# Functional USB Host on Touchpad



## green

Hi all.

I was looking into USB host support on the Touchpad and I guess I have some good news.

There is fully functional USB Host support, you don't even need to do any SW modification, everything is supported out of the box with one caveat, you need external power.
Support for keyboard, mice, harddrives and cameras is fully built in the default WebOS software.
I guess HP planned to sell their own USB attachments, iPad-style.

The only thing you need is USB OTG cable. Like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-micro-U...781644?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item19c7d49acc
Basically just search for "USB OTG cable" on ebay, costs about $3. And USB Y-cable. The only two things you need are OTG microUSB cable and USB Y cable to provide external power. 

I am still looking into possibility of self-powered usb host mode, with all the support HP built in for it it almost sounds like a given there must be a way to enable it one way or another. Unfortunately chipset documentation is almost nonexistent.

Video time:


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## xiVFINISHERVix

Nice.


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## g00s3y

Awesome, this just makes me want my touchpad more and more...


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## samcripp

very nice fine!


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## adonis

Can you use a powered hub instead of the y-cable for power?


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## green

Yes you can if your powered hub also provides power to the upstream port.
If it does not (like majority of the hubs), then you can use Y cable and simply plug the "power leg" of the Y cable into one of the powered ports of the hub


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## docnas

If im not mistaken the Y cable is to connect to the power supply one arm of the Y to the peripheral of choice the other arm to the power supply. The other end is connected to the mini usb connection of the TP


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## skunkfu

I'm thinking of buying the TouchPad really soon. I must ask, does this also support card readers, such as storage mounting? And will this include Android at one point too?

Cheers


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## TheGr8Revealing

Do you think it would still work through the TouchStone?? ie, just leave your USB whatever plugged into the touchstone and you can just plop the TouchPad down and type/mouse/whatever without issue?


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## green

skunkfu said:


> I'm thinking of buying the TouchPad really soon. I must ask, does this also support card readers, such as storage mounting? And will this include Android at one point too?
> 
> Cheers


Storage mounting does work.
Android will fully support this as well, of course.


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## green

TheGr8Revealing said:


> Do you think it would still work through the TouchStone?? ie, just leave your USB whatever plugged into the touchstone and you can just plop the TouchPad down and type/mouse/whatever without issue?


I honestly don't know.
Chances look slim, unless they actually route some of the power to vbus.
I don' t have a touchstone to test, unfortunately.


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## Falstafff

Thanks green. Going to ebay now for the adaptors.


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## MY05GLI

Falstafff said:


> Thanks green. Going to ebay now for the adaptors.


Did the same exact thing! lol =D also bought a cool light up HUB


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## RafficaX

are there any specifics for the type of y cable? female end or 2 males? and do we need the otg cable if we get the y cable?

could you post a link like you did the otg cable to make sure. bc i see dual male, dual female, micro. Thanks.


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## RafficaX

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Port-Powe...459?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1a0eb7cb

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Port-USB-...839?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415a5cce6f

and would either of those hubs be ok to use? i see one says upstream for micro. just like some feedback from a guy that knows so i dont buy more than i need


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## MY05GLI

RafficaX said:


> http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Port-Powe...459?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1a0eb7cb
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Port-USB-...839?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415a5cce6f
> 
> and would either of those hubs be ok to use? i see one says upstream for micro. just like some feedback from a guy that knows so i dont buy more than i need


looks like the second accepts the printer style end not the mini usb looking thing.

i got these:

7-port usb hub $5.85
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220833504114?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Y cable: $2.02
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110592000290?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649


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## RafficaX

what about the first hub? second accepts usb and a printer hook-up. and my question is with the y cable it needs 2 male ends? i ordered the otg earlier but 2 males on the y adapter doesnt make sense to plug a keyboard or anything into it. i would figure 1 male to pc for power and a female for device and micro to TP. unless im wrong. not exactly sure y you need the otg if the y cable has a micro and male for power and a female for the device?


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## green

RafficaX said:


> are there any specifics for the type of y cable? female end or 2 males? and do we need the otg cable if we get the y cable?
> 
> could you post a link like you did the otg cable to make sure. bc i see dual male, dual female, micro. Thanks.


I use something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Mini-5-...032?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b4e174a8
the miniUSB goes into hub, one male goes to power port another one to OTG cable.


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## green

RafficaX said:


> http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Port-Powe...459?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1a0eb7cb
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Port-USB-...839?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415a5cce6f
> 
> and would either of those hubs be ok to use? i see one says upstream for micro. just like some feedback from a guy that knows so i dont buy more than i need


looks workable. Make sure your Y cable has the same type of end as your hub upstream port, like the next comment cautions you.


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## RafficaX

thank you! any recommendations on a hub? i posted 2 i found but am unsure about. would like a powered one so i dont need to link a y cable and all if possible.


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## green

RafficaX said:


> thank you! any recommendations on a hub? i posted 2 i found but am unsure about. would like a powered one so i dont need to link a y cable and all if possible.


If you want to avoid Y cable entirely, you need a special hub that provides power to upstream port as well.
I know they do exist though I have never seen one. As such I cannot provide any recommendations


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## LimitBreak

Thank you green for your video, I've been wanting to get a micro usb to female usb converter and try this for a while but was told no it does not work ! glad that you were able to show the functionality already built in.

Q: To connect my battery powered Camera that accepts micro usb would be a micro usb to a micro usb cable right, no need for a Y cable since the camera battry provides power ?


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## Rakeesh

LimitBreak said:


> Thank you green for your video, I've been wanting to get a micro usb to female usb converter and try this for a while but was told no it does not work ! glad that you were able to show the functionality already built in.
> 
> Q: To connect my battery powered Camera that accepts micro usb would be a micro usb to a micro usb cable right, no need for a Y cable since the camera battry provides power ?


That would depend on the device itself. Most will not operate unless they detect the incoming voltage.


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## LimitBreak

http://www.amazon.com/GTMax-Female-...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315060364&sr=1-72

A Female To USB A Female Adapter + 6FT Micro-USB Cable (Black) *For HP TouchPad*

Spmeone already trying to make money based on this !


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## LimitBreak

Rakeesh said:


> That would depend on the device itself. Most will not operate unless they detect the incoming voltage.


Thanks, I have a Y cable anyway I guess I'll use it, but unfortunately has a mini usb type B on the other end, I'll have to get converter for that too

btw can I connect the other power end of the Y cable to the USB AC adapter provided with the touchpad ?


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## TecKnight

*This is great news !!*

As for cabling/power requirements for OTB USB, this is a good source.

http://htc-linux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Msm_Usb_Host


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## green

LimitBreak said:


> Thank you green for your video, I've been wanting to get a micro usb to female usb converter and try this for a while but was told no it does not work ! glad that you were able to show the functionality already built in.


Note that just any microUSB to USB probably won't work, you need OTG cable, where the ID pin is shorted to provide Touuchpad a hint that you want usb host mode. Or you will need a patched kernel otherwise.



> Q: To connect my battery powered Camera that accepts micro usb would be a micro usb to a micro usb cable right, no need for a Y cable since the camera battry provides power ?


It depends on if the camera actually provides power to the usb port as well, not only to itself. I suspect you will still need the Y cable.


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## green

LimitBreak said:


> Thanks, I have a Y cable anyway I guess I'll use it, but unfortunately has a mini usb type B on the other end, I'll have to get converter for that too
> 
> btw can I connect the other power end of the Y cable to the USB AC adapter provided with the touchpad ?


Yes, this should work too. 5v is 5v no matter where it comes from


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## lschroeder

green said:


> I use something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Mini-5-...032?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b4e174a8
> the miniUSB goes into hub, one male goes to power port another one to OTG cable.


I have a y cable like this and a hub. If I setup using an OTG on the upstream can I plug a flash drive into the hub? Is the software there to mount it? If the software is not there can we use a terminal like program to tweak the current software to mount the flash drive?


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## green

lschroeder said:


> I have a y cable like this and a hub. If I setup using an OTG on the upstream can I plug a flash drive into the hub? Is the software there to mount it? If the software is not there can we use a terminal like program to tweak the current software to mount the flash drive?


Yes, it looks like the software is all there ans you can use external drives just fine.


