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External USB hard drive

Does anybody know if it is possible to connect the phone to a USB hard drive?

only with flame and Athena as they are the only ones which support usb host
other devices cant use usb devices only be used by usb hosts normaly a pc

There was actually someone who developed a working hard disk storage driver for windows mobile but last I checked the site no longer offered it. Searched for days trying to find the file elsewhere. No luck. Cant think of the company that made the driver.

I'm bumping this as I am also after the same sort of program / utility.
I want to be able to access my External HD and view / play files off it... anyone able to help me out?

Maybe with a external powersupplied disk
Rudegar said:
only with flame and Athena as they are the only ones which support usb host...
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Correct
Our Hermes has no usb host support. I found a topic at forum.brighthand.com which suggested the host functionality could be added with a usb host driver. I found the software (attached zip) but alas... Though I did exactly as the 'manual' (readme.txt) explained, the usb-stick did not appear in my explorer.
Possibly an external drive with external power supply might work because the hermes usb port is simply not powerful enough to supply the power to the usb-stick. However I did not "explore that possibility" (don't have one ) and chances are 'just a driver' is not enough and hermes lacks "usb host hardware".

dident read the post because you dident give a link to the post just the forum
but i doubt that it's a general thing
many pda's have usbhost in the cpu itself but htc never connected those connectors
so it's not wired to the connector they have their own usb chip
so if the post you read said it about any other pda then htc based one it could be that that manufactor did connect the usb but dident supply the driver which would then be fixed with what you found

Rudegar said:
many pda's have usbhost in the cpu itself but htc never connected those connectors
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Click to collapse
Sounds like there could be the potential for a hardware hack...

heh, nice try. but it will end like GPS HW hack on the TyTN (aka Hermes). it is not worth it, I mean there is easy way, just buy device with GPS integrated, or buy external. I have electronic skills and proper tools, I can do such things but it is too complicated. in that hermes was problem, that antena was not properly connected and you can never get a GPS lock. I guess that with usb host is the same. missing circuitry.
Deuce Nitro said:
Sounds like there could be the potential for a hardware hack...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yepp!
Hi,
this is correct
sinmae said:
heh, nice try. but it will end like GPS HW hack on the TyTN (aka Hermes). it is not worth it, I mean there is easy way, just buy device with GPS integrated, or buy external. I have electronic skills and proper tools, I can do such things but it is too complicated. in that hermes was problem, that antena was not properly connected and you can never get a GPS lock. I guess that with usb host is the same. missing circuitry.
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Click to collapse
The USB host port of the Samsung CPU is used to connect to the internal GSM/GPRS chipset. So no chance to break it up!
If someone would ever hack this hardware part, the result would be a hermes without radio.
The engineers at HTC used the USB host port to achieve the necessary bandwith for high speed data connection to the GSM/GPRS chips from Qualcomm.
Best regards,
scholbert

thats an interesting information, thanx
scholbert said:
The engineers at HTC used the USB host port to achieve the necessary bandwith for high speed data connection to the GSM/GPRS chips from Qualcomm.
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USB Host disconnected pin?

hello,
i've heard that the universal WOULD support USB host drivers if an unconnected pin inside the universal was connected... could anyone tell me;
- if i manage to get the pin connected, would i get usb host features like on any other usb host phone with proper drivers?
- how hard is it to do?
- WHAT to do?

