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RogerS is offline RogerS
2005-12-09 , 21:50
Posts: 772 | Thanked: 183 times | Joined on Jul 2005 @ Montclair, NJ (NYC suburbs)
#11
Originally Posted by lbattraw
As far as hooking up this beast... A USB cable has four colored wires and a braided shield (see http://pinouts.ru/data/USB_pinout.shtml at the bottom of the page). To get this to work I hacked off the male end of a USB extension cable. I then hacked off the male end of a male USB->mini USB cable like the one that ships with the 770 and connected each wire from the extension cable to the mini-USB cable (red->red, black->black, etc.). This does not work by itself, since the 770 and USB device require power. I re-hooked the red and black wires of male end of the USB->mini USB cable up to my existing red/black connections, leaving the white and green wires of the male connector unconnected. Plugging the male connector into a USB hub provides power for the 770 interface and keyboard.
If I understand the photo right, as well as your description, you've got a regular 770-to-PC cable connected to the 770 and to the USB hub, which you then cut in two. And you've got a USB extender cable connected to the keyboard's cable, and you've cut off the extender's male end. (Obviously that means you can use this connection with any other USB device.)

After you cut the 770-to-USB hub cable in two, you connected both red wires with the red wire of the cable to the keyboard, and then the same for black.

Then you connected the green wire from the 770-connected cable to the green wire of the keyboard cable, and likewise the white. You left the USB hub-connected green and white ends unconnected.

And of course the USB hub has AC power. (Presumably the battery-powered USB hub from Cyberpower would work too.)

I think all I've done is describe the cables by what they connect to, instead of what type of USB end they have -- easier for me to follow, especially with the photo.

This all makes sense. But there's one part of this whole situation I don't understand. I accept that you need to do this, but I'm confused about why, if the USB hub is supplying power to both the keyboard and the 770, plugging both the 770 and the keyboard into the hub doesn't work.

Appreciate your clarifying that for me.

Roger
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Mike Cane is offline Mike Cane
2005-12-09 , 23:38
Posts: 949 | Thanked: 14 times | Joined on Jul 2005
#12
Man, all these wires STSOM! You expect someone with a silly phobia like mine -- *fear of electrocution!!!* -- to diddle around like that?

And. geez, seeing that keyboard next to the wee 770 made me laugh!!!

Aren't there smaller keyboards? (Aside from Stowaway/ThinkAhead BT!)
 
RealNitro is offline RealNitro
2005-12-10 , 12:10
Posts: 34 | Thanked: 1 time | Joined on Oct 2005
#13
Originally Posted by lbattraw
Yep, already thought of that. My ideal would be to hack off the USB keyboard cable and put a mini-USB-ended cable on with the appropriate batteries connected at the keyboard. Probably need to add a switch for that matter to avoid draining the batteries the entire time. That way there would only be a single cable to plug directly into the 770. I was at Walmart today and they sell a "PSP USB" cable that is really just a mini-USB->USB male cable like the Nokia one. The cool thing it's only $5, so you can afford to hack away with having to buy expensive cables.
What about making that PSP USB cable really short (cut a piece out), and attach the battery to it. That way you would be able to connect any usb-device to your tablet.
 
lbattraw is offline lbattraw
2005-12-10 , 13:28
Posts: 209 | Thanked: 8 times | Joined on Nov 2005 @ Fishers, Indiana
#14
Originally Posted by RogerS
<snip>
This all makes sense. But there's one part of this whole situation I don't understand. I accept that you need to do this, but I'm confused about why, if the USB hub is supplying power to both the keyboard and the 770, plugging both the 770 and the keyboard into the hub doesn't work.

Appreciate your clarifying that for me.

Roger
The problem is that the USB hub only supports host->peripheral communication, not peripheral ->peripheral. I tried it and it doesn't do anything. It would be ideal if it was more like an network hub that allowed all ports to talk to each other, but that's not the case. Here's a diagram for of my setup for those who had trouble with the pictures:

http://lbattraw.home.insightbb.com/770_plan.png

What I haven't show is an alternate setup where the 770 plugs into the hub master port so you can connect more than one device. It's just a matter of taking a mini-USB->male cable and plugging the male end into the female end of the the wire going to the 770 (still need the male cable plugged into the hub for power though) and the mini-plug into the hub.

