Hi. I've just recently tried out an app from the market that would let me control emulators and some games with a Wii remote, but it wasn't compatible with my G2x. However, I stumbled upon what is most commonly known as "OTG" cable, but discovered they were worthless for the G2x as of now because 2.3 doesn't have USB hosting.
What I wanted to know is, number one, will the G2x have USB hosting when the official 4.0 update comes out, or is it missing some special hardware needed for that? And number two, is there any risks in just getting a cheap MicroUSB to Female USB cable from a trusted seller? Like, can it damage any internal parts because of different voltages between devices or something like that? Or is the worst thing that can happen is the cable simply not working?
I'd really appreciate an answer on this one, because USB hosting seems to open up a lot of possibilities with our devices.
The short answer as of right now is NO there aren't any common ways to enable USB Host. With that said, can the Tegra2 chip in the G2x support host mode?...yes. Will it require a custom kernel?...yes. So basically your phone needs to be rooted to say the least and a kernel framework to enable and support it. I'm actually looking into this as we speak but it's looking like it'll be a while.
As for the cable... no most generic micro-USB cable won't work as is. The OTG cables have either a 'grounded' 4th pin or a disconnected 4th in some usb host modes. But either way you either need an OTG cable or if you search online you can find several ways to splice and solder back generic USB.
I have been looking for a while, but there doesn't seem to a custom kernel that supports USB Host mode. I already have USB OTG adapter (mini Male to 4 pin USB female) + arduino board etc.. So are there any custom kernels out there?
oOo B0XeR oOo said:
The short answer as of right now is NO there aren't any common ways to enable USB Host. With that said, can the Tegra2 chip in the G2x support host mode?...yes. Will it require a custom kernel?...yes. So basically your phone needs to be rooted to say the least and a kernel framework to enable and support it. I'm actually looking into this as we speak but it's looking like it'll be a while.
As for the cable... no most generic micro-USB cable won't work as is. The OTG cables have either a 'grounded' 4th pin or a disconnected 4th in some usb host modes. But either way you either need an OTG cable or if you search online you can find several ways to splice and solder back generic USB.
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this^^^
Nothing had really changed on this front, if you want to use Android as an ardi interface, I'd suggest you grab a cheapo phone that supports it out of the box.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
I bring you back to life!!!
Any update on this? Seems ICS/JB roms are out now... any strides in getting OTG to work? I'm looking to make a G2x into a dedicated TV gamer unit to replace my MK808 and forgot about OTG for my air mouse. I have a Bluetooth mouse to get me by but the airmouse was awesome.
I guess I can look for a Bluetooth airmouse as a last resort.
player911 said:
I bring you back to life!!!
Any update on this? Seems ICS/JB roms are out now... any strides in getting OTG to work? I'm looking to make a G2x into a dedicated TV gamer unit to replace my MK808 and forgot about OTG for my air mouse. I have a Bluetooth mouse to get me by but the airmouse was awesome.
I guess I can look for a Bluetooth airmouse as a last resort.
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No OTG happiness for the G2X with any ROM and/or Kernel. There is a board from Sparkfun which provides an interface that enables a non-OTG phone to work like one for interfacing to Arduino, etc.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10748?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19967110&postcount=8
Related
Anyone know of a micro USB to RS232 Serial adapter?
or for that matter if the Epic can be used in USB Host mode?
My goal, is the be able to use my Epic 4G to run a terminal link to some control boards using ZiLog Z8F processors, I work a job as a field technician on energy management controls. Currently I lug a net book around to flash and terminal into the controls.
If I could do the same without having to drag my net book with the rest of my tools, that would be incredibly awesome for me, I'm always trying to find ways to minimalism the amount of gear I have to carry from my truck to the boiler room.
Thanks
The only thing I have seen that comes close to what you are asking is this thread in the dev section: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=833373
I dont have any information other than the link, but thought I would at least point it out.
Thanks, at least now I know where to ask questions and pick peoples brains!
If you could find the appropriate cord and drive it from your epic.
I used this back in the day (not from a phone) when I lacked a RS232 port on my devices...
