Can I stick a USB flash memory stick into the N800's flash slot? I know that I would need some converter to physically place the memory stick in the slot, but would the N800 have enough power to actually mount it?
You have to put the N800 into host mode and plug a flash stick into the USB port (via an adapter). It's not a question of how far we can get, the answer is that it is VERY much possible.
However, I don't know of any way to plug a flash stick into the SD port.
The 770, and so far as I know the N800 and N810, do not have powered USB ports. That is to say, normally the 'host' (whether it be a PC or not) has to provide 5 volts to the peripheral. The only way around this was to make a USB voltage injector or use a powered USB hub. There are a bunch of threads on that around here if you're interested in a project.
I've bought an adaptor at Maplin, enabled USB host mode (as per Wiki) on N800 running OS2008 and it reads/writes a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4GB memory stick.
The 770, and so far as I know the N800 and N810, do not have powered USB ports. That is to say, normally the 'host' (whether it be a PC or not) has to provide 5 volts to the peripheral. The only way around this was to make a USB voltage injector or use a powered USB hub. There are a bunch of threads on that around here if you're interested in a project.
As the poster above said, they just use an adapter and plug in their thumb drive. No additional voltage needed. I've even used a full-sized USB keyboard. No additional voltage needed. Someone else has used a gamepad. No additional voltage needed. I'm