Chinese WinCE 6.0 car stereo switching between USB functions - General Questions and Answers

Hello everyone!
I hope there isn't a topic already for this, but I searched and didn't find anything, mostly also because it's kind of difficult to describe my problem.
To begin with. I have one of those chinese car stereos that run WinCE 6 in my car. It's not the first one, I actually went through quite few of them to finally find one that suits me. I thought I did, and mostly it's true, but there is still one feature that bugs me a bit.
My stereo has two USB ports. One, mini-USB on front - for music/videos/pics, second, full size USB on the back - for 3G/WiFi adaptor. This is as described by the manufacturer/seller.
Now, obviously, many of us would think, that since it's "universal serial bus", it shouldn't matter what I put in which port. So the rear port should accept music on USB flash drive and front port should work with 3G modem. Right? Right? Wrooong!!!
For whatever reason, my stereo only accepts music in the front port, with annoying little cable that is to convert the mini-USB to full size, just bumping up and down as I drive. Also, since I have a built-in USB port, which I would like to use for this and plug it's connection to rear port on the stereo, bugs me a lot.
But no, the rear port only works with the 3G modem and seems to completely ignore any flash drive connected to it.
What's funny though is, that the front port actually works with the 3G modem too! So the front is a "2in1", but the rear is only designated for 3G/WiFi.
Since I don't want to let this just go and get used to it (+ my OCD is fighting heavilly with me on this, lol ), I started to look around to figure out what might cause this. I loaded Total Commander on the unit and plugged two flash drives to the stereo. Both with music files, both formatted the same. In totalcmd it showed them as USB (front) and USB1 (rear) (or something similar, the key part is the "1"). It always added the "1" to the rear one, even though it was connected alone, without the front one.
Now, this is where I believe the problem is. I think/hope/wish that the music application on the stereo only works when pointed to the "USB" (front) device. Since there is probably no way to decrypt and re-program the music app, I was thinking about renaming the USB connections, or, basically switching them for each other.
So to get (finally) to the bottom of my question, is there a way to switch the description/name/purpose of the USB ports in WinCE 6.0 platform, preferably of course in a way that it would stay like that even after restart?
Many many thanks for any help or pointing me to the right direction! Also please let me know if there is some detail that might help identifying the problem.

Today I installed an app called USB Device Info from the play store. What it shows is that it cannot connect because of SeLinux.. CLUE?? So I went ahead and looked on how to connect via USB with Linux. I downloaded Terminus from Play Store and was able to read the files. Previously, I read it's a 'read only' connection. I'm researching how to change the 'read only' to 'read and write', and also extract and find these files. I'm currently looking for my "extracted files".

Related

Send raw information to external port

Just wondering if it is possible to send raw information(1 0/on off, whatever) to say the audio port or the USB port. I would assume USB would be easier to code for, but the audio port would be preferred if possible. The obvious application of this would be for custom external peripherals which would be fun to mess with. If anyones got any info or a link to some docs that would help immensely.
Thanks.
Using Audio to communicate is entirely possible. It has been done for decades over telephone lines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulation
USB on the other hand is a bit problematic, there's no host support on most android devices (there exist hacks for some) so there's no real way of connecting a USB peripheral to the phone.
Your best shot would be bluetooth I believe. I'm not entirely sure but you should be able to set up a serial connection over bluetooth.
Fulkerson said:
Using Audio to communicate is entirely possible. It has been done for decades over telephone lines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulation
USB on the other hand is a bit problematic, there's no host support on most android devices (there exist hacks for some) so there's no real way of connecting a USB peripheral to the phone.
Your best shot would be bluetooth I believe. I'm not entirely sure but you should be able to set up a serial connection over bluetooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If Audio is possible then I think that would be the best bet. I just found this bag of IR LEDs laying around from when i was messing with wiimote hacks, so i thought hacking up a little light coming from some port on the device, i could make a remote app for it.
Found some good information for anyone else wanting to make use of the audio port.
http://perceptumvolo.blogspot.com/2010/01/demodulator-updated.html
Using audio is definitely very cool, but for real world use it is too intrusive. You can't listen to music at the same time and all notifications will screw things up. Bluetooth just works and was invented for this purpose.

Google TV hack!