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## LimitBreak

I wonder if we can eliminate the need for the external power supply with an android patch as many android devices like the galaxy s II do not require a Y cable and supply enough power to the connected device!


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## TchnclFl

Does the external storage, etc. Show up nicely? Like is it native? Or do we need other programs to use it?


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## MY05GLI

green said:


> Yes, it looks like the software is all there ans you can use external drives just fine.


just wonder if you could post a screen shot of how it comes up? if thats cool, TIA.


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## Bounce

Power Hub Option
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/9223/?pfm=Search&t=tardis hub


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## TchnclFl

Bounce said:


> Power Hub Option
> http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/9223/?pfm=Search&t=tardis hub


Haha maybe a bit excessive.


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## kilokahn

Since we're talking about powered solutions, I am a bit lost with these Y splitters. Why couldn't you use a 5v hub and plug that directly into the Touchpad? It is powered and 5v by default. Sure, you'd need a USB to micro cable or whatever type of plug it is, but why is the Y splitter so important?

I could see something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220833504114?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 (5v powered hub, using AC for power and mini-usb for plug (it comes with a mini-usb to normal USB)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-micro-U...781644?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item19c7d49acc (USB female to Micro USB male)

Wouldn't this be the easier solution?


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## TchnclFl

kilokahn said:


> Since we're talking about powered solutions, I am a bit lost with these Y splitters. Why couldn't you use a 5v hub and plug that directly into the Touchpad? It is powered and 5v by default. Sure, you'd need a USB to micro cable or whatever type of plug it is, but why is the Y splitter so important?
> 
> I could see something like this:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/220833504114?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 (5v powered hub, using AC for power and mini-usb for plug (it comes with a mini-usb to normal USB)
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-micro-U...781644?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item19c7d49acc (USB female to Micro USB male)
> 
> Wouldn't this be the easier solution?


The only reason I can think of for the need to send power to the Touchpad is that it won't recognize a connected device unless voltage is present on the 5V line. Seems like a crappy design to me.


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## kilokahn

TchnclFl said:


> The only reason I can think of for the need to send power to the Touchpad is that it won't recognize a connected device unless voltage is present on the 5V line. Seems like a crappy design to me.


But 5v is standard on USB, USB depends on the 5v I thought? A powered hub should be sending 5v back to the Touchpad. Am I wrong?


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## TchnclFl

kilokahn said:


> But 5v is standard on USB, USB depends on the 5v I thought? A powered hub should be sending 5v back to the Touchpad. Am I wrong?


Most hubs would not send 5V upstream. Think about it: Why would it send 5V to the computer it's attached to? The Computer usually supplies the power. Most powered hubs can run without the adapter too, so they expect to receive power from the device.


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## kilokahn

TchnclFl said:


> Most hubs would not send 5V upstream. Think about it: Why would it send 5V to the computer it's attached to? The Computer usually supplies the power. Most powered hubs can run without the adapter too, so they expect to receive power from the device.


Yes, you are 100% correct now that I have done testing. When I plug it in I get the "Device May Not Charge". I used the same setup you saw me post. Now what needs to be done is to plug a 5v into one of these free ports. There are 7 ports, so may as well use one of them. I guess the Y cord would work. Just plug 1 of the Ys into the hub out, plug 1 of the Ys into the hub in and then finally adapter the other piece.


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## TchnclFl

kilokahn said:


> Yes, you are 100% correct now that I have done testing. When I plug it in I get the "Device May Not Charge". I used the same setup you saw me post. Now what needs to be done is to plug a 5v into one of these free ports. There are 7 ports, so may as well use one of them. I guess the Y cord would work. Just plug 1 of the Ys into the hub out, plug 1 of the Ys into the hub in and then finally adapter the other piece.


Correct. That's what I would do .


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## kilokahn

What would be the danger to take the +5 from the power plug and jumpering that to the device? Or you feel that the v5 wouldn't output with the rest of the USBs equally?

*EDIT:* Instead of blowing up my touchpad and my USB hub, I am just going to buy this: 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-USB-2-0...871?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27ba21e847

I already have a USB mini male to a USB female, so this shouldn't be a big issue. I will just use my USB cord that came with my Touchpad. If you don't have one and your hub takes a Mini:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Female-...765?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0036e7fd

Here is the Hub I have already: 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220833504114?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

If it works, I would recommend other people to use this method because it gives you more length on the cord overall.


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## ishould

I just got 10 cables of various kinds from monoprice for $13


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## kilokahn

I love Monoprice, but if you're just buying 1 cable then you're going to eat shipping costs. I usually buy a lot of adapters and cables in a sitting there. These I listed ship for free, made sure these were good deals.


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## MY05GLI

kilokahn said:


> What would be the danger to take the +5 from the power plug and jumpering that to the device? Or you feel that the v5 wouldn't output with the rest of the USBs equally?
> 
> Here is the Hub I have already:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/220833504114?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
> 
> If it works, I would recommend other people to use this method because it gives you more length on the cord overall.


you have good taste in Hubs! I own the same one LOL

actually posted the link to it 2 pages back


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## MY05GLI

MY05GLI said:


> you have good taste in Hubs! I own the same one LOL
> 
> actually posted the link to it 2 pages back


also posted this Y

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110592000290?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

i like the translucent body


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## kilokahn

MY05GLI said:


> also posted this Y
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/110592000290?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
> 
> i like the translucent body


My only qualm about that cord is I am not sure how much length is in the Y and if the charge port is proper. If you get that cord and get a picture of it then I'd be glad to go that route.

Personally me, I think my hub is too flashy or anywhere but home. I got it many moons ago from Geeks.com. I was thinking that if I would use this for business people would look at me like I was a loon. So I was considering trying a less conspicuous route if this setup works.

Now it'd be super awesome if my iPod could play from WebOS/Android. I am not holding my breath though.


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## MY05GLI

kilokahn said:


> My only qualm about that cord is I am not sure how much length is in the Y and if the charge port is proper. If you get that cord and get a picture of it then I'd be glad to go that route.
> 
> Personally me, I think my hub is too flashy or anywhere but home. I got it many moons ago from Geeks.com. I was thinking that if I would use this for business people would look at me like I was a loon. So I was considering trying a less conspicuous route if this setup works.
> 
> Now it'd be super awesome if my iPod could play from WebOS/Android. I am not holding my breath though.


lol i loved the flashyness hence why i got it! it for home so its fuN

Ill post pics of the Y as soon as i get it! had to order another OTG after i realized rushing made me pic a Mini female to Mini Male :money:


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## aspenman

Here's a USB Host OTG Cable on Amazon that works and I got it in only two days. I also ordered one from ebay a couple weeks ago, still waiting on it...


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## kilokahn

aspenman said:


> Here's a USB Host OTG Cable on Amazon that works and I got it in only two days. I also ordered one from ebay a couple weeks ago, still waiting on it...


What exactly is an OTG cable and what does it do? What's the difference between a normal cable and this OTG cable?

Thanks!


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## MY05GLI

kilokahn said:


> What exactly is an OTG cable and what does it do? What's the difference between a normal cable and this OTG cable?
> 
> Thanks!


u need OTG cable,the ID pin is shorted to put the Touuchpad usb host mode. Or you will need a patched kernel otherwise.

info learned from Green


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## kilokahn

Why couldn't I just short that pin myself? How do I know which pin it is? I'm really trying to understand how this works. Thanks! 

*EDIT:* I see, 5th pin is grounded on the micro for this. Very interesting indeed. Well then, I bought the wrong cable. Not a huge deal, I have enough of Micro USBs floating around to doctor one up.


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## LimitBreak

kilokahn said:


> Why couldn't I just short that pin myself? How do I know which pin it is? I'm really trying to understand how this works. Thanks!
> 
> *EDIT:* I see, 5th pin is grounded on the micro for this. Very interesting indeed. Well then, I bought the wrong cable. Not a huge deal, I have enough of Micro USBs floating around to doctor one up.


There is a youtube video that shows you how to modify the 5th pin by soldering it


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## Bounce

TchnclFl said:


> Haha maybe a bit excessive.


then there's my other one...