Oh man,really really nice interesting idea,hope it's true and possible,i hope someone knows all about that and soon writes here how that is possible maaan,would be really awesome to play with that

PalDragan said:
Oh man,really really nice interesting idea,hope it's true and possible,i hope someone knows all about that and soon writes here how that is possible maaan,would be really awesome to play with that
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nice to hear someone else would like to get it to work too
EDIT: just found this on another thread on another forum about a PXA270 phone, someone was trying to get it to work, seems like all we need is
- switch the pin to host mode
- a driver (maybe zenos latest ones?)
After about 6 months of not touching this project, I decided to take another quickie look at the PXA270 docs and programmers reference. What I now see is very interesting.
Originally, I was looking at bringing out the USB Host 1 interface pins to the outside world as they were only terminated internally on the motherboard. Only about 1% of users might be able to do that.
I then started to look at the USB OTG (On The Go) interface that this chip supports. The USB OTG interface can be used as both a client and host. It shares the same pins as the Axim's serial port. Unfortuately, there are two serial control lines pins that are not brought out to the connector, so I scrubbed that idea.
This past weekend I picked up the programmer's design reference book to look at how the various USB interfaces are programmed and I saw something that I missed before as this was in the USB Client section. It appears (to me anyways) that the USB Client pins can also be programmed to act as a USB Host when in the USB OTG low power operation mode. The manual discusses how the additional control registers are used along with an output mux and charge-pump circuit (to provide the +5v). Refer to the PXA27x Processor Family Developer's Manual - dated Jan 2006, sections 12.5.2 and 20.
I will be looking at this more closely to see if a simple driver can be written (Afarre, where are you...) to switch the USB client pins into Host mode. In addition to this, the USB device drivers would be needed. Please remember, an additional IO interface circuit will be needed to connect between any USB device and the Axim as the proper voltages are not on the sync connector.
Click to expand...
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the_fish said:
nice to hear someone else would like to get it to work too
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Suuuuuuuuuure,every crazy idea to abuse my PPC and i'm in for the quest

PalDragan said:
Suuuuuuuuuure,every crazy idea to abuse my PPC and i'm in for the quest
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Click to collapse
haha same, btw thats the link to the topic:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/x50-x51-forums/140071-hacking-pxa270-internal-usb-host-24.html
Unfortunately, this means it's not for 99% of users as it requires a delicate hardware mod/addition to the motherboard (see my earlier posts & photos in this thread).
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seems like they were still working on the driver (which we already have(?)) so we only need the hardware mod.... i guess...

the_fish said:
haha same, btw thats the link to the topic:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/x50-x51-forums/140071-hacking-pxa270-internal-usb-host-24.html
seems like they were still working on the driver (which we already have(?)) so we only need the hardware mod.... i guess...
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Click to collapse
Ummm it's definately a crazy idea. We were discussing with mamaich (our guru) last year. Unfortunately it's not that simple to provide the power in sync connector, which is acting as a usb client (connector) at the moment.

tomal said:
Ummm it's definately a crazy idea. We were discussing with mamaich (our guru) last year. Unfortunately it's not that simple to provide the power in sync connector, which is acting as a usb client (connector) at the moment.
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did you read in the thread i posted a link to? they had the same problem, but also found out that it maybe is possible to provide the nessecary +5v too, they were not sure tho, and i thought maybe zenos drivers contain the code to do that.

the_fish said:
did you read in the thread i posted a link to? they had the same problem, but also found out that it maybe is possible to provide the nessecary +5v too, they were not sure tho, and i thought maybe zenos drivers contain the code to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, seems there is a new idea of power injection from outside.
Anybody tried it...?

Couple of months ago, I was trying with outside +5v power but nothing happens

Win_XP said:
Couple of months ago, I was trying with outside +5v power but nothing happens
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Click to collapse
did you use one of those special USB cables that have two female USB-A, one for power and the other for the device to plug in?

http://htc-tytn-ii.handster.com/software.php?id=3339&for=HTC+TyTN+II
i don't know anything about this.. i'm actually looking to hook up something that normally has a rs-232 port.. but is also made in usb.. It draws power from another source
with something like that program doesn't that suggest usb host is possible..

http://gnalpgnarf.handster.com/software.php?id=3339&for=gnalpgnarf

hmmm....am I right or am I wrong?
Theoretically speaking the idea with a pin is supposed to redirect power from intake to output, however, not only Uni is incapable of supporting the output (you are essentially attempting to piggyback another device), the external support will not be possible due to pin configuration, regardless of the cable used.
Another thing, other than sheer experimentation, what would be the real point of such USB host?
STOP TORTURING YOUR UNIs, GUYS!!!!