I have seen adapters that would likely drop the usb to micro easily enough but.. thats the least of the difficulty
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812999081&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Mac+-+Accessories-_-KEYSPAN-_-12999081
really not sure if it could even make this work from an epic, lacking any readily available drivers though.
thesals said:
Anyone know of a micro USB to RS232 Serial adapter?
or for that matter if the Epic can be used in USB Host mode?
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If you can relax your requirement for USB, then use IOGear RS-232 Bluetooth Serial Adapter (model GBS301). I use this along with the app BlueTerm on the market. Works for all of my RS232 needs.
Greg
http://www.bb-elec.com/
Might be worth a shot. I didn't see anything looking quick, but I know they have lots of different options and if all else fails custom build components as well.
A USB serial adapter won't work with the stock rom (or any custom rom not implementing usb host/otg).
In theory, it's possible to repurpose the usb port's pins as gnd, txd, rxd, and a resistor of specific value that tells the phone to electrically route their signals to pins on the SOC chip with txd & rxd functions at nonstandard voltage levels, but I'm not aware of anyone who's literally gotten it to work on the Epic, yet.
Note that serial via this method has *nothing* to do with usb; it's just temporarily repurposing the pins & connector for serial use.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
So, I purchases a USB OTG cable in an attempt to try and expand the functionality of Webtop while using Nebtop. I've been unable to get any response from the phone when I plug in this cable. I've tried my wireless Logitech mouse and keyboard that worked off the bat with my TF101 using the Unifying remote they came with as well as an external TB drive.
Has anyone else had any experience with this? It seems logical that the phone supports host mode since the actual dock has 3 full sized USB ports.
All the information pertaining to this sort of thing I've come up with seems extremely phone specific but if there's a simple solution I'm missing thanks all the more.
ri4naire said:
So, I purchases a USB OTG cable in an attempt to try and expand the functionality of Webtop while using Nebtop. I've been unable to get any response from the phone when I plug in this cable. I've tried my wireless Logitech mouse and keyboard that worked off the bat with my TF101 using the Unifying remote they came with as well as an external TB drive.
Has anyone else had any experience with this? It seems logical that the phone supports host mode since the actual dock has 3 full sized USB ports.
All the information pertaining to this sort of thing I've come up with seems extremely phone specific but if there's a simple solution I'm missing thanks all the more.
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The problem actually lies in the usb port of the phone itself. The dock was designed for this purpose, and the dock app handles most that for you, the one thing that the dock is able to do that a straight USB cable can't do, is provide enough "bus" power to use a mouse or even a USB stick directly from the phone. If you want to use a Mouse you will need to get a dock. I got mine directly from wireless.att.com, and it was only $49.00 back in Nov. when I got it. It works VERY well with webtop.
P.S. Motorola is very famous for doing things like this to force you into a dock, or to lock out certain features that everyone really wants to use.
I made my own dock by using a powered usb hub I had sitting around (it was actually the one that came with Rock Band for my Xbox 360). I did have to modify it slightly so that the 1 pin was powered from the 5V (a simple shunt from the 5V inner pin of the power supply solder joint to the solder joint of the 1 pin worked fine--although it might be wise to insert an inline fuse since it also charges your phone while plugged in).
Otherwise, the only other thing needed is coming in the form of your otg adapter that should short the 5 pin (common) with your 4 pin (ID). I did this by cracking open an extra micro usb cable and soldering a wire between the two.
So, my setup was like this:
1. Modified usb cable to short the 4 & 5 pins to let the phone know to go into host
2. Use a female A-female A usb coupler to join the usb cable to the powered hub (I got mine here from Monoprice
3. Get 5V to the 1 pin in the usb hub to provide power to your phone and for whatever is plugged into the hub.
With this, I was easily able to run a usb mouse and a wireless keyboard that had a usb dongle. Paired with a micro hdmi cable to hdmi-dvi adapter, I am able to use my office monitor and the webtop linux. I honestly haven't really used it much yet (if I found it really useful, I probably would have just paid for the dock).
The obvious easy way is to just get the dock. However, I really like being able to do this on my own and since I had this stuff already laying around. Also, the cheap prices from monoprice (I actually made $4 off of the purchase from a PayPal bill-me-later promotion).
