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Noticed a number of people lamenting the lack of usb host functions in current pda's, so here's some good news:
Sitecom (hxxp://www.sitecom.com) have released two usb-on-the-go products:
CN-131 - USB On-The-Go-Copy Box
CN-230 - USB On-the-Go Cable
They claim you can connect two usb devices without needing a pc.
I haven't been able to confirm how compatible it is, but reading up on the usb-on-the-go specification, I'm optimistic.
I haven't been able to find either on sale in the UK, but came across a review site in the Netherlands quoting RRP of €14.99 for cable and €34,99 for box.
Also, Micro Warehouse (hxxp://www.microwarehouse.co.uk) stock something called the Macally SyncBox, which does the same for £24,66 incl vat.
As far as I can tell, all these devices are available to people in the USA and mainland Europe.
For my use, I wish to connect my SPV M1000 to my HDD mp3 player. I spend 3-6 hours on the road every working day and I've been waiting for a device that will allow me to carry a large chunk of media (music, games, ebooks, etc) around with me, that can be (relatively) easily swapped.
http://homepage.mac.com/techedgeezine/2004-0624_syncbox1.htm
Heres some more info and pictures on the Macnally box.
http://www.delkin.com/pdf/product_docs/usb_bridge.pdf
Heres a link to the Delkin version, neither look like it will work with a pda though
Oh, Yeah?
Thanks for the reply, cruisin-thru. I was hoping one of the more technically proficient members would pick up on this.
Can I ask why you think it won't work?
I thought that, using the standard usb cable supplied with the SPV M1000 et al, and the same with my HDD mp3 player, there shouldn't be a problem.
The Sitecom products claim to work with most any usb 1.1 or 2.0 products.
The more I read up on usb, the more confusing it seems to get...
http://www.usb.org/developers/onthego/
from what i can read here a device is needed to be born usbontEHGO
for it to work non of the htc devices are to my knowlage born with that
The reason that it would probably not work is that the USB from the PDA to the PC is for the PC to recognise the PDA and present network/sync data to it - the PDA cannot look the other way down the cable and see the PC or any other device connected to the PC.
You can access the PDA's storage from the PC but you can't access the PC's storage from the PDA. Before anyone nitpicks, yes you could do it with a client/server setup or even an FTP server - but you wouldn't be recognising the PC as a device.
That is to say that the PDA is not equipped with anything to discover or use a USB hard disk connected to its USB cable, even with a clever little box in between. Even if the clever little box can discover hard disks connected to it and allow the user to perform disk operations from the box, the clever little box would not recognise the PDA (as it is not a hard disk, nor recognised as a hard disk.)
usb otg should work
the qualcomm 7500 has native usb otg(on the go) support, but you probably need special cableing
According to Texas Instruments the omap 850 supports USB on-the-go (otg).
And according to microsoft Windows Mobile supports USB OTG as of Windows Mobile 6.
Is this a true?
have enyone tryed if it works?
hmm... i'm really interested in this too....
i read the links you provided and it seems that someone who really knows programming could get this workin....
lets see what the future brings =)
What do you want USB on the go for? Do you want to use your Artemis as a USB Drive, cause if that was the case then you can use WM5 Storage. Activate it and you can access your storage card folder directly without having ActiveSync installed.
If you want to attach any devices then you need someone with good skillz!
i was thinking of attaching other things, like it is possible to do with the O2 xda flame
Well ok, I don't see a reason to attach devices but maybe you. Even if the processor has capabilities and you have some special software, that might not be enough. As far as I know the device has to power the other device, I don't know if the mainboard is designed to have enough power on the USB, maybe it will be damaged.
To be honest I don't know, it's just a guess. But don't count on it that it will ever be possible, I think the hardware around the processor is making more problems than the processor itself. If it is ever possible I wouldn't attach a harddrive that is powered through USB, that might kill your PDA.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=312843&highlight=flame
Well I too would love to be able to run a full size SD card reader, for the work I do with Tomtom Go's, a USB drive would be awesome too for data storage, whilst leaving the internal MicroSD free for apps etc.
But I too suspect Hardware would have had to be designed for this in the first instance.
Hi,
I've talked with developers in my company. They are working on USB client stack with other type of OMAP processor. In their opinion the main problem is not hardware and electrical connections, but software. So it is highly possible to use our Artemis as a USB host. Maybe +5 should be provided separately but signal wires are already in our USB sync cable.
So, maybe you can think it over and find the guru who will be able to solve the problem
Gromdar.