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## kilokahn

Okay, so I made my wire, took a normal USB micro male to USB male and made my connections and terminated pin 5 to the black (pin 4). When I plug it directly into my computer nothing happens, doesn't even try to charge or nothing on either my phone (Droid x2) or on the HP Touchpad. I was hoping to at least see something. I did test the pins with a continuity tester and it seems to be fine. Do I just wait for my plugs for my hub arrive or you think there is a deeper issue?

Thanks!


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## meggiedude

Can you use this option to USB tether to a smartphone.

I have an HTC Wildfire I want to have a wired tether to. Setting up the HTC as a WIFI hotspot option works, albeit slow.
I have better experience tethering my netbook with a physical cable so wanted to do this with the touchpad..

Before I read this thread I bought these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170684606939?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_1380wt_1139

The HTC smartphone also has a micro-USB input, so I thought if I used one of these adapters with either the micro-USB<->USB cables I have for the phone or the touchpad I would be able to tether, but no joy.

So does the OTG adapter cable listed in this thread do anything different to the adapters I have bought??

Cheers,

MD


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## kilokahn

That plug won't work, but you could modify it, it comes apart easily with a flat-head screwdriver. Then you just jumper pin 4 and pin 5 together on the microusb side with some solder then bob's your uncle.

_Chris_


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## meggiedude

lol, I think you have a different interpretation of "easily" than me. This is a bonded plug and I have little chips of plastic all over the kitchen now. 

Might it be easier to buy this?? http://www.dealextreme.com/p/micro-usb-on-the-go-host-otg-adapter-pair-50774?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=Merchant&utm_content=50774&utm_campaign=MerchantGBP
They look the same but are different. i.e 4 and 5 I thing are linked??

Cheers,

MD


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## kilokahn

Sure, that may be better.  I am surprised yours didn't go as easily as the others I have seen.


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## kilokahn

I want to open this up because I did all the steps mentioned by Green and the cord configuration does work, I even got a keyboard to work. However it doesn't charge the Touchpad, not sure why. I am using a powered hub, 1 of the legs is going to power and the other is going to the USB hub itself then I have the OTG cable. Everything seems to be 100% correct, but I am a bit lost.

Ideas?

*EDIT*: I plugged into my Android phone and it did charge in host mode. Curious...

*ADDENDUM*: Guess the power consumption is not enough for the HP Touchpad from the hub...
http://forums.precentral.net/hp-tou...tion-charge-when-i-plug-into-my-computer.html

I also have this problem when plugging my HP Touchpad directly in to the PC. Explains a lot! I hope Android remedies this.


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## Bboy486

green said:


> Storage mounting does work.
> Android will fully support this as well, of course.


so there is no way to use self powered HDD?


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## kilokahn

Not unless using a Y cable to have enough power to put it in host mode.


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## acuum

Has anyone used this to connect an SD card reader?
I'd love to use my touchpad to view photos taken on my camera so I thouhgt I'd try the following:

I've cobbled together from ebay:

1 Micro B to female A Cable (OTG type)
Y cable 2x male A 1x male A 
1 AA battery to USB charger (terminates in Female A)
1 USB Female to Female (gender changer)
1 inline SDHC card reader

I hope to run the SD card and touchpad 5v feed off the AA to USB adaptor and have my self a way to view SD card photos on the road.

any idea on whether this should work? Is it likely the build in picture app will see the SD card?

A


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## kilokahn

I've tried to see it with normal WebOS but I have not tried Preware yet to see if there is any file tools. I am curious how it mounts external sources anyhow.


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## vinnycogs820

I will do this once there is mouse support. Does anyone know if that is coming soon? Or ever? Hopefully HP releases a mouse driver or something.


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## Bboy486

kilokahn said:


> Not unless using a Y cable to have enough power to put it in host mode.


Is this a software or hardware limitation?


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## fgdn17

meggiedude said:


> lol, I think you have a different interpretation of "easily" than me. This is a bonded plug and I have little chips of plastic all over the kitchen now.
> 
> Might it be easier to buy this?? http://www.dealextreme.com/p/micro-usb-on-the-go-host-otg-adapter-pair-50774?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=Merchant&utm_content=50774&utm_campaign=MerchantGBP
> They look the same but are different. i.e 4 and 5 I thing are linked??
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> MD


yes just picked it up...seems to be best/simplest solution...and good price for 2.................thanks


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## kilokahn

So today I received my Y cable and did some tests with the Touchpad. If you let the Touchpad go into sleep mode it will disconnect the USB and coming out of sleep it won't re-enable but if the keyboard is that item, it won't show the virtual keyboard anymore. Only way out of this is a reboot.

Secondly I plugged the power in directly from the Y and the Touchpad still didn't charge properly, which leads me to believe that the OTG mode on here isn't really supported all that well. Sure, it works, but not very well. Thank goodness Android works much better with OTG cables. This will allow easier access to external hard drives and jump drives which would really rock.


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## Alan Hawk

one of the things you should mention is that for most USB hubs you are going to need a male B style end and two male A style ends on your Y cable. The original B, not the mini or micro. The one that looks like a square with the top corners lopped off. Sometimes known as a printer or scanner USB cable. These are not easy to find on ebay, between 25 and 30 dollars. Or you can get a mini or micro B style with two male A style, and then buy an adapter to go from that to the old B style.


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## Bboy486

If I have a y cord micro USB to 2 USB (for a portable HDD) and an portable external battery which has a receiving USB and a charging micro USB could I plug the y USB into the batterys USB,and the micro USB into the HDD . Wouldn't I just need a USB to micro USB adapter to plug into the tpad?

sorry if this is confusing-


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## Alan Hawk

Yes, but then where would you plug in your hub?


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## Bboy486

Why would I need the hub? I have the 5000mah external battery with two full USB out and micro USB in. Would that not work?


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## Alan Hawk

your micro USB in would have to be OTG, so that it can send power to the touch pad port letting the touchpad know a device was plugged in.


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## Bboy486

would either of these work

http://www.SuntekStore.com/hdmi-ca-156-and-usb-otg-ca-157-adapter-cable-for-nokia-n8.html

http://www.buy.com/pr/SellerListings.aspx?sku=223160832


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## Colchiro

Bboy486 said:


> would either of these work
> 
> http://www.SuntekStore.com/hdmi-ca-156-and-usb-otg-ca-157-adapter-cable-for-nokia-n8.html
> 
> http://www.buy.com/pr/SellerListings.aspx?sku=223160832


First one is OTG, and might work. (The second cable is hdmi)

The second link is not OTG.

Links have been posted, check those out.


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## Bboy486

does the y splitter need to be otg? The one I have is a y splitter for a portable HDD. Mini USB to 2 USB.

so if I got a otg micro USB to female USB I would plug the micro into the touchpad then, plug one of the male USB of the splitter into the female USB and the other USB into my external battery,with the mini USB going to my portable HDD.

would this work?

how does the touchpad see the hard drive?


----------



## Colchiro

I would think only the usb cable that plugs into your TP would need to be OTG.


----------



## acuum

OK, so I did some testing.

I had a Micro USB to Female A arrive in the post. It was not marked as OTG (I ordered this before I knew OTG was required, ) but I thought I'd have a mess around anyway.

With the help of some sacrificial USB extension cables, I made my own Female, to Male USB cable, with an extra Male cable running just the powering cables.
Plugging power in to a powered USB hub, and connecting using my make shift cable I was able to connect a keyboard to my touchpad and type.
This worked well.

So I then went on to try an SD card reader.

At first this looked great, The SD card reader read light came on for a second or so, then flashed of very briefly, then flashed for about 3 to 5 seconds fast as you'd expect to see as the SD card is mounted by the an OS. Then the LED went to a constant on state (as you'd expect when nothing was being written/read)
(At this point I was excited, things were looking good!)

However I've been using internalz Pro and I can't see any trace of an extra device in an unmounted state under any folder I can find, Or anything that looks like the SD card mounted.

Can anyone suggest where I might go with this?
Where should I be looking?

Can someone recommend a good local terminal app for the touch pad, I've yet to get SSH working.

My first thought was my dongle was not OTG and this would be the problem, but the SD card reader behaviour and more importantly the keyboard would suggest the cable set up I have allows the TP to going to host mode, so is this a limitation of WebOS, and going to require the android build to fix?