So, you should be able to get it to work if you get power to the bus on your usb (but again, it might be safe to pass an appropriate fast-acting fuse, ferrite core, or something to protect from surges). I haven't had issue yet, but I also don't use it often...yet .
It sounds like a bit of yes and a bit of no. The OTG cable I got is microUSB to female full USB, am I going to need to modify this cable as you've described by crossing the 4th and 5th pins?
I'm thinking about ordering this "7 Port USB Squid Hub" since it has the 5v power adapter, do you think it might work?
Just one more question and thanks for all the help but should I not see any response from the phone when I plug in the cable? I read through some of the reviews for cheap cables on Amazon and apparently sometimes they're just useless.
ri4naire said:
It sounds like a bit of yes and a bit of no. The OTG cable I got is microUSB to female full USB, am I going to need to modify this cable as you've described by crossing the 4th and 5th pins?
I'm thinking about ordering this "7 Port USB Squid Hub" since it has the 5v power adapter, do you think it might work?
Just one more question and thanks for all the help but should I not see any response from the phone when I plug in the cable? I read through some of the reviews for cheap cables on Amazon and apparently sometimes they're just useless.
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The OTG cable have should work. The OTG cable, to my knowledge, should already have pins 4 & 5 shorted together. I'm not completely certain, but if it's designed as an OTG, it would probably already have that done. If you have an ohmmeter/multimeter, you could try to check (it's hard to isolate the small pins, but you can try). If it's already going to the USB female (type A), you will then be able to directly attach your hub when you get it (without the need of the coupler I had to get).
When I used mine, there was no notification that said "Hey, I'm in USB Host Mode!". However, if you successfully have a mouse attached, you'll see a mouse cursor arrow on your screen.
Have fun with it and if you can't get it to work, let me know and I'll try to explain with even more detail (perhaps with some pretty pictures) of what I did. I more or less went off of what I could glean from reading what others did.
It works great! Also, it is weird to see the mouse on this little a screen, it seems oversized.
I just plugged everything in and it worked off the bat. I'm using just two items from Amazon I got for under 12 bucks (plus, of course, the keyboard and mouse I already had for my computer). I don' think I can post links to the forums yet but the ASINs for the items if people want to do this on the super cheap are as follows:
B0043TBCDS 7 Port USB Squid Hub, a whopping $5.19
B005N55WHI Micro-B USB OTG Cable... $5.99
I chose these because of their Prime eligibility and also for their form factor so as not to cover the HDMI port, I bet it's not impossible to get these even cheaper.
While this isn't technically a replacement for the dock since I had to root the device and I have to press "Load" in Nebtop if I want to go to Webtop I'm extremely pleased with the results.
I also love that all the soft keys are available. The ones I've discovered are that right button on the mouse as well as Esc are Back, the Home key is Home, clicking the wheel as well as Ctrl, Cmd, Alt and a whole slew of others bring up the Menu, but all I can find is F5 for Search.
On another note, while the phone does charge when hooked up, a practical boon, the screen still times out despite having the "Stay awake" feature checked. This is annonying when the phone is on it's side accross the room and I have to squint to see the cursor and swipe it unlocked sideways as well as click back into Mirror Display.
I've heard that the External USB Adapter from ASUS is a notoriously difficult beast to locate. It's marketed to plug into a bare tablet and provide a Host USB connector. But, would it also work in the charging port of the keyboard dock giving a second Host USB port? (Yes, I know a hub would do this. But If one wants this device to connect USB storage to a bare tablet, would it also do double duty and work with the dock?)
It certainly sounds possible. Mostly because I think the internals of the keyboard dock are a hub already basically.
One usb going to the card reader, one going to the usb port, one to the keyboard function, and another as a passthrough to the proprietary data port.
So by using the usb adapter you are just converting the otherwise unused data port into another usb port.
since there both 40 pin connecters i imagine that would work
m3n991 said:
since there both 40 pin connecters i imagine that would work
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That is also my assumption, but we all know what assuming does. All depends if all the signals are passed through, and if there are any lag or transmission line issues.
Has anyone tried this to verify if it does or does not work?
Hi All,
I'm trying to get a USB device connected to my phone (specifically an OBDII reader with Torque Pro). No matter what I do, I can't get it to recognize on my Nexus S 4g. When I run USB Host Diagnostics, it basically says it can't find anything.