Thread been awefull quiet lately, any progress?
Hey, just thought Id revive this
It interests me deeply as I wish to interface things such as peripherals and storage with my orbit without having to replace USB controller with a host chip.
Im an avid programmer and have worked on netcode but never really interfaced a device or written drivers and im COMPLETELY new to the mobile platform in terms of coding.
Anyway if someone knows about .NET libraries particularly for USB and ones that are supported on mobile platform I am willing to invest the time and risk blowing up my xda for the cause
Hello everyone,
I also need to connect a usb peripheral to the Artemis P3300.The peripheral is a usb client device ,an rfid reader , from which i want to pass a short string of data to the Artemis.
My idea is to use an atmel microcontroller with usb on the go , to act as a host , read the data from the rfid reader and pass it to the Artemis.
As I am quite new to this kind of engineering I would like to hear your opinion about this way of interfacing the Artemis with the microcontroller. Do you think that the extUSB is suitable for a connection with a usb on the go host device?
Best regards
Hi been following XDA for quite a long time now (great forum)
Just had a thought would it be possible to connect a USB harddrive to your phone and get it to display the files on your phone?
Cheers Jake
AFAIK it's not possible for two reasons:
Main reason is that our phone isn't capable of USB Host which is what it would need to be able to negotiate a connection with the HDD. Both devices are effectively peripherals. I believe some phones are capable but not the Hero.
Secondly you would need to cable to go from your HDD which terminates in a mini usb connector (sure you'd be able to find on though).
Sorry,
Phil
Also, this question belongs in Q&A not Development but I'm sure a mod will be along shortly to sort that out.
http://adq.livejournal.com/95689.html
...but surprisingly nobody needs that.... pity...
Sort of stand corrected then I suppose. The usb chip does support Host but the support isn't in the standard kernel. He has made a go at porting it to the 2.1 kernel and is hoping to have it integrated into a villain rom. From what I read, I don't think he has got the USB port to be powered which severly limits the number of applications for this. Can get round by using a powered usb hub but this is pretty useless for mobile uses.
Is very interesting, still very much a work in progress though.
Thanks for the quick reply just thought could be quick useful.
When you think of it, if your phone battery would have to feed power to spin up a harddisk and keep it spinning, it would get depleted pretty quickly, so this feature would be of limited use anyway.
3.5 externals use their own power supplies
it would be cool, if this would be possible^^
an usb-memory-stick would be enough for beginning
docertabum said:
http://adq.livejournal.com/95689.html
...but surprisingly nobody needs that.... pity...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That guy developed a kernel patch with a driver to support usb host, maybe we could add it into the kernels that are being released, or even make it an optional patch that would be compatible with the kernels in this forum? I think keyboard support would be awesome, especially for those of us who like to flash roms often, it would make typing in all of our different account details in over and over again less of a hassle.
I've searched all over, because a while back I thought I seen a post somewhere about hooking up external usb devices to the phone, but I can't find it anymore. Is there an adapter or special cord that will allow you to hook up your DINC 2 to an external hard drive?
Sent from my DINC2 in Yuma, AZ
It would be nice if there was also a way to plug a flashdrive into the charger connection on the side of the phone and be able to read from that. People could have special collections of apps and roms that could be shared with friends by simply letting them plug in your flash drive. I honestly don't understand why this hasn't been an option. why couldnt a flash drive be pluged into one of these adapters (http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=PRh6Ts68OqrQiAKClK3JDw&ved=0CL0BEPMCMAM). from here it would just be a matter of the phone being able to read the information off the flashdrive, which im sure some developers could find a way..
As far as I know, the main issue is whether or not the USB port supports a USB host function. It's similar to the concept of a computer being able to support high-def video but not having an HDMI-out port through which to broadcast the signal. Then the second hurdle to jump over is whether or not a USB Host Stack has been written/and or provided in the software. That's where a dev would be able to write a stack (not very easy) for the phone.
Here's a little reading on the subject.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/usb/host.html
lightninjay said:
As far as I know, the main issue is whether or not the USB port supports a USB host function. It's similar to the concept of a computer being able to support high-def video but not having an HDMI-out port through which to broadcast the signal. Then the second hurdle to jump over is whether or not a USB Host Stack has been written/and or provided in the software. That's where a dev would be able to write a stack (not very easy) for the phone.
Here's a little reading on the subject.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/usb/host.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is some good reading.. Heres some more I found about it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=751535
Maybe I should have read this when I haven't been drinking. I might understand a little better. But it sounds like a lot of work. I would be willing to donate like 50 bucks if someone could get this working for the DINC2 and my external hard drive.