Any thoughts would be welcomed!
A


----------



## chefjw

First off not responsible for anything bad that happens if you do this. Caveat Modder. The problem is webos does not automatically mount drives when seen on an otg cable. You need to install a terminal editor then open that up and type mount /dev/sda1 /media/internal/usb. Then type LS /media/internal/usb to make sure it shows the files on the drive. Then fire up internalz pro and go to settings and click on show hidden files and apply that. Then create a new directory in /media/internal called usb and then you can access the files on the thumd drive. I used Executah/Xterm etc myself. Its a convoluted solution with all the cables and such I am still trying to find a really cheap usb hub that has powered uplink or find out how to properly wire a y cable so i can get my setup to a more manageable size its about the size of two packs of cigarettes atm.


----------



## acuum

chefjw said:


> First off not responsible for anything bad that happens if you do this. Caveat Modder. The problem is webos does not automatically mount drives when seen on an otg cable. You need to install a terminal editor then open that up and type mount /dev/sda1 /media/internal/usb. Then type LS /media/internal/usb to make sure it shows the files on the drive. Then fire up internalz pro and go to settings and click on show hidden files and apply that. Then create a new directory in /media/internal called usb and then you can access the files on the thumd drive. I used Executah/Xterm etc myself. Its a convoluted solution with all the cables and such I am still trying to find a really cheap usb hub that has powered uplink or find out how to properly wire a y cable so i can get my setup to a more manageable size its about the size of two packs of cigarettes atm.


THANKS CHEFJW!

Those instructions helped a huge amount. I got it working.
little slow, but i think usable.
Now to try and get them visable in the nice picture viewer app :erm:


----------



## chefjw

I read something about symlinking. I have done similar within windows but honestly a linux noob so not going any crazier than need be. I usually just move whatever file I want to open to the regular downloads folder on the touchpad. There is supposed to be an update to Internalz Pro soon and hoping it helps some with setting what program opens what files from within it.


----------



## Bboy486

chefjw said:


> First off not responsible for anything bad that happens if you do this. Caveat Modder. The problem is webos does not automatically mount drives when seen on an otg cable. You need to install a terminal editor then open that up and type mount /dev/sda1 /media/internal/usb. Then type LS /media/internal/usb to make sure it shows the files on the drive. Then fire up internalz pro and go to settings and click on show hidden files and apply that. Then create a new directory in /media/internal called usb and then you can access the files on the thumd drive. I used Executah/Xterm etc myself. Its a convoluted solution with all the cables and such I am still trying to find a really cheap usb hub that has powered uplink or find out how to properly wire a y cable so i can get my setup to a more manageable size its about the size of two packs of cigarettes atm.


So it will not show up via a file explorer?


----------



## acuum

@Bboy - no as it's not mounted no application will read it.

@Chefjw - I don't think symlinks are going to help.

Some more testing:

My first test was to mount the SD card under /media/internal/screencaptures/SD I was expecting the P&V to go into the sub dir and look for photos. but when I didn't get any I moved on assuming it would not iterate the folders.

I've created a new album in Photo&Videos (P&V) and noticed this creates a new folder under:
/media/internal/ALBUM_NAME

Leaving it empty, I then mounted the SD card into the folder.

This also didn't work. And I'm comming to the conclusion that this is the result of the files being hidden - In Internalz I had to turn on hidden files @ your suggestions. My guess is that this is what's causing P&V not to show the photos.

Anyone got any ideas here?

A


----------



## acuum

OK, im now wondering if it's somthing else, as copying those photos in to the original folders doesn't allow them to be visable either.


----------



## acuum

Right, it seems that the P&V app needs to do some kind of background scan in order to see new photos.

Putting the TP into USB slave (storage) mode and then back out seems to be enouhg to force P&V to rescan it's folders and now the pics i copied from SD to TP internal storage are visable.
of course this doesn't help in the slightest with reading an SD card though as I'd need the USB port for the SD card reader.

so only option is if there is somway to force the app to do the same re-scan. (reboots doesn't work!)

T


----------



## Bboy486

acuum said:


> @Bboy - no as it's not mounted no application will read it.
> 
> @Chefjw - I don't think symlinks are going to help.
> 
> Some more testing:
> 
> My first test was to mount the SD card under /media/internal/screencaptures/SD I was expecting the P&V to go into the sub dir and look for photos. but when I didn't get any I moved on assuming it would not iterate the folders.
> 
> I've created a new album in Photo&Videos (P&V) and noticed this creates a new folder under:
> /media/internal/ALBUM_NAME
> 
> Leaving it empty, I then mounted the SD card into the folder.
> 
> This also didn't work. And I'm comming to the conclusion that this is the result of the files being hidden - In Internalz I had to turn on hidden files @ your suggestions. My guess is that this is what's causing P&V not to show the photos.
> 
> Anyone got any ideas here?
> 
> A


Wait for the android port or buy this


----------



## koaschten

Bboy486 said:


> Wait for the android port or buy this


How would that help? Would be new to me that the TouchPad using webOS can read windows shares over wlan?


----------



## Bboy486

koaschten said:


> How would that help? Would be new to me that the TouchPad using webOS can read windows shares over wlan?


Has a web interface. Works on any device with an internet browser. Has its own ssid (wifi) and a built in battery. Works like a charm.


----------



## kilokahn

I honestly don't think HP was ready to release their USB host mode, it is not fleshed out well at all as you can see. I have not tried to mount a drive to the Android but I would assume it's tons easier.


----------



## Bboy486

green said:


> Storage mounting does work.
> Android will fully support this as well, of course.


How exactly does the volume mount? Does internalz see the drive? Or do I need mods?


----------



## vidar

Sorry for interupt.

But can somobody write one to one how to usb drive mounting?
I have got 2,5 external hdd what can I do for mounting? Please tell me like you tell like your mom.

And how can I mount the usb disk in Android too? I mean Alpha release. Will I write terminal something or automatically mounting in Android?

Please help me like you help a stupid man.

I mean please write like this

1-) Plug in to bla bla
2-) Plug in to bla bla
3-) Write terminal to bla bla
4-) Go internalz pro bla bla blah

Thanks for your answer and care.


----------



## chefjw

"vidar said:


> Sorry for interupt.
> 
> But can somobody write one to one how to usb drive mounting?
> I have got 2,5 external hdd what can I do for mounting? Please tell me like you tell like your mom.
> 
> And how can I mount the usb disk in Android too? I mean Alpha release. Will I write terminal something or automatically mounting in Android?
> 
> Please help me like you help a stupid man.
> 
> I mean please write like this
> 
> 1-) Plug in to bla bla
> 2-) Plug in to bla bla
> 3-) Write terminal to bla bla
> 4-) Go internalz pro bla bla blah
> 
> Thanks for your answer and care.


Webos or CM7. In CM7 2.1 it automatically mounts it if the format is supported. In. WebOS its pretty fickle I have seen it work with some devices and fail utterly on others you pretty much need a solid grasp with Linux to have much luck. On cm7 I believe it mounts as mnt/usbdisk.


----------



## maguirre

hi 
to connect a usb device on cm7 2.1 we need a Cable USB-OTG and at least for now a power source like a USB hub or a y cable?
thanks


----------



## nova_ck

I built a USB OTG cable, so by a normal Micro USB cable , I soldered pin 4 and pin 5 together . ( sense pin and GND ) 
At the end I have a OTG cable.
So I can use my USB keyboard, mouse, USB Driver on my hp touchpad ( Alpha2 ) 
Play games ( Fieldrunners HD, Fruit Ninja HD ...) , it makes a lot of fun.

View attachment 4725


Here is my video :

*Hp TouchPad play game with USB Keyboard and mouse*


----------



## Bboy486

I am trying to get this setup

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=9Omyv6YzBmA

The last otg cables I ordered were not org cables. The ones on the first post are expired. Has anyone bought the correct otg cable and can provide a link to the product?


----------



## chefjw

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300599021800&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123
This is where I bought mine the prices on them have been going up. With the touchpad you need to have upstream power using either a y cable or usb hub that powers upstream (hubs are hit miss its not normally advertised) . The hub / battery I use is in my previous post. Setup has worked with everything I have tried. Personally for games I prefer using a wiimote.