Greetings Programs!
I have found the recovery menu for Sony's Google TV/BluRay player!
Here are the details on how to access it (from my original post here: androidforums.[COM]/google-tv/201827-sony-google-tv-hack.html)
OK... so I found out how to get into recovery mode on the Sony Google TV/BluRay player that was released yesterday.
1.Have everything plugged into the unit except the power coord. Have the power coord in your hand.
2.Press and hold the power button and plug the unit in.
3.Continue to hold down the power button for 3 seconds after plugging it in, then release the power button.
4.Wait a couple of seconds and it will say Sony, then you will see the recovery screen.
5.After it loads, press and hold the connect button on the unit. Then follow the directions at the bottom of the screen (Press and hold ALT+ENTER) for 8 seconds/until the bottom message changes. It will change back to it saying that you have to press the CONNECT button, but your remote IS connected.
6.You can now press the numbers assigned to the commands!
WARNING: This could possibly brick your unit and could possibly void your warranty. I am not responsible for anything that happens to your device.
I am going to work on trying to find working drivers and I am going to try to use the Android SDK Tools to install some applications, or at the least try to execute some shell commands. Hopefully we can root it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets start hacking!
awesome, I will have to keep my eye on this. google TV plus angry birds would be awesome.
Looking forward to seeing this thing cracked! I'm hoping someone will be able to get a USB tuner to work on one, so those without cable or satellite will be able to get TV content without the hassle of another set-top box.
Nice.... Wonder what the possibilities are
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
OK Guys, I am still working on it. Heres a video of me booting it into the recovery mode.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L21guovXDsc
Thanks for the information about recovery, I tried it, and was able to get into recovery. I tried writing the logfile to USB, and it "seemed" to work, but after mounting the USB stick on my linux machine, I didn't see any files there.
I bought the Sony NSZ-GT1 so I could port my Android app Better Terminal Emulator Pro onto Google TV. I already ported it to Android-x86 in preparation for this, but seems like I could not ADB into the Google TV over Ethernet. Frustrated, I decided to take a screwdriver to my Google TV, and did a "teardown" as a result. You can see what the guts look like here:
http://www.magicandroidapps.com/wiki//index.php?title=Main_Page#Sony_NSZ-GT1_Google_TV_Teardown
Sorry the pictures are not that great, I used my Moto Droid to take them, and the lighting was terrible.
-Howard
hharte said:
Thanks for the information about recovery, I tried it, and was able to get into recovery. I tried writing the logfile to USB, and it "seemed" to work, but after mounting the USB stick on my linux machine, I didn't see any files there.
I bought the Sony NSZ-GT1 so I could port my Android app Better Terminal Emulator Pro onto Google TV. I already ported it to Android-x86 in preparation for this, but seems like I could not ADB into the Google TV over Ethernet. Frustrated, I decided to take a screwdriver to my Google TV, and did a "teardown" as a result. You can see what the guts look like here:
magicandroidapps.com
Sorry the pictures are not that great, I used my Moto Droid to take them, and the lighting was terrible.
-Howard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ETHERNET? Hasnt anyone tried USB A to USB A cable? I've been busy all day. Gonna go get one tomorrow and figure it out for myself I guess. Can't stand that they have ALREADY corrected the hulu fix for the thing. Why shouldn't I be able to access my paid July plus account? Oh well.
Try USB a to USB a!!!!!
USB A to A will definitely not work. All of the USB ports are connected through internal SMSC 4-port hubs. There are two hubs in the unit, one in the back with 3 ports going to external connectors, and one going to the WLAN module. Up front there is another 4-port hub going to the front USB connector, and presumably to a BT module, but I didn't take mine far enough apart to be sure.
There is one large connector over near the CPU that might have some debug stuff on it.There are also about three 4-pin connectors populated, one of which might be a UART. There is also a footprint for another. Tomorrow I'll get my oscilloscope out and see if any of those pins wiggle on boot.
-Howard
hharte said:
USB A to A will definitely not work. All of the USB ports are connected through internal SMSC 4-port hubs. There are two hubs in the unit, one in the back with 3 ports going to external connectors, and one going to the WLAN module. Up front there is another 4-port hub going to the front USB connector, and presumably to a BT module, but I didn't take mine far enough apart to be sure.
There is one large connector over near the CPU that might have some debug stuff on it.There are also about three 4-pin connectors populated, one of which might be a UART. There is also a footprint for another. Tomorrow I'll get my oscilloscope out and see if any of those pins wiggle on boot.
-Howard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the big long/wide plug. I was looking at the inside of my box too. First day jitters. Anyway, I was also going to start looking for a serial port connection through one of those ports. Good luck and post right away if you find something!
If somene with an ethernet sniffer who has not booted their box yet can catch a sniff of the update download, it might be possible to get the update.zip URL, then we could try hacking the update and install it via recovery. This method was very popular with Android devices... but there you could get the update URL from the logcat
-Howard.
Have we not figured out how to use log copy? It doesn't seem to like anything i plugged in to copy to...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Great job guys! My friend is going to be getting a GTV later this week, and I will try to get it from him before he boots it up. Guess I will stop trying USB A to USB A.
Will post results later tonight.
Another possibility is to try and find the kernel source. If you look in Settings, system Information, Open Source Licenses, there is a site on Google Code that is supposed to contain the GPL'd components:
http://code.google.com/p/googletv-mirrored-source/
Going there doesn't show much except one user space component, and a link to a Sony mirror site:
http://products.sel.sony.com/opensource/
I couldn't find anything useful on the Sony site, but maybe someone else will have better luck.
I'll also try plugging in a USB Serial adapter, but my expectations are pretty low that I'd be able to get a console from that. It's interesting that there are so many USB ports on the Google TV. I wonder what other USB peripherals might be supported? I can see the front port being used for a USB memory stick, and maybe one on the back for a camera, but that still leaves two unused ports. Any idea what Sony/Google might have intended them for?
-Howard
http://www.magicandroidapps.com - Home of Better Terminal Emulator Pro
hmm
I have this unit and usb keyboards and mice do work . Also iremember a rep saying the logitech cam would work with the sony blu-ray also. I think you would need to wait for the android store to open though for an app that uses it.
hharte said:
I couldn't find anything useful on the Sony site, but maybe someone else will have better luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you look here : sony.net/Products/Linux/TV/NSZ-GT1.html
That looks like it, thanks! Nice that they have minicom and busybox listed there, so there is hope that some hacking tools are preloaded on the Google TV.
-Howard
Not sure if this helps anyone or not, but i ran a port scan on my box and there are 2 ports 9551 and 9552 that are accepting TCP connections.
nmap -p - <IP address of NSZ-GT1>
result :
PORT STATE SERVICE
9551/tcp open unknown
9552/tcp open unknown
I tried to get ADB to connect to those ports but did not work.
Steps that I tried :
1) export ADBHOST=<IP address of my PC>
2) adb kill-server
3) adb devices
No ADB devices were returned
4) adb connect <IP address of Sony NSZ-GT1>:9551
5) adb shell
Got error "error: device offline"
6) repeat steps 4 and 5 except with port 9552 and got same result
I am no expert in any of this stuff so the above might just be sending someone down a rabbit hole but I figured I might share in case it might be helpful to some of the smarter people on here.
Try "adb devices" and see if it show anything.
I looked at the kernel from the Sony site:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/TV/NSZ-GT1.html
Here are some findings:
Linux kernel version: 2.6.23.18_nl-btv
Kernel config:
arch/i386/configs/btv_defconfig
CONFIG_USB_SMSC9500=m
Note the SMSC 9500 USB/Ethernet is one of only two loadable modules in the kernel config. Maybe this has some significance, like maybe they use a second Ethernet port for development.
-Howard
Very interesting.... I am thinking of getting a second unit to try to intercept the update.zip.... would anyone be able to tell me how I would do this?