I am pretty sure, that the Universal doesn't support USB Host.
It did not, it does not, it will not.
Sorry guys!
To be honest:
Yes, the PXA270 chip supports USB Host, but in most HTC devices they use this feature already for something else, like: WLAN or 3G connection.
DOMy

seen this?:
http://hhtinker.blogspot.com/2008/10/usb-host-on-treo-650.html

do you know what USB Host already busy?
it used as data call transfer radio <-> CE.
USB hub will not solve this problem easy.
also if you want attach it to miniUSB connector, you need additional OTG chip.
=> Host on universal is very hard to do, ...impossible.

Wiring sensors to android phone motherboard ???

Hi,
I am new to android hardware (have some experience with programming for Dalvik & NDK). I have an idea to use my old Android phone as a robot OS. However for that I'd need to connect more sensors to my device. I know this could be done over BT, but I am more thinking of wiring them to the OS. Is there anyone here that has any experience with that / know any link talking about that?
I am mostly thinking about connecting an array of microphones to the Android motherboard ...
Thanks in advance for your help...
Shahab.

shahab.fm said:
Hi,
I am new to android hardware (have some experience with programming for Dalvik & NDK). I have an idea to use my old Android phone as a robot OS. However for that I'd need to connect more sensors to my device. I know this could be done over BT, but I am more thinking of wiring them to the OS. Is there anyone here that has any experience with that / know any link talking about that?
I am mostly thinking about connecting an array of microphones to the Android motherboard ...
Thanks in advance for your help...
Shahab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
find a port that will accept it, and mod the OS to accept it and you should be fine

shahab.fm said:
I am mostly thinking about connecting an array of microphones to the Android motherboard ...
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Click to collapse
Depending on what you do with the audio from those microphones you're going to need support hardware (op-amps, etc.). I think you'd be better off using an intermediary device to interpret the audio and the send it to the Android device as serial data through the USB port. This can be done with an IOIO board, Arduino, etc.

I will try with IOIO to see how it goes
Hi,
I guess I would be trying IOIO in first attempt and see if I can find anything similar to IOIO but working with Bluetooth instead ...
Thanks for your help.

Bluetooth is definitely the simplest option to get going with.
If your phone and OS support USB host mode, then the other option is to use USB. I'm not sure what sound card support is like in Android, but if all else fails you could make your own USB device with an Arduino or similar to do the signal processing. Of course, then you might not need the phone...

If you have mad electronic and soldering skills you might also be able to hack into an I2C bus line. You'd then need to add some driver (maybe kernel support) for the device(s). But this would probably only work for sensors other than microphones (they're probably too high bandwidth for this method and probably don't use I2C anyhow).
I've dreamed of adding a flash LED to my phone in this way but been put off by the difficulty of the electronics and programming of it all and the fact I'd need to make an ugly case mod
This is way dirtier then just using Bluetooth or USB but I'd love to see someone try it

mk809iii or mk906?

I recently purchased a tv stick from China. The case is identified as mk809iii. But when I got to setup and the "about device" screen, it says the model is mk906 and so is the firmware. Can I safe to assume this is really a mk906? So if I want to update the firmware, I should look for mk906 software?
Another problem I have is I can't install drivers in to my Window 7 pc. I think I am supposed to push the reset button and insert a connected usb cable into the pc and the tv stick will get recognized. I made many trials without success. Are there any other method to install the drivers?

Have top open it up and check out the PCB layout and WiFi chip. I have a RK3066 that was sold as a MK906 but really a MK802iiis b.

bignazpwns said:
Have top open it up and check out the PCB layout and WiFi chip. I have a RK3066 that was sold as a MK906 but really a MK802iiis b.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great idea!. I guess it is a mk906 since Netxeon_MK906_V2.0 is printed on the circuit board. How do I go about finding the new firmware?