----------



## Bboy486

Any update on the ability to power USB devices?


----------



## twosheds

Bboy486 said:


> The last otg cables I ordered were not org cables. The ones on the first post are expired. Has anyone bought the correct otg cable and can provide a link to the product?


I bought one of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB-USB-Host-Cable-OTG-15-cm-4-Motorola-XOOM-/120783958169?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item1c1f48f099

HTH


----------



## jeff0519

Hi, for this video, could I use usb host to read usb disk date with Samsung galaxy s2 OTG cable???? thanks


----------



## matthindle

Hooray, I've managed to get it working!

I used a USB Y-cable along with an external USB charger and a 32gb memory stick. I plugged the red end of the Y-cable into the USB out of the charger, and the memory stick into the black end (of the Y, not the terminal end). I then plugged the whole shebang into my USB OTG cable bought for my Galaxy SII from eBay, and turned on the charger. Voila! I could now view the contents by using File Explorer and navigating to the USB drive at /mnt/usbdisk using File Explorer.

To safely unmount it, you have to use Unmount SD card in the Storage area of Settings.

Hope this helps









Edit: To clarify, this is CM7, not WebOS, although I'm sure the hardware would work the same...


----------



## jeff0519

matthindle said:


> Hooray, I've managed to get it working!
> 
> I used a USB Y-cable along with an external USB charger and a 32gb memory stick. I plugged the red end of the Y-cable into the USB out of the charger, and the memory stick into the black end (of the Y, not the terminal end). I then plugged the whole shebang into my USB OTG cable bought for my Galaxy SII from eBay, and turned on the charger. Voila! I could now view the contents by using File Explorer and navigating to the USB drive at /mnt/usbdisk using File Explorer.
> 
> To safely unmount it, you have to use Unmount SD card in the Storage area of Settings.
> 
> Hope this helps
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: To clarify, this is CM7, not WebOS, although I'm sure the hardware would work the same...


Sorry for my poor english. I don't fully understand u mean about the step of turned on the charger and then TP can read extra USB disk through the usb OTG cable??? But TP only have a usb port, how can I insert the charger and usb OTG cable at the same time???Or you mean my USB disk necessary have the charger function, so that work. If I am using as same as the ebay pic: Sandisk-16g, can I also read it through OTG cable. thanks for reply.


----------



## snake65

Hi all does any one actually know if we will ever get the usb port on the touchpad powered even if its not till ics instead of this work around,
Cheers
john


----------



## green

snake65 said:


> Hi all does any one actually know if we will ever get the usb port on the touchpad powered even if its not till ics instead of this work around,


So far seems to be pretty hard unless there is some sort of a chipset doc appears. all my attempts at poking around failed so far.


----------



## Bboy486

To developer ... is this a hardware only issue or would ics have this feature baked in?


----------



## bobdarkside

matthindle said:


> Hooray, I've managed to get it working!
> 
> I used a USB Y-cable along with an external USB charger and a 32gb memory stick. I plugged the red end of the Y-cable into the USB out of the charger, and the memory stick into the black end (of the Y, not the terminal end). I then plugged the whole shebang into my USB OTG cable bought for my Galaxy SII from eBay, and turned on the charger. Voila! I could now view the contents by using File Explorer and navigating to the USB drive at /mnt/usbdisk using File Explorer.
> 
> To safely unmount it, you have to use Unmount SD card in the Storage area of Settings.
> 
> Hope this helps
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: To clarify, this is CM7, not WebOS, although I'm sure the hardware would work the same...


Just out of curiosity, how powerful of a charger would one need to make it run. Would 2000mAh or less be enough. Heres a couple of examples http://www.amazon.com/Quality-1000mAh-External-Portable-Blackberry/dp/B005FIMHDA/ref=sr_1_3?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1320377534&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/2100mAh-External-Portable-Battery-Charger/dp/B004FR27KA/ref=sr_1_77?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1320377840&sr=1-77

http://www.amazon.com/T-Mobile-Portable-Battery-Charger-Cable/dp/B001W47SMG/ref=sr_1_17?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1320377980&sr=1-17

Thanks for any input anyone has in this matter.


----------



## green

Bboy486 said:


> To developer ... is this a hardware only issue or would ics have this feature baked in?


This is a hardware driver issue. since ICS does not come with a kernel for the touchpad, it won't work with ICS either


----------



## jeff0519

I really confuse that if I have not extra power charger to my usb disk, then my TP can not read the usb disk's data even through OTG usb???do have any video intro it???thanks


----------



## yeahman45

i will buy a usb otg cable and try it on android... i already have a y-cable... anyone can recommend a portable usb power source that is compatible?


----------



## chefjw

Any cellphone emergency charger should work. Ones made for iPhone definitely work its what I use in the pics I posted. And to Jeff the otg cable has to have power going to it so that the TP activates USB host mode.


----------



## user.101010

would this hub work.
http://usb.brando.com/usb-solar-charging-4-port-hub-with-torch_p01788c039d15.html


----------



## fgdn17

green said:


> So far seems to be pretty hard unless there is some sort of a chipset doc appears. all my attempts at poking around failed so far.


you have investigated this no???

https://www.codeaurora.org/gitweb/quic/le/?p=kernel/msm.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=9ea88891c0326206e1c5a8bcbdb402ad692d0ffa

though for a different snapdragon processor...I feel it maybe could also apply to the msn8x60 kernel drivers...

chips/drivers possibly involved...

PM8058/PM8901/P99003b5A/TPS61032/MAX8903

also see:

power/pm8058-charger.c

power/msm_charger.c

power/Kconfig

usb/function/msm_hsusb.c

usb/host/ehci-mxc.c

usb/otg/msm72k_otg.c

usb/otg/gpio_vbus.c

usb/core/hcd.c

usb/core/hub.c

and many others that maybe revalent...did a grep in
kernel/drivers for vbus.. (gingerbread_house, M8660AAABQNLZA3161E.xml)


----------



## hakkinen

I can use OTG on my TP by using a Duracell charger with a usb port (without hub but Y cable). The problem is that Kalemsoft can't see the video files after mounting the usb. Any ideas?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk


----------



## ReverendKJR

fgdn17 said:


> you have investigated this no???
> 
> https://www.codeauro...db402ad692d0ffa
> 
> though for a different snapdragon processor...I feel it maybe could also apply to the msn8x60 kernel drivers...
> 
> chips/drivers possibly involved...
> 
> PM8058/PM8901/P99003b5A/TPS61032/MAX8903
> 
> also see:
> 
> power/pm8058-charger.c
> 
> power/msm_charger.c
> 
> power/Kconfig
> 
> usb/function/msm_hsusb.c
> 
> usb/host/ehci-mxc.c
> 
> usb/otg/msm72k_otg.c
> 
> usb/otg/gpio_vbus.c
> 
> usb/core/hcd.c
> 
> usb/core/hub.c
> 
> and many others that maybe revalent...did a grep in
> kernel/drivers for vbus.. (gingerbread_house, M8660AAABQNLZA3161E.xml)


We don't know if the port has the proper connections to the board as of yet. Certain pins have to be connected in a certain order to have this be physically possible. Be patient. If this is possible, then cyanogenmod will implement it when they can.


----------



## fgdn17

ReverendKJR said:


> We don't know if the port has the proper connections to the board as of yet. Certain pins have to be connected in a certain order to have this be physically possible. Be patient. If this is possible, then cyanogenmod will implement it when they can.


seems to me the only pin in question would be the ID pin....the others are there we know because they work....vbus / d+ / d- / id / gnd as per http://193.219.66.80/datasheets/usb_20/Micro-USB_final/Micro-USB_1_01.pdf


----------



## green

fgdn17 said:


> seems to me the only pin in question would be the ID pin....the others are there we know because they work....vbus / d+ / d- / id / gnd as per http://193.219.66.80...ro-USB_1_01.pdf


we know that the id pin works.


----------



## green

fgdn17 said:


> you have investigated this no???
> 
> https://www.codeauro...db402ad692d0ffa


This does not contain anything interesting for us.

For all it's worth we already have all regulators being setup (the code was already there), but the output is not present on the usb connector.
It might be that they are not really connected anywhere or to connect them you need to do some extra magic like set some gpio or (like was the case with the Nook Color) tell the usb driving chip to actually output the power. But there is no documentation for either of those.

