB A Female adapter This package comes with two, but you only need one. dx.com/u-55613
•Your charger
Assemble the cable:•The micro USB of the "USB Host adapter" connects to your phone.
•Your peripheral plugs into the female end of the "Mini USB Female to USB A Female adapter"
•The "Mini USB power Y cable" has three connectors:1.Mini USB connector - connects to the "Mini USB Female to USB A Female adapter"
2.Male USB A Power (the thinner wire) - connects to your charger
3.Male USB A - connects to the "USB Host adapter"
That's all. As long as your ROM supports the peripheral, it will work.
Some fun peripherals to try:•Powered USB hub (You can also power the adapter from one of the hub's ports)
•Keyboard
•Mouse (a cursor will appear on your device)
•USB flash drives and USB hard drives must be FAT32. You have to run a few commands to use a USB drive. Mount manually from the shell (use Connectbot or Terminal Emulator):
Code:
su
mkdir /media/sdcard/usb
mount -o uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702 /dev/block/sda1 /mnt/sdcard/usb
To unmount:
Code:
su
umount /mnt/sdcard/usb
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1629134
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you test any of this for this tablet? Does it even apply to this tablet (you are referencing a different device)? USB OTG (aka Host Mode) is a combination of having the right hardware + the right modules compiled into the kernel.
Diablo2424 said:
UPDATE on BT!
I just called Samsung Mobile Support and let them know about my issue. I mentioned that the original and current firmware's both have this problem, the agent put me on hold for a few minutes and came back saying that they are aware of this issue and the next firmware update (OTA) should be resolving it!
Thank you Samsung for having great customer service (I was only on the phone with Samsung 12 minutes total, including the non-existent wait time!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem along many others(on original firmware it wasn't even usable it rebooted constantly). I was trying to connect to one of this:
http://tunerstudio.com/index.php/cablesandbluetooth
I ended up returning the device as I mainly needed it for that a the moment and as it crashed using the browser etc, but thinking of buying again.
Did they give you an ETA for the update? Or have you tried another ROM?
Post up if you get it fixed
cbetso said:
as far as the - supports only microSD formatted in FAT32. Which effectively means if you have a video or other media file that is over 4gb in size, you cannot copy it onto the card. This is certainly a problem when you have HD quality movies you wish to play back on the device.
I found that if you use a rar. format you can break the file up into small file. which let you put it on the sd card and then extract the file and put it back together in the card. it may take longer doing that but it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FAT32 has a single-file size limit of 4GB. Yes, you could use rar or any other archive format to break the original file into pieces, however for example, an HD .mkv video file can be well over 5GB (single file). You could possible copy 1 of those large files into the 'internal' memory if you had the space -- but defeats the whole purpose of having expandable storage.
i dunno whether the one i write here is considered as flaws or not...
i don't like the way this tab arrange its homescreen and apps cabinet...there are some spaces left and can't be filled...i hate this...
lastiko said:
i dunno whether the one i write here is considered as flaws or not...
i don't like the way this tab arrange its homescreen and apps cabinet...there are some spaces left and can't be filled...i hate this...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A new launcher will fix that problem for you. I use apex launcher.. but there's other alternatives out there as well.. like go launcher
---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 PM ----------
Slowb00st said:
I had the same problem along many others(on original firmware it wasn't even usable it rebooted constantly). I was trying to connect to one of this:
http://tunerstudio.com/index.php/cablesandbluetooth
I ended up returning the device as I mainly needed it for that a the moment and as it crashed using the browser etc, but thinking of buying again.
Did they give you an ETA for the update? Or have you tried another ROM?
Post up if you get it fixed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understandable if you needed it working right at that moment. I did ask for an ETA but unfortunately he said he didn't have one... he did say that it will be soon and to make sure my device is on wifi and ready for an update soon.. but I'm on a rooted stock firmware and froze the software updater lmao so that won't work... but I'll keep an eye out for am update and let everyone know. No I haven't tried any other ROMs yet as they all have some flaws that bother me... not too mention for my specific use I don't really need anything too fancy... just need BT for my PLX Kiwi OBD adapter for my cars diagnostics
is there anyone has stock room for p3100?