USB Synchronous and Asynchronous

Hi,
I am having a hard time trying to get a couple of USB devices to work properly on my headunit. One is a USB CarPlay dongle, and the other is an OTA tv tuner. Both USB devices get recognized by the headunit, however in the case of the first, it never gets passed a connection state where the dongle starts talking to the application. In case of the second, the OTA never finds TV stations after doing a complete scan.
USB devices like keyboards, mice, USB flash drives, even a webcam work fine. I contacted the manufacturer and they said they only support USB synchronous which may be the reason these devices can't work properly.
The unit is an Eonon GA7157 with the Allwinner R16 1.6GHz Cortex A7 Quad-Core CPU.
Questions:
Is it possible this is a valid claim?
My unit is rooted, can USB asynchronous be enabled via software?
I was also thinking this could be an OTG wiring issue, what do you think? I say so because the only way I could get the CarPlay dongle to work on my Samsung Tablet A, was with an OTG cable. A straight connector presented the same symptoms.
I am not too experienced with Android, so please be gentle

He was feeding you a load of horse manure.
Either that, or he meant something entirely different by "USB synchronous".
Precisely what do you mean by "get recognized by the headunit"?
What exactly *are* these two devices you are trying to use?
What *drivers* do they use?
Have you confirmed that the kernel is enumerating the devices?
Have you confirmed that the kernel is binding the proper drivers to them?
Have you confirmed that Android knows how to deal with the interfaces that the drivers are providing for these devices?
Have you confirmed that the interface permissions are such that a user application will be able to access it?
An OTG cable does two things;
1) It reverses the gender of the connector,
2) It sends a signal to the phone/tablet/whatever that it should switch its USB port from slave mode to host mode.
Nothing else.

Thanks for the tips. By recognize I mean that Android prompts me to confirm opening the accompanying apps when I plug in these devices to the USB port. E.g. I plug in the CarPlay dongle, Android prompts: do you want use Zbox (App) every time you use this device (Cancel or OK); I press OK and then the App stays in trying to connect mode forever.
The manufacturer has locked down USB debugging. Do you know of any apps (rooted or not) that will give me the information you pointed out?
thanks

It is unlikely that USB debugging is "locked down". More likely, its just because your USB device port is stuck perpetually in "host" mode on the wrong side of a USB hub, and therefore you can't connect to it. Try connecting to adb over IP instead.
I've never heard of any USB device on Android causing any kind of popup. That is very strange. Is it possible that the popup is being created by the program, i.e. "zbox"? Its possible that the system is sending a broadcast upon device enumeration, but the device access permissions are either wrong, or the kernel doesn't have the proper driver available.

luciusfox said:
It is unlikely that USB debugging is "locked down". More likely, its just because your USB device port is stuck perpetually in "host" mode on the wrong side of a USB hub, and therefore you can't connect to it. Try connecting to adb over IP instead.
I've never heard of any USB device on Android causing any kind of popup. That is very strange. Is it possible that the popup is being created by the program, i.e. "zbox"? Its possible that the system is sending a broadcast upon device enumeration, but the device access permissions are either wrong, or the kernel doesn't have the proper driver available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again. I am including some pictures that may help explain the problem a little better. As far as the passcode, from what I can tell this unit has 3. One for the Advanced Car Settings, Developer Settings, and USB Debugging. The first 2 I found on another forum and are 123456 and the other 7890. The USB Debugging is an alphanumeric string which I haven't found anywhere, and the manufacturer refuses to release it. When I toggle the USB debugging on, I get prompted to input the passcode. I have tried a few codes but no go, the USB debugging switch goes back to the off position.
The other pictures show the USB port capabilities of the headunit. The unit has 3 USB ports: one is taken by the WiFi module, the other by a dashcam, and the remaining one is open and where I plugged in the CarPlay dongle. There is also another picture of the USB CarPlay dongle device plugged in and listed as Mass Storage Gadget. The dongle does have internal storage of a few MBs.
Finally, I include a picture of the application Zbox. This is the latest version and it starts automatically when I plug in the USB CarPlay dongle.