An alternative is to try and trick the battery charger circuit into opening the gates as if we are charging and see if the power appears, but the battery does not output anywhere close to 5v unfortunately, so this would only briefly work when the battery is very full (at least it somewhat worked on the nook before I found the doc on the mfd chip)


----------



## pkiyengar

i am able to connect my 8 gb usb drive to my touchpad CM using OTG and Y splitter cable. however i tried to connect my 1TB external hdd formatted to FAT 32 and it is not detecting. can anyone advise what is the maximum size supported so far? i have another android tablet that detects the 1 TB without any issues.


----------



## fgdn17

green said:


> ............................ if the power appears, but the battery does not output anywhere close to 5v unfortunately, so this would only briefly work when the battery is very full
> (at least it somewhat worked on the nook before I found the doc on the mfd chip)


think the tps61032 will give the vbus 5v output with the 3.7v input from the battery according to the spec....but it maybe a mute point according to this

Documentation/usb/_msm_otg_._txt_

also ref: http://www.ti.com/li...271/slyt271.pdf

http://www.ti.com/product/tps61032

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/slus534d/slus534d.pdf


----------



## pkiyengar

it would be great if someone can prepare an app like http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13337600&postcount=6 for mounting ntfs drive.

or atleast something like this for this kernel: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15167790&postcount=41


----------



## green

fgdn17 said:


> think the tps61032 will give the vbus 5v output with the 3.7v input from the battery according to the spec....but it maybe a mute point according to this


There is no tps61032 in touchpad, is there? The charger controller is max8903b, same as nook, and does not do any voltage conversions as far as I can see.



> Documentation/usb/_msm_otg_._txt_


Well, the only interesting bit I see in this doc is:
"If VBUS power is controlled by modem processor, RPC interface is used to turn on/off VBUS power."
But no examples, I already digged in other boards and none of them do anything like that. Common occurence is the vbus_power will turn on a couple of regulators. Assuming regulators power the stuff that is supposed to be powered, the necessary lines are either not connected to the usb connector or need some other way to enable them.


----------



## jeff0519

chefjw said:


> Any cellphone emergency charger should work. Ones made for iPhone definitely work its what I use in the pics I posted. And to Jeff the otg cable has to have power going to it so that the TP activates USB host mode.


oh thanks for reply, I see it is TP's hardware problem. So that it can not similar as galaxy s2 through OTG usb to read usb disk directly.... Anyway do have any emulator able to shift the TP power for OTG.....?????


----------



## fgdn17

green said:


> There is no tps61032 in touchpad, is there? The charger controller is max8903b, same as nook, and does not do any voltage conversions as far as I can see.
> 
> Well, the only interesting bit I see in this doc is:
> "If VBUS power is controlled by modem processor, RPC interface is used to turn on/off VBUS power."
> But no examples, I already digged in other boards and none of them do anything like that. Common occurence is the vbus_power will turn on a couple of regulators. Assuming regulators power the stuff that is supposed to be powered, the necessary lines are either not connected to the usb connector or need some other way to enable them.


"There is no tps61032 in touchpad"

http://www.isuppli.c...-Materials.aspx

"Well, the only interesting bit I see in this doc is:"

I was pointing this out...

Leakage currents (i.e
VBUS applied but no peripheral is connected) are very less on MSM hardware. So
VBUS can be applied when Id becomes false. ADP may be never implemented in
this driver due to this reason.


----------



## green

fgdn17 said:


> "There is no tps61032 in touchpad"
> 
> http://www.isuppli.c...-Materials.aspx


Hm, indeed. Sorry, what I mean is I see no way to directly access it. This might be just part of display powering for example.



> "Well, the only interesting bit I see in this doc is:"
> 
> I was pointing this out...
> 
> Leakage currents (i.e
> VBUS applied but no peripheral is connected) are very less on MSM hardware. So
> VBUS can be applied when Id becomes false. ADP may be never implemented in
> this driver due to this reason.


That's regarding ADP only (i.e. inability to turn off VBUS and still have a way to detect device connected).
All the logic in the driver assumes the vbus is turned on as soon as vbus_power(1) is called, except it does not. (and yes, I verified it's called)


----------



## kilokahn

All this talk excites me, I honestly would love to see a powered hub crop up that will eliminate the stupid Y cable. I am really looking at what someone posted before: http://usb.brando.co...788c039d15.html - the charging mechanism is interesting and if it allows power back to the unit this may be good.

Thoughts?

*P.S. *Maybe someone could rewire this hub for standard USB: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMSUNG-GALAXY-TAB-P7500-P7510-8-9-P7310-7300-USB-HUB-Card-Reader-KIT-OTG-HOST-/120790434769?pt=Laptop_Adapters_Chargers&hash=item1c1fabc3d1 - this was made for USB OTG but this has a funky Apple pinout...


----------



## joelones

Any luck getting this working on a wd passport drive with an otg cable?

Tried with a fat32 formatted one and no go.

Logcat does not even recoginize it. Using a Y-cable and 8000mAh power source.

Thanks.


----------



## chefjw

Anything I have formated to fat32 has shown up but I also do not have any external hds larger than 100gb that I can freely format.


----------



## chefjw

Chances are your 8000 mAh power sources only gives like 500mAs to the usb port on it. If you are trying to run a hard drive off 500mAs its probably going to fail. If you have you hard drive plugged into its own power supply and it is still not recognizing the drive then something is wonky. Is the power LED on the passport driving even lighting up?



joelones said:


> Any luck getting this working on a wd passport drive with an otg cable?
> 
> Tried with a fat32 formatted one and no go.
> 
> Logcat does not even recoginize it. Using a Y-cable and 8000mAh power source.
> 
> Thanks.


----------



## pkiyengar

i have duracell iphone power charger and wd 1TB passport hdd which does not require external power. hdd lights up but touchpad could not detect the hdd. the 1TB HDD is formatted to FAT32 and onother android tablet could pick it up.


----------



## joelones

chefjw said:


> Chances are your 8000 mAh power sources only gives like 500mAs to the usb port on it. If you are trying to run a hard drive off 500mAs its probably going to fail. If you have you hard drive plugged into its own power supply and it is still not recognizing the drive then something is wonky. Is the power LED on the passport driving even lighting up?


yes, led lights up, too bad it doesnt work, was really hoping it would


----------



## user.101010

found this hub. looks like it will work. 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817201036&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Hubs+-+Network+/+USB+/+Firewire-_-i-rocks-_-17201036


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## chefjw

user.101010 said:


> found this hub. looks like it will work.
> http://www.newegg.co...ocks-_-17201036


Wish they made something like this with a built in 2000mAh battery in it of similar size. I have hacked up an Energizer Emergency Charger thats works for using a keyboard though.


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## ozzuneoj

I bought a 2000mAh (supposedly?) USB backup battery off of eBay for $9.99 and it seems to work fine. I've been trying to think of a way to run data + and - wires from the input to the output inside the unit so that I can just plug a flash drive directly into it and plug it into the Touchpad to access it, but sadly the input micro-usb connector is surface mounted and I'm not that proficient with a soldering iron. I'll have to settle for a cobbled together y-cable of some sort unless I can find a very cheap USB hub that has a separate secondary USB power connection. I had a really really cheap USB hub that accepted a round 5v power plug (which the backup battery came with an adapter for) but it stopped working after I tinkered with it too much (may have overheated something with my soldering iron). I don't think it was actually intended to be powered with a separate 5v even though it had the connections to do so. It did work for a little while though...

For those interested, the battery I found is labeled a "power bank" and it looks just like this, but its black:
http://www.ebay.com/...=item27bae62783

It works exactly as expected when I use a y-cable to connect it to the Touchpad, but with my current cable it also charges the touchpad (which will drain the battery fairly quickly), so I'll have to try putting a new cable together that doesn't have the 5v running to the Touchpad. I don't know if this will work, but its worth a try.


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## reeso3000

ozzuneoj said:


> It works exactly as expected when I use a y-cable to connect it to the Touchpad, but with my current cable it also charges the touchpad (which will drain the battery fairly quickly), so I'll have to try putting a new cable together that doesn't have the 5v running to the Touchpad. I don't know if this will work, but its worth a try.