Diablo2424 said:
Understandable if you needed it working right at that moment. I did ask for an ETA but unfortunately he said he didn't have one... he did say that it will be soon and to make sure my device is on wifi and ready for an update soon.. but I'm on a rooted stock firmware and froze the software updater lmao so that won't work... but I'll keep an eye out for am update and let everyone know. No I haven't tried any other ROMs yet as they all have some flaws that bother me... not too mention for my specific use I don't really need anything too fancy... just need BT for my PLX Kiwi OBD adapter for my cars diagnostics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still too early, but there are some ROMs actively being worked on (and I'm hoping we see official support for this tablet from CM soon). With the recent MacMall $219 flash sale on this (they must have sold thousands in one day), and attractive MSRP, there could be a lot of interest from major developers.
Balthazar B said:
It's still too early, but there are some ROMs actively being worked on (and I'm hoping we see official support for this tablet from CM soon). With the recent MacMall $219 flash sale on this (they must have sold thousands in one day), and attractive MSRP, there could be a lot of interest from major developers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ebay tells you how much have been sold. It wasn't 500ish last I saw shortly before it ended.
I purchased the Samsung OTG cable and plugged it in the port. The cable has a female connector on the other end. I plugged in a 32GB thumb drive and it read it right away. I plugged in a small harddrive and the tablet reported that a high power device was plugged in and would not work without additional power. I paid $8.00 for the cable on amazon.com.
rapcon said:
I purchased the Samsung OTG cable and plugged it in the port. The cable has a female connector on the other end. I plugged in a 32GB thumb drive and it read it right away. I plugged in a small harddrive and the tablet reported that a high power device was plugged in and would not work without additional power. I paid $8.00 for the cable on amazon.com.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you be able to provide a link to that cable?
Thanks for the info! Does a mouse/keyboard work with no issue? The USB stick -- did it auto-mount and what filesystem is it formatted with (ie FAT32)? -- I'm curious if for example a USB stick that is formatted in NTFS can be used..
On another note, this confirms that the device itself can handle USB OTG to some degree -- meaning the modules are in place in the stock kernel and the hardware itself is capable of putting out enough power to handle certain devices.
Let me start this thread by stating that I DID have my Nook Color, booted off an sd card with cm9, working with my usb powered hub connected to a mouse, controller, flash drive, and keyboard. But through a possible hardware error on my part, I cannot get it to work anymore. I'm fairly adept at modifying my Android Devices. I used USB Host Controller and looked through my dmesg logs and the only thing I found of note was it recognized my 7 port hub, but had it suspended. I attempted to enabled/disable USB Host in my Terminal Emulator with commands found in the USB Development Thread but it simply did nothing. Reading logs, etc. is not necessarily a strong suit of mine. So finding what MAY by the problem, has been a bit of a pain the past 2 days. However I will detail my problem below:
Items used:
- 7 - Port USB Powered Hub from Micro Center
- OTG Cables bought from Amazon.
- Nook Color (With various roms. Notably Cm7.2, CM9 (Unsure of nightly version), AOKP Build 40):
- Belkin USB Keyboard and Mouse
- PS3 Controller
- Sandisk 16gb Micro Flash Drive
Apps Used:
- Nook Color Tweaks
- USB Host Viewer
- USB Host Diagnostics
- USB Host Controller
About 3 days ago I decided to set up a station for my tablet as a mini-computer. I had successfully connected a mouse and keyboard (independently of each other) previously but I wanted to go ahead and use my powered usb hub and get a real mini-computer experience on my android tablet. These are the results (All tests include the use of an OTG Cable to connected to either the USB Device or Powered Hub):
Test 1:
Rom: CM 7.2 Kang
1 USB Device Connected: Mouse (Yes), Keyboard (Yes), Flash Drive(No), Game Controller(No) - All enabled via Nook Color Tweaks
Devices Connected to Hub: No
Test 2:
Rom: CM 9
1 USB Device Connected: Mouse (Yes), Keyboard (Yes), Flash Drive(No, I believe it required more than 100mah to power), Game Controller (Yes) - All worked by just Plug N Play.