Sent from my DINC2 in Yuma, AZ
'twould be cool
This would be very cool. I hope that someone can do something with this. I'd be willing to donate to the cause
I found something that might work, I haven't got it to work myself though.
Sent from my DINC2
I was intrigued and googled your image. Found and installed USB Host Controller but it said the phone does not have the OTG or HOST driver installed. On the app page it links to Nexus One USB Host project page saying Snapdragon/HTC supported kernels can be found there or something along that nature. From what I can gather it would need to be added into a kernel something which I have no idea how to do. Also, it sounds like ICS will support this feature by default so I doubt the devs will go out of their way to implement it. One can always dream though . Hope that helps!
Then what happened?
why not just toggle USB mode and use your computer as a "External" HDD.........
danielholm said:
Then what happened?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely nothing. It was a failed attempt.
Sent from my DINC2
dets34 said:
why not just toggle USB mode and use your computer as a "External" HDD.........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because at the time, my computer took a dump and no longer worked. But I recently got a new one.
Sent from my DINC2
Yea who doesn't want to lug around an external hardrive? The chicks dig the extra space
Sent from my ADR6350 using xda app-developers app
I have an Acer Iconia A100 Tablet with Adroid Honeycomb 3.2. I also have an Arduino-compatible board with USB Shield. (Arduino is an open source hardware platform that enables Android tablets/phones to do things like machine control over the Universal Serial Bus.)
My A100 won't communicate through the USB port to the board. I know it's not designed to work in USB Host mode, but this setup is designed for tablets with USB Accessory mode. Other posts say that Android 3.2 devices are supposed to work in USB Accessory Mode and with the Android ADK. (Note that I did enable "USB Debugging" in Settings - Applications - Development.)
Here is a picture of what I am trying to do:
www(Dot)seeedstudio(Dot)com/wiki/File:SeeeduinoADK_Setup.jpg
The Android phone can toggle an LED and receive input from a variable resistor. USB Power is provided by the board, not the phone.
I'm trying to troubleshoot why the A100 does not recognize anything connected to its USB port. Yes, I can transfer files to a PC over the USB, but that's about it.
I downloaded a terminal emulator app to my A100. When I put "USB devices" into the terminal emualtor, it never sees any devices connected -- not even my PC when I transfer files.
Another post talks about installing "Taboonay" on an Acer A500 unit to allow it to work in USB Accessory mode, but I could find nothing equivalent for the A100.
Can something be done to get the Acer A100/3.2 to work in USB Accessory mode?
This is a very interesting post.
First let me say I'm a noob but I will do the best I can with what I know.
I'm not sure if we will get full USB host or at least accessory mode. I think it will always be a multi-part issue. I think the micro USB port the A100 comes with doesn't the correct pins to provide power to ANY USB device. So what ever device is connected has to supply its own power. If this is correct I don't a way around having to supply any USB device external power(this doesn't seem like a major issue just a limitation).
At first I figured we could just use a powered USB hub and we would be good to go I guess not... at least not yet.
However on other devices developers here have been able to rewrite a USB driver to enable other modes and features. Right now the hope is that this can eventually be done. I don't think a solution is currently available. It does sound like you might of assistance in furthering that cause however and would encourage you join us all in seeing what we can get our A100s to do.
I hope this information was helpful for you.
NoSudo said:
the micro USB port the A100 comes with doesn't the correct pins to provide power to ANY USB device. So what ever device is connected has to supply its own power. If this is correct I don't a way around having to supply any USB device external power(this doesn't seem like a major issue just a limitation).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct, the micro USB port will not supply power to devices connected to it, even if it did it would drain the battery even quicker than what it does.
In order to get USB host / accessory mode to work the most we can do at the moment is compile a kernel module for it and try to load it in the current running kernel via insmod. Right now such a thing does not exist, but hopefully if I ever get some free time and if no one else has done it I'll be able to do it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Thanks to crossix and NoSudo for the replies. I have been beating my head against the wall for weeks trying to understand my problem. Apparently, some Honeycomb 3.2 devices can operate in USB Accessory Mode and some cannot. I could not find anything in the Acer A100 specs that addressed this, and Acer Tech Support has not been helpful.