I don't know if its any help to you but you could do what I did as I had the same problem with my y- cable also charging the touchpad (killing the battery powered usb charger). I went for the very simple method of placing some electric tape over the 5v and ground pin inside the usb plug that connects to the otg cable as the data pins are the only ones required - Just cut some electrical tape into thin strips and slide it into the hole of the usb plug and press it down(With a small flat head screwdriver or something) making sure you only cover the pin furthest left then a second strip of tape on the pin furthest right (I mean you could cover just one of the pins but I did both) plug your otg cable back in and off you go no more power drain on the charger from the touchpad. Hope that helps


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## chefjw

A little confused anytime I have tried a non powered upstream hub the setup has failed utterly, but your talking about closing off the power pins to the otg cable which negates the whole point of powered upstream. It just makes no sense.


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## DreamScar

Will this get a PS3 controller to connect via USB? I tried playing Shadowgun but gave up about three levels in because I hate touch controls.


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## reeso3000

chefjw said:


> Will this get a PS3 controller to connect via USB? I tried playing Shadowgun but gave up about three levels in because I hate touch controls.


In theory it should the ps3 controller could plug straight into an otg cable as it is self powered not sure how you set it up though via usb. I use a ps3 controller with the touchpad using bluetooth and it is awesome with Shadow Gun - you need the sixaxis controller app to start with and I posted the controller mapping in this thread http://rootzwiki.com/topic/8484-shadowgun-with-sixaxis-controller/page__p__202502#entry202502 any help needed send me a pm


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## green

reeso3000 said:


> Im not sure we are completely on the same page but as ozzuneoj I have been having an issue with my power source (usb emergency charger) charging my touchpad aswell as a usb device (dongle,mouse,keyboard etc - only one at a time as I don't have a hub). Due to the touchpad drawing power from the charger it was dying much quicker. As the touchpad only uses the data pins to communicate with the usb device I isolated the power pins the touchpad side to prevent it drawing power (The usb device is still able to draw power from the usb charger within the y cable - I mean you can completely unplug the touchpad and it will still power a usb device). My setup is - otg cable - Y cable (with power pins isolated) - 1 cable plugged into the usb emergency charger - 1 cable for the usb device (I cut the usb plug off and replaced it with a female usb connector taken from a usb extension lead). Hope that clears up any confusion


FYI: If you cut the power pins that go to touchpad, there would be no vbus on the usb receptacle and usb host support won't work at present.
If it still works, then something is still supplying the vbus and touchpad still charges then I am sure.


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## reeso3000

green said:


> FYI: If you cut the power pins that go to touchpad, there would be no vbus on the usb receptacle and usb host support won't work at present.
> If it still works, then something is still supplying the vbus and touchpad still charges then I am sure.


I don't really know what to say, I would never question a dev of your abillity as I have very little if any understanding of the work your doing (appreciate it all by the way). After you posted I doubted I had even got it working!! my limited knowledge led me to believe due to the touchpad not supplying power that the power pins would be redundant. I have double checked it and triple checked it - used a blackberry phone charger for power(couldn't find my battery charger) had both pins isolated and plugged in a keyboard and was able to type, tried USB pen and was able to read it and checking the battery status it shows discharging. I then took the electric tape off the pins and plugged it all back in and this time it stated charging. Replaced the tape to isolate the pins and once again discharging but usb device working. So im rather stumped.


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## ozzuneoj

reeso3000 said:


> I don't really know what to say, I would never question a dev of your abillity as I have very little if any understanding of the work your doing (appreciate it all by the way). After you posted I doubted I had even got it working!! my limited knowledge led me to believe due to the touchpad not supplying power that the power pins would be redundant. I have double checked it and triple checked it - used a blackberry phone charger for power(couldn't find my battery charger) had both pins isolated and plugged in a keyboard and was able to type, tried USB pen and was able to read it and checking the battery status it shows discharging. I then took the electric tape off the pins and plugged it all back in and this time it stated charging. Replaced the tape to isolate the pins and once again discharging but usb device working. So im rather stumped.


This is very interesting, and the electrical tape on the pins is a fantastic idea! I'm going to try this myself. I just wish I had a decent Y-cable or the free time to put one together properly. Mine is already cobbled together (poorly) because it had a short in it and I had to cut off and replace the end with one from another usb cable. One of these days I'd like to make a very small Y-cable with a female end (rather than a junky usb coupler) for my flash drive.


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## ozzuneoj

Okay, I can confirm it. By putting tape over the vbus (+5v) pin in the USB connector, there is no power being supplied, yet a flash drive STILL mounts and works perfectly fine on the touchpad. I imagine the same is true if you modify a cable or connector so that there is no +5v going to the touchpad at all.

I know very little about how USB devices work, but it seems that no power actually needs to reach the Touchpad for it to recognize a USB device, as long as the device is receiving power. I've tested this tape method using a USB hub that lights up when power is supplied. With the tape in place, there is no light, and therefor no power. Using the same connector plugged into my touchpad, I can read a flash drive and the Touchpad is not receiving power.


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## DreamScar

reeso3000 said:


> In theory it should the ps3 controller could plug straight into an otg cable as it is self powered not sure how you set it up though via usb. I use a ps3 controller with the touchpad using bluetooth and it is awesome with Shadow Gun - you need the sixaxis controller app to start with and I posted the controller mapping in this thread http://rootzwiki.com/topic/8484-shadowgun-with-sixaxis-controller/page__p__202502#entry202502 any help needed send me a pm


I've tried using the PS3 controller via Bluetooth but it was super laggy, especially movement. One of the news posts I read said using a controller through USB fixes the lag issue.


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## green

reeso3000 said:


> I don't really know what to say, I would never question a dev of your abillity as I have very little if any understanding of the work your doing (appreciate it all by the way). After you posted I doubted I had even got it working!! my limited knowledge led me to believe due to the touchpad not supplying power that the power pins would be redundant. I have double checked it and triple checked it - used a blackberry phone charger for power(couldn't find my battery charger) had both pins isolated and plugged in a keyboard and was able to type, tried USB pen and was able to read it and checking the battery status it shows discharging. I then took the electric tape off the pins and plugged it all back in and this time it stated charging. Replaced the tape to isolate the pins and once again discharging but usb device working. So im rather stumped.


Hm, interesting. I am not quite sure how you mask the power pins in usb plug and still make it be able to be plugged (And I am really bad with the real-world hardware side of things).
I have a self-powered hdd and a few other devices that I guess I can try to use tomorrow to see what happens.

Thanks. (sorry for a long delay, just got back from a vacation).


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## DreamScar

Couldn't get PS3 controller to work with just OTG cable. Looks like ill have to buy a y cable sand try with a hub.


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## spectre786

Hi everyone, i'm new here.

So, i came on this topic because i was looking for a solution to connect my gamepad (Snes USB - Buffalo) to the touchpad (with latest CyanogenMod) , and play Snes9x (Snes emulator for Android) , this emulator is great but quiet difficult with touchscreen gameplay...

Well, here my question : is it possible with this + this , to play with my gamepad ?

PS : sorry for my english, i'm french actually


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## acuum

Hi all,

I have successfully used an AA emergency USB charger and a home made Y cable to read from ebay.

I have been able to read a 2GB USB thumb drive, but can't get any of my 3 USB to SD card readers to mount.
Can anyone shed some light on why I might be having problems with this? I have 1 multi-card reader which I didn't expect to work, but I've tried two USB to single SD card readers and neither work.
I have tried the SD card formatted as FAT16 and FAT32 and it shows up in Device manager as: Mass Storage Device.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Tony.


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## TecKnight

I am happy to confirm that these adapters work perfectly on the touchpad:

*http://www.dealextre...pter-pair-50774*

They are priced at *2 / $2.19* with free shipping. These essentially turn your TP's usb port into a standard USB *Type A* female jack. I connected this to a standard powered hub and I have mouse, keyboard, gamepad, a USB flash memory stick and a 320 GB external hard drive plugged into the hub. All devices work perfectly in webOS and Android.