New User with Froyo upgrade issue

I'm a new captivate owner, and found a link to your site from androidcenteral. I wanted to register to say thanks for this great forum, the helpful info, and easy to understand answers.
I also came across an issue with using the odin one click updater that i didn't find discussed anywhere. When going through the easy to follow directions, i could not get odin to recognize my phone when I plugged it into my pc. I would get the message in task bar that hardware was being installed, then that hardware could not be installed. I would also get a message that the device would operate faster if i were to plug into a USB 2.0 port.
After some time of researching and scratching my head, I unplugged my data cable from the USB on the front of my machine and plugged it into a USB port on the back of the machine (yes, i knew that the USB ports on the front were not 2.0, but thought it should still work) and tried 1 last time... and everything worked just fine
I was curious if this was common knowledge or if I ran across an issue specific to my machine? Maybe the samsung drivers are specific to USB 2.0 (if that is even possible?) By the way, i did a search of "odin USB 2.0" before i posted and received no search results.
Common knowledge rear usb ports have more power/closer to mother board.

[Q] Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (l9100) Car USB internal mount

Hi all, I've been waiting and searching around seeing if I was able to find any kind of fix or something for some time now but it's beginning to get to me far too much.
My problem is when I had the HTC Aria I used to have the audio stored on my phone and plug it into my car's USB connection and the headunit would search the device and find all audio to play through the headunit which I was then able to use my controls on the steering wheel. After some time I bought the Samsung Galaxy S2 (l9100) and to my excitement received the whopping 16GB internal storage as a bonus, so I filled that. And heres where my problem comes in, I cant seem to make my headunit search the internal storage and play all that music, It will only search the SD card (external).
Now from reading all over the internet I've been led to believe by any posts that relate somewhat to this that it wont be possible for this to work, what frustrates me though is that it is possible. I've rooted and flashed various custom ROM's to my device (VillianROM first, Cyanogenmod Nightlies second and now MIUI yesterday). I have successfully had the headunit read my internal (newer and more songs) upon connection twice that I can recall now, I think the first time was after first connection to the car after the cyanogenmod flash and today when I first connected it again. Which led me to believe that it was working and then was just applying a new theme on my phone while hanging at a friends then was taking another friend home and plugged it in and back to only reading from my SD card (external - old crap music) and can't figure out why it has worked twice if it is not possible.
The reason why I am determined to figure this out is due to 16 GB internal storage and only 1 GB external storage and I wish to use my phone to its full potential.
While I'm at it, I guess I should mention my other problem which adds to my determination to get the USB connection working with my car. The USB connection is a much clearer & louder playback (Higher quality) then the AUX (current alternative) and to be safer while driving by using my steering controls.
But since flashing to Cyanogenmod and MIUI (cannot recall whether I had this problem on VillainROM) I've noticed the volume in headset mode (when I have something plugged into the headphone jack - ie, AUX, etc) and I begin turning up the volume from quietest to loudest it get notably louder each press until halfway or a press before halfway and then does not become any louder, which I also think may be making the audio less clear and loud when connected via AUX to my car.
Thanks in advance to anyone whom contributes.
I am usually stubborn enough to sort problems out myself, but for the first time I am asking for help on a community forum.
Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?
If you need to know anything else don't hesitate to ask.
CM7 volume is a known issues or least it was last time I checked.
Try turning on/off usb debugging is my best guess.
Done that, today at some point it randomly read my internal storage and right now I'm constantly reconnecting it with no success.
The frustration continues as it is obviously possible but appears to have a mind of its own.
With my little knowledge when it comes to android and their platform, is it possible it could be there mount priority of the storage or the internal having something stored on it such as an app that could be in use by the phone which could be preventing the drive from being read?
what the hell... I have the exact OPPOSITE problem.
With my headunit its been only mounting the internal storage, but most of my music I put them in the external since I got a 32gb card!
Could it be mounting the smaller sized storage first? =P
-EDIT-
Actually it should be easier to do it the way you want it to (i.e mount internal only)
just unmount the sd card via the android settings -> storage -> unmount
and once it is unmounted, connect the usb to the car.
The catch is of course if you wanna use the external again you have to manually mount it via the settings.
more info but no real help
I have seen a very similar problem and I feel like I can reproduce it.
I've got a 2010 Hyundai Tucson - it has a USB/aux port in the dash console and can accept anything that can be mounted as flash media, flash drives, ipods, etc can all play back music using the Nav display to browse and playback files from the device.
The stereo plays back music perfectly through both my wife's old and new phones. An original MyTouch 3g and a MyTouch 4g. She's had no problem mounting and reading the files from her internal storage. She can playback music on her phone, the car even remembers her place and resumes where she stopped a song.
I, on the other hand, cannot easily get the car to playback files from my older or newer phone. I started with the original android, the HTC Dream/TMobile G1 then later upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S 3g/TMob Vibrant. What's the difference? I've run modded android OS on my phones and my wife has not. I had been running CM5 and later CM6 on the G1/Dream until I retired it. Lately I've been using a MIUI mod, Lithium 360, on the Vibrant.
When I plug in to the USB on the car, the phone gives me the mount prompt and the car begins searching for files. Eventually both fail to make any progress.
I've tried many fixes including turning on/off USB debugging, I've tried wiping Dalvik cache, Wiping regular cache, I believe I even did a factory reset, flash zip, full re-install on a road trip just to see if I could get the car to read my files. What I did discover is that the problem is simply not hardware related. I could boot to recovery and use clockwork to mount USB storage. Files were seen instantly and played back fine. However, this doesn't do me any good as I can't really use the device for anything else (safety first ) and not to mention that there's no way I want to run the phone with the screen on for hours. I know there are simple workarounds here. But carrying an aux/patch cable is an extra hassle, and since my phone can hold enough data for my average means, I often don't remember to bring a flash drive with me everywhere. Besides, the USB cable in the dash does double duty, charging while giving access to files.
To be fair, I've only used CM based mods (according to wikipedia, MIUI is somewhat based on Cyanogen) on my phone and have not tried out any other android software. I don't know if that's a connection or not, but it's the only lead I have right now. There's got to be something different about the USB settings in the OS itself compared to stock Android. Is there an apk file one could flash and test somehow?
---------- Post added at 04:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 AM ----------
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=617333&highlight=car+stereo
This thread is above seems to be describing the same problem. This however appears to be an aftermarket stereo.
[Q] After mounting it *immediately* dismounts
Connecting to a Samsung TV (USB debugging ON and clicked on USB Storage until it turns from green to orange) and then browsing USB (Menu => USB device) it mounts the USB ("Android 11GB" which is presumably the internal SD) and then dismounts within a second and restarts initializing. An ordinary USB stick (single file system) does mount.
Is this because the Galaxy S2 mounts two file systems at a time and the TV cannot handle this. Is there an app which only mounts ONE filesystem on the Galaxy ?