Devices Connected to Hub: Yes (The Mouse, Keyboard, Flash Drive, and Controller worked simultaneously)
[To Note: Inbetween this test I pulled the OTG-Cable connected to the hub without un-mounting the flash drive first. CM 9 wasn't happy and told me to properly un-mount my sdcard first before pulling the cable. (I bowed to my Android lord and said "okay".)]
Test 3:
Rom: AOKP Build 40
1 USB Device Connected: Mouse (Yes), Keyboard (Yes), Flash Drive(No, I believe it required more than 100mah to power), Game Controller(I have not verified) - All worked by using Nook Color Tweaks. Did not Plug N Play.
Devices Connected to a Hub: No (However it will charged).
Problem:
Looking back at my 'To Note'. Somehow I believe this has caused the problem. Since then USB Host Mode has only worked with a single device NOT connected to the USB Hub. Although my Nook will charge connected to the powered hub with or/without the hub turned on it still will not allow a single device to worked. I've used Nook Color Tweaks with my USB Hub plugged in with both USB Host Mode and VBus External Powered checked (In all 3 roms; AOKP, CM 7, and CM 9) and the only successful attempt made where the HUB and all 4 devices worked were in CM 9 for about a day and a half. Then I pulled the OTG Cable without un-mounting the flash drive, and alas, no-go with the Powered USB Hub.
USB Host Controller tells me I have USB Host Mode enabled (In all 3 roms) yet going to connected devices shows nothing. USB Host Viewer (In all 3 roms) shows nothing connected. And USB Host Diagnostics tells me various things that I'm willing to list here if needed (Host API, Kernel, etc), yet each time the USB Devices connected during the diagnosis, they are not recognized.
Troubleshooting:
- I've plugged my usb powered hub to my computer. It works just fine with each device connected, at once, or together.
- Each device works independently connected to my computer (Keyboard, Mouse, Flash Drive, Game Controller).
- I can still connect a keyboard and mouse independently to my nook with Nook Color Tweaks, but Plug N Play does not work.
- I've attempted both USB Host Mode off of SD Card (CM 9) and EMMC (AOKP Build 40) where Plug N Play only worked with SD Card (CM 9).
- The Kernel for all 3 roms has been 2.6.32.xx or greater (Cm 7.2 used Dalingrin's OC kernel, AOKP Build 40 uses 2.6.32.59, and I'm unsure of CM 9's).
At this point I'm at a loss and I am looking for help. I've done a fair bit of searching (Admittingly too much during work) on these forums. As stated in the beginning of my post, I had it working with all 4 devices in CM 9 booted off my sd-card, since then I've switched my EMMC from CM 7.2 Kangs to AOKP Build 40 (hawt) and successfully used both with a mouse and keyboard. But I cannot get the powered USB HUB to do anything BUT power my Nook Color.
Thank you for your responses and if you need logs, links to the items, apps, or roms used,(forum wouldn't let me post all of them) screenshots from apps, anything, I will respond as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Have you considered on just reinstalling the whole build over from scratch? I think the USB host is part of the drivers in the kernel layer and that kernel layer might have become corrupted. If you got wifi and audio working on that nook color then the likelihood of having a hardware problem by that definition becomes less of an option, the USB hub is driven by the CPU. So if you got cyanogenmod up and booted, this points to a possible kernel opps. You stated you had it up before. I don't work on kang and AOKP builds so how is the stability of the usb host mode for those builds? Sounds more of a software issue and not some hardware issue. Unless you just like trying to decompile software for a learning experience for yourself. Did you do a hardware hack for your nook as stated in this thread here? http://hackaday.com/2010/02/10/usb-host-mode-for-droid/
Also make sure you disable all of your apps on your device, that is another possible cause, we don't know what type of apps or mods you have made.
Unless you got support to your USB the only way to find the problem is to decompile your whole build through ADB. Logs will not find the problem if its in the kernels. Or are you using ADB through wireless? Check this thread here if you haven't seen this thread yet. There is an app that gives you USB host support already. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1468531
UPDATE Aug 31st. 2012. Check thread here on USB host support. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1459892
If you want more experience on how android operates, you can start off by building your own cyanogenmod on your computer, the cyanogenMod wiki here shows you how. http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Barnes_&_Noble_Nook_Color:_Compile_CyanogenMod_(Linux)