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## kiltin

TecKnight said:


> I am happy to confirm that these adapters work perfectly on the touchpad:
> 
> *http://www.dealextre...pter-pair-50774*
> 
> They are priced at *2 / $2.19* with free shipping. These essentially turn your TP's usb port into a standard USB *Type A* female jack. I connected this to a standard powered hub and I have mouse, keyboard, gamepad, a USB flash memory stick and a 320 GB external hard drive plugged into the hub. All devices work perfectly in webOS and Android.


cool! thanks I ordered one


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## DreamScar

TecKnight said:


> I am happy to confirm that these adapters work perfectly on the touchpad:
> 
> *http://www.dealextre...pter-pair-50774*
> 
> They are priced at *2 / $2.19* with free shipping. These essentially turn your TP's usb port into a standard USB *Type A* female jack. I connected this to a standard powered hub and I have mouse, keyboard, gamepad, a USB flash memory stick and a 320 GB external hard drive plugged into the hub. All devices work perfectly in webOS and Android.


What gamepad do you have that works?


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## spectre786

spectre786 said:


> I am happy to confirm that these adapters work perfectly on the touchpad:
> 
> http://www.dealextre...pter-pair-50774
> 
> They are priced at 2 / $2.19 with free shipping. These essentially turn your TP's usb port into a standard USB Type A female jack. I connected this to a standard powered hub and I have mouse, keyboard, gamepad, a USB flash memory stick and a 320 GB external hard drive plugged into the hub. All devices work perfectly in webOS and Android.


Will it solve my problem ?


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## bierli

Has anybody tested an USB UMTS Stick?

Gesendet von meinem HTC Desire HD A9191 mit Tapatalk


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## TecKnight

DreamScar said:


> What gamepad do you have that works?


Dreamscar,
I have 2 gamepads and they both work. One is a Logitech Rumplepad 2, a wireless gamepad. The other is a cheap generic wired gamepad. If I remember correctly, I installed this:

https://market.android.com/details?id=de.killig.gamepadime&hl=en

a free app on the Android market. Once I installed the app, my gamepads started working.
Hope this helps.
TecKnight


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## TecKnight

spectre786 said:


> Will it solve my problem ?


Spectre786,
I cannot tell you for certain that this adapter alone will fix your problem.
My personal experience with the Touchpad USB port is that it alone provides very little power. I have been able to get a single low power USB device to work on occasion when directly connected, but even low power devices I found would not always work.
However, when I connect a standard powered USB hub to one of the adapters, I have had great results.
I found that virtually any HID compatible device (which includes nearly all mice and keyboards) work perfectly as well as any USB compatible mass storage device.
Hope this helps.
TecKnight


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## TecKnight

FYI,
I thought I would share with you the 2 powered hubs that I found to work well with the *2/$2.19* OTG USB adapters I posted earlier.

*#1:*
*4 port USB 2.0 powered hub with switch*: *$4.89* (free shipping)

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/high-speed-4-port-usb-2-0-hub-with-switch-white-31864

*#2:*
*Mini USB 4 Ports Hub: $5.60* (free shipping)

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mini-usb-4-ports-hub-black-787

Note: You will have to supply your own 5v center positive power source as they do not come with power adapters.

I also tried a couple of different "octopus" type powered USB hubs and found them lacking.

Hope this helps.
TecKnight


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## kxdelta

New member here and I think I have a powered USB hub that should work well in this situation. Haven't tested it on a touchpad but have one of these hubs myself and have confirmed with a multimeter that 5V is supplied to the host/computer connection when the hub is powered from an AC adaptor. It is actually a design flaw I believe where a 0ohm link was used instead of a diode and is probably dangerous for use with a computer but should work well here.

It is this one and there is even a thread discussing the design flaw here.
These are also available on ebay cheaper than dx, e.g

Regarding the touchpad not providing any power at USB, Is there any chance it could be activated by something simple like a certain voltage on the sense wire or similar? In a similar manner that Apple use to identify charger capacity (Certain voltages on data lines). Probably unlikely to be something so simple but maybe worth a go anyway..


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## kilokahn

It says you have to have joydev.ko. Do you have a copy? I have been looking for this file to add to my Touchpad. Thanks!



TecKnight said:


> Dreamscar,
> I have 2 gamepads and they both work. One is a Logitech Rumplepad 2, a wireless gamepad. The other is a cheap generic wired gamepad. If I remember correctly, I installed this:
> 
> https://market.andro...amepadime&hl=en
> 
> a free app on the Android market. Once I installed the app, my gamepads started working.
> Hope this helps.
> TecKnight


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## jkabaseball

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10833&cs_id=1083314&p_id=8805&seq=1&format=2

Would that work for HDMI? Anyone try it?


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## Larry94

jkabaseball said:


> http://www.monoprice...&seq=1&format=2
> 
> Would that work for HDMI? Anyone try it?


MHL has already been discussed by the developers. The Touchpad's CPU/GPU support it, but whether or not the pins are connected to enable MHL is not known AFAIK.


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## Rescuer

anybody tried plugging a gopro into it to see if it works ?


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## fenixd

green,have you try to mount the storage in the webOS?Does it work?


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## green

fenixd said:


> green,have you try to mount the storage in the webOS?Does it work?


No, I don't really use webOS. But I know people were using storage in webOS, I did not ask if there were any external tools like preware needed.


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## Summerwind

Bump!

Is there any news how the Alphas of ICS work with external drives? I would like to use the Tablet to view some movies from an external drive, but don't know how exactly getting it to work. I have a self-powered usb port, the micro/usb A cable which came with the Touchpad, but not more, so, what do i need to do? Or to make it work with WebOS if ICS does not work yet.

Thank you


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## Tubbby

Rescuer said:


> anybody tried plugging a gopro into it to see if it works ?


Yep I've hooked up my GoPro (auto-mounts as usbdisk) and also my external hard drive so I can transfer files from the GoPro while on the road.

Works fine.


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## obo678

Anyone able to recommend an SDHC USB card reader for use with the Touch pad on CM9?

I've been able to successfully mount my USB sticks and SLR camera (using USB Y cable and USB OTG cable) but my Canon camera doesn't support USB mass storage mode so won't connect. I want a USB reader so I can view the pics on my 8GB SDHC card.

I've tried a couple of USB SD card readers but nothing happens when I connect them, no LEDs flashing no files visible in Astro file manager... the readers I've tried work fine in windows XP / 7.

Also do I need to unmount USB devices from CM9? If I just yank the USB stick then I get a warning message telling me off, but I don't know how to unmount safely.

Thanks!

Obo678


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## badger

obo678 said:


> Anyone able to recommend an SDHC USB card reader for use with the Touch pad on CM9?
> 
> I've been able to successfully mount my USB sticks and SLR camera (using USB Y cable and USB OTG cable) but my Canon camera doesn't support USB mass storage mode so won't connect. I want a USB reader so I can view the pics on my 8GB SDHC card.
> 
> I've tried a couple of USB SD card readers but nothing happens when I connect them, no LEDs flashing no files visible in Astro file manager... the readers I've tried work fine in windows XP / 7.
> 
> Also do I need to unmount USB devices from CM9? If I just yank the USB stick then I get a warning message telling me off, but I don't know how to unmount safely.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Obo678


see http://rootzwiki.com/topic/23998-usb-host-sd-card-reader-works-through-usb-hub-but-not-direct/ for how I got my sandisk micromate to work, the same might work for your reader?


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## gowda.nandish

Does USB network adapter works with HP touchpad?


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## uwndrd

Since my 16 gb TP is completely stuffed up with all sorts of programming video tutorials and such, i would hopelessly bump this thread with some Snapdragon S3 OTG stuff -

Xperia S - based on [background=rgb(249, 249, 249)]MSM8260, supports self-powered usb-host ([/background]



[background=rgb(249, 249, 249)]), source code is here: [/background]http://developer.sonymobile.com/wportal/devworld/downloads/download/61a0452tarbz2

T-Mobile Galaxy S II (T-989) - based on APQ8060, supports self-powered usb-host with some kernels (



), some kernel source is here: https://github.com/faux123/samsung_hercules

Huaweii MediaPad - based on MSM8260, supports s-p host, source is here http://www.huaweidevice.com/worldwide/technicaIndex.do?method=gotoProductSupport&productId=3779&tb=0);


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