I'm running a flavor of Cyanogen 10 with its stock kernal.
My questions are:
Do I need to go through a powered USB hub to get the proper power?
Do I need a specific kernel with the correct host modules enabled? (if so, can someone point me to one)
Thanks,
Torque Pro worked fine with my NS4G with a cheap ebay bluetooth adapter with no hassle. That adapter had no batteries at all, it was powered through the ALDL port on the car. I couldn't imagine needing power since no scanner I know of needs power at the ALDL port, it pulls it from the port itself. I would bet it is USB driver problems, or problems reading the USB adapter through Jellybean because of this new MTP protocol that sucks
Good to know.
Should I try a HoneyComb ROM? I guess it COULD be the OTG cable I got from amazon. Maybe it's not plugging in all the way.
thx
DizturbedOne said:
Torque Pro worked fine with my NS4G with a cheap ebay bluetooth adapter with no hassle. That adapter had no batteries at all, it was powered through the ALDL port on the car. I couldn't imagine needing power since no scanner I know of needs power at the ALDL port, it pulls it from the port itself. I would bet it is USB driver problems, or problems reading the USB adapter through Jellybean because of this new MTP protocol that sucks
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shelbydz said:
Good to know.
Should I try a HoneyComb ROM? I guess it COULD be the OTG cable I got from amazon. Maybe it's not plugging in all the way.
thx
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No Honeycomb roms for Nexus S...
I highly suggest a OBDII bluetooth adapter. They're 15$ on the net and will spare you the trouble. Make sure you find one that has good reviews, some cheap ones have problem connecting to some cars because of broken J1850 PWM (i think it's PWM, might be VPW) protocol.
I found a keyboard on eBay that connects via micro USB, and it is meant to be used with a generic 7inches tablet. Before buying it I would like to be sure that the fire tablet has no limitations on the micro USB port, can anyone help me? I couldn't find a sure answer on google
this tablet supports USB OTG which means you CAN connect a pen drive, mouse, keyboard.. and I am almost 100% sure you can connect this keyboard BUT you may have problems with recognizing all keys on the keyboard or problems with different typing languages.. I guess you need to try it to know for sure.. and please let us know if you do..
regulusirius said:
I found a keyboard on eBay that connects via micro USB, and it is meant to be used with a generic 7inches tablet. Before buying it I would like to be sure that the fire tablet has no limitations on the micro USB port, can anyone help me? I couldn't find a sure answer on google
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This thread on usb otg says a keyboard was found to work, amongst other items.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/otg-2015-fire-kffowi-ford-t3245644
Pond-life said:
This thread on usb otg says a keyboard was found to work, amongst other items.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/otg-2015-fire-kffowi-ford-t3245644
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Two success stories:
- Connected an inexpensive wired USB keyboard via cheap OTG adapter (here). Keyboard instantly/silently recognized. No soft keyboard on input fields. Disconnect the physical keyboard and soft keyboard immediately pops up. Elegant and effortless.
- Grabbed a wireless Logitech K360 attaching receiver to same OTG adapter. Worked perfectly! Instant wireless keyboard. No messing around with Bluetooth. Woohoo!!
I realize this is old news to anyone with a 'normal' tablet that natively supports OTG. First time I got it to work with a Fire (my daily driver is a HDX with lacks hardware support for OTG).
I've been using a Samsung BKB-10 bluetooth keyboard, which I grabbed for $10 on at&t's website a few weeks ago, and it works great!! Every button works.
I am running CM 12.1, so I can't vouch for the stock firmware, but it does work excellent on the CM rom posted here!!
Yes, I use a USB Hub and various devices at the same time on my Fire 7. All of them work - at the same time.
You can hook up a Keyboard and a mouse and a usb stick and a printer, that all of them will work just fine.
USB-OTG is beautiful.
Can you give more detail on the usb hub? I guess you need it to provide power and data pass through, but I can only find one or the other online
jfinch91 said:
Can you give more detail on the usb hub? I guess you need it to provide power and data pass through, but I can only find one or the other online
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Can not power (charge) and use OTG devices simultaneously. It's one or the other.