One question: If the unit can somehow get upgraded to "Ice Cream Sandwich," would that solve the USB Accessory Mode problem?
roc524 said:
Thanks to crossix and NoSudo for the replies. I have been beating my head against the wall for weeks trying to understand my problem. Apparently, some Honeycomb 3.2 devices can operate in USB Accessory Mode and some cannot. I could not find anything in the Acer A100 specs that addressed this, and Acer Tech Support has not been helpful.
One question: If the unit can somehow get upgraded to "Ice Cream Sandwich," would that solve the USB Accessory Mode problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, ICS will not.. but if they enable the functions at the time they build the kernel that might do it.
Sent from my moto atrix running jokersax CM9 (ICS)!
crossix said:
No, ICS will not.. but if they enable the functions at the time they build the kernel that might do it.
Sent from my moto atrix running jokersax CM9 (ICS)!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is right... assuming they have a driver for such a thing. Since it seems they are basing their kernel on the Ventana board, I don't see why not.
crossix said:
No, ICS will not.. but if they enable the functions at the time they build the kernel that might do it.
Sent from my moto atrix running jokersax CM9 (ICS)!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off subject, but geez dude, how many devices do you have? I find your posts all over xda with a different "sent from my ________" all the time! Lol
ummmmm............ could you repeat that?
6stringandy said:
Off subject, but geez dude, how many devices do you have? I find your posts all over xda with a different "sent from my ________" all the time! Lol
ummmmm............ could you repeat that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The MB860 is the Atrix. I should know, I'm running Joker's CM9 on it too
lol, I've been on these forums for a few years, so I've got a few different phones I've gone through including a palm treo 750, htc kaiser, the g1, nokia e75, htc aria, iphone 3gs, lg quantium and now the atrix.. I think my next phone is gonna be a tegra3
Sent from my moto atrix running jokersax CM9 (ICS)!
Ripped off by USB Capabilities
Recall that I have an Acer A100 with Android 3.2 and micro USB port that will not work in "USB Accessory" mode as the operating system would have me believe. How can I avoid a similar problem with my next tablet purchase? Could I have checked the tablet's specs more thoroughly? I feel ripped off and would like to know how to buy more intelligently in the future. Acer tech support does not have a clue about this and does not care.
Thanks to the respondents of this post.
yeah, as they said, the micro-usb port on board won't supply power to devices connected through it.
I tried THIS but didn't work, so, maybe if we could make an usb to micro-usb cable with its own power supply it could work (not sure at all)
USB Accessory Mode not Host Mode
Thanks, but the USB power is not an issue here. The board I am using (www(dot)seeedstudio(dot)com/depot/seeeduino-adk-main-board-p-846.html) receives external power. My tablet is supposed to operate in USB accessory mode in which it can send out USB information to this board which provides power.
I am trying to find out, before I buy my next one, whether the phone/tablet can handle this "USB Accessory mode." Some devices can handle it as per this picture: www(dot)seeedstudio(dot)com/wiki/File:SeeeduinoADK_Setup.jpg. The Acer A100 cannot. How could I have determined this before I bought it??
roc524 said:
Thanks, but the USB power is not an issue here. The board I am using (www(dot)seeedstudio(dot)com/depot/seeeduino-adk-main-board-p-846.html) receives external power. My tablet is supposed to operate in USB accessory mode in which it can send out USB information to this board which provides power.
I am trying to find out, before I buy my next one, whether the phone/tablet can handle this "USB Accessory mode." Some devices can handle it as per this picture: www(dot)seeedstudio(dot)com/wiki/File:SeeeduinoADK_Setup.jpg. The Acer A100 cannot. How could I have determined this before I bought it??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to test something like that out is to bring something that requires being plugged into a usb to operate (like your keyboard) or you could Google "<device name> tech specs".
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
Any news on this ...?
Has a usb driver been developed or something (will it be on ics )?
crossix said:
You are correct, the micro USB port will not supply power to devices connected to it, even if it did it would drain the battery even quicker than what it does.
In order to get USB host / accessory mode to work the most we can do at the moment is compile a kernel module for it and try to load it in the current running kernel via insmod. Right now such a thing does not exist, but hopefully if I ever get some free time and if no one else has done it I'll be able to do it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Crossix did you have time to check this...?
Thanx...
Sent from my A100 using Tapatalk
Thanks for all the work, would love this on my tablet as well.
In the service manual I have found the scheme of our motherboard. Our device's HARDWARE doesn't support USB host at all.
New here, I just bought an Acer A100 specifically for using it with the android ADK based off this (apparently I can't post links? ok just google "Tablets and the Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK)" and click on the first result) website's recommendation. And now I find that it doesn't work at all? Nothing I can do about this?