Well, I made some progress with the password for the USB debugging switch. To summarize:
Car Settings: 123456
Developer Options: 7890
USB Debugging: [email protected]
Now I just need to figure out how to make the USB port work properly. Any ideas? I have USB debugging access and the device is rooted.

Well according to your second-last picture, the device is being detected as UMS (Usb Mass Storage). I.e., like a usb flash disk.
VIDID of 0x0525:0xA4A5 looks to be an e-ink tablet called "Pocketbook Pro 903".
The problem may be that your "carplay dongle" is masquerading as something it isn't.

Well, the VIDID could be the problem; however, this same CarPlay dongle works fine on 2 other Android devices; moreover, a USB OTA tuner behaves the same way, meaning it does not work on the headunit but does on remix and a tablet.

Well guys, this unit is going back to the seller. After playing with it and not getting anywhere with customization and customer service, it’s out the door.
I am getting an xtron octacore px5 unit. It looks like these head units have better developer support.

Do you have the English version of 3.0 you can post?

bass_rock said:
Do you have the English version of 3.0 you can post?
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You mean the Zbox firmware and software? if so, pm me, and I'll forward it to you.

isisyodin said:
You mean the Zbox firmware and software? if so, pm me, and I'll forward it to you.
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Click to collapse
Yea, and actually I was able to use the version on their site. It was al in English when I installed it and I’m now on version 3.0.2

bass_rock said:
Yea, and actually I was able to use the version on their site. It was al in English when I installed it and I’m now on version 3.0.2
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Whats new on 3.0.2 compared to 3.0.0? Do you know what was updated?

isisyodin said:
Whats new on 3.0.2 compared to 3.0.0? Do you know what was updated?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to Google Translate:
1. Optimize U disk upgrade USB recognition rate is higher
2. Optimize the phone connection, mobile phone recognition rate is better
3.carlife in the help page to add download guide
I was able to get it from here: https://translate.google.com/transl...=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://zjinnova.com&edit-text=

bass_rock said:
According to Google Translate:
1. Optimize U disk upgrade USB recognition rate is higher
2. Optimize the phone connection, mobile phone recognition rate is better
3.carlife in the help page to add download guide
I was able to get it from here: https://translate.google.com/transl...=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://zjinnova.com&edit-text=
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My new Xtrons recognizes the Zbox dongle very quickly. I think it is now as quick as some of the dedicated Alpine and Pioneer units.
As far as software, crisper icons and bypassing the connection window would be nice option. It should only display when a problem occurs. One thing that is flimsy is the USB connector but no software upgrade will fix it. I am considering opening it up and soldering a better connector. Also, heat dissipation is an issue. It needs a heatsink. I may just add one when I crack it open.
I am looking forward to the next iteration with wireless CarPlay. Someday.

isisyodin said:
My new Xtrons recognizes the Zbox dongle very quickly. I think it is now as quick as some of the dedicated Alpine and Pioneer units.
As far as software, crisper icons and bypassing the connection window would be nice option. It should only display when a problem occurs. One thing that is flimsy is the USB connector but no software upgrade will fix it. I am considering opening it up and soldering a better connector. Also, heat dissipation is an issue. It needs a heatsink. I may just add one when I crack it open.
I am looking forward to the next iteration with wireless CarPlay. Someday.
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Click to collapse
Yea the update definitely enhanced it a lot. I used to have a pioneer and it feels close to the same now.

bass_rock said:
Yea the update definitely enhanced it a lot. I used to have a pioneer and it feels close to the same now.
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Click to collapse
Prior to 3.0.2, what firmware/software where you running?