Larry
 
lbattraw is offline lbattraw
2005-12-10 , 13:53
Posts: 209 | Thanked: 8 times | Joined on Nov 2005 @ Fishers, Indiana
#15
Originally Posted by Mike Cane
Man, all these wires STSOM! You expect someone with a silly phobia like mine -- *fear of electrocution!!!* -- to diddle around like that?

And. geez, seeing that keyboard next to the wee 770 made me laugh!!!

Aren't there smaller keyboards? (Aside from Stowaway/ThinkAhead BT!)
:-) I wasn't planning on leaving it like that; it was easier to see the wires that way. I have tried a _lot_ of PDA keyboards with various devices, ranging from rigid ones for my old Palm Pilot Pro that it sat on, to foldable ones like the Stowaway, to IR foldable versions with those terrible little cradles and reflectors. In my book they all stink for one reason or other, although with the exception of the rigid keyboard they are all roughly pocket-sized.

Pocket-sized is very overrated as I usually have a backpack with my gear in it. This keyboard is not only rather small compared to a normal 104-sized keyboard, but it is also very thin (as thick the 770 in its case as its thickest point). Thus, in my bag it doesn't take up much room. It's very pleasant to type on, with a springy action and muted click, and the keys are normally spaced so there's no relearning curve. I'm not crazy about the extra real-estate taken up by the buttons across the top for power/volume/etc., although it would be interesting to get them working.

Then there's the price: $20 and easy to find, vs. $70 or more for a BT keyboard that may or may not work with the 770. If you can splice cables you can have virtually any USB keyboard working with the 770, no software required, on the cheap.

Just my 2 cents...
Larry
 
MrNape is offline MrNape
2005-12-11 , 10:15
Posts: 14 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Nov 2005
#16
first i really want to say thanks for the great usb plan.

i build it up at home now but it doesnt work. ;o(

im quite sure i connected everything wright, because if plug in a male 2 male cable and connect the computer instead of the keyboard the 770 gets recognized absolutly normal.

if i plugin the usb keyboard in the 770 absolutly nothing happens ....
is it possible that the problem is that i'm in service mode to become root???

i will try starting in normal mode, but i really dont think that's the problem .

so please tell me if you have aany ideas what can be wrong ??

wich non standard software packages you have installed.......


hope help is coming cheers sebastian
 
fpp's Avatar
fpp is offline fpp
2005-12-11 , 16:10
Posts: 2,853 | Thanked: 968 times | Joined on Nov 2005
#17
Maybe a silly question, but : have you flashed the unit to enable USB host mode ?
 
MrNape is offline MrNape
2005-12-11 , 18:57
Posts: 14 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Nov 2005
#18
i didn't flash it for usb host mode do i have to?


and if yes how can i do this?

was there something i have forgotten to read in the future posts????

Thanks Sebastian
 
lbattraw is offline lbattraw
2005-12-11 , 19:13
Posts: 209 | Thanked: 8 times | Joined on Nov 2005 @ Fishers, Indiana
#19
If you're running Linux and have the flasher utility, it's a matter of:
./flasher --enable-rd-mode --enable-usb-host-mode

A word of warning though: your PC will no longer recognize the 770 as a mass storage device to copy files to until you disable host mode with the flasher utility. Here's a link to a discussion here on ITT about host mode:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...php/t-186.html
and here is a FAQ: http://maemo.org/maemowiki/Frequentl...6f856b3c74595f

Of particular note is the fact that you must switch the 770 off (with the power button) and power it on with the USB cable connected to the PC (the PC must be running the flasher and waiting for the 770 to connect). That, and the power cable cannot be connected or the 770 will never power off. I didn't catch that the first time and couldn't figure out why it didn't work.

Larry
 
lbattraw is offline lbattraw
2005-12-11 , 19:25
Posts: 209 | Thanked: 8 times | Joined on Nov 2005 @ Fishers, Indiana
#20
I stopped by Fry's again last night and found they carry a $3.99 Female->Female USB gender changer. It's quite small and allows two male cables to be connected... Like the Nokia Male-Mini cable and a keyboard. I opened up the keyboard and attached two wires to the board inside for power (where the USB cable was connected internally). I fed the two wires out that same hole the USB cable comes out, add four AAA (rechargeable NimH) batteries and presto! No more scarey rats-nest of cables. The only downside is now I have about 8 feet of cable between the Nokia and keyboard cables to coil up. I specifically recommend rechargeables since they put out a lower voltage; 4 X 1.25V per cell = 5V required to run USB stuff.

Larry
 
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