[Q] the best idea i've had to date for my old android phones

so here's the thought:
i have a few old android phones i've collected over the years. i also have a headunit in my car with a rear usb port with which i routed a cable to my glovebox to have a usb stick with my music on it. what i would like to do is replace that usb stick with my old incredible 2. this would not only replace the usb drive, but would also give me the added security of having a hidden phone, always powered, in the car. this would be useful in the event that the car was stolen, since i could reactivate the phone via verizonwireless.com and then use an app like cerberus to do pretty much anything with the phone remotely. including tracking, recording audio, etc. there are just a few kinks i'm not sure how to iron out.
number one, although the phone will last probably a few days with no power, i'm anticipating the battery taking a beating from being in the car 24/7. my concern is that it'll turn off, and if it's stolen i can't expect the perpetrator to turn it back on for me. is there any way to enable an android phone to automatically turn on when it's attached to a power source?
number 2, how can i set the default connection type to 'mass storage device' so that the car stereo automatically mounts the SD card for playing music when the ignition is turned on.
thanks for any help, as well as any other useful suggestions for this application!
rocktonic said:
number 2, how can i set the default connection type to 'mass storage device' so that the car stereo automatically mounts the SD card for playing music when the ignition is turned on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
under settings, there should be a "connect to PC" section, where you can select "disk drive" as the default connection rather than "charge only".
If you want to take this a different direction, how about turning it into a dash cam?
-- Sent from my TouchPad using Communities
compro01 said:
under settings, there should be a "connect to PC" section, where you can select "disk drive" as the default connection rather than "charge only".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you know, i'm starting to think something is wrong with the phone. i did find that section, and set the default to disk drive, but when i plug it into my computer all it does is charge. the mac doesn't recognize anything is plugged in, and the phone doesn't recognize it's plugged into anything. i reflashed a stock rom and everything, same results. could the usb port have gone bad in a way that the charging still works but data doesn't?! seems unlikely...
post-mortem said:
If you want to take this a different direction, how about turning it into a dash cam?
-- Sent from my TouchPad using Communities
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's a neat idea too, especially if i could mount it somehow that it wasn't visible. i've been trying to think of a place to hide it at least so that it can see into the cab to take pictures/video using cerberus, but i'm not sure where i could mount it to do this. my main objective is added security for car theft, so having the phone somewhat hidden is sort of important to me. i live in philadelphia, so the paranoia isn't 100% unwarranted.
For outward facing, maybe behind the grille? Inward facing would be hard to hide. Maybe in the door.
-- Sent from my TouchPad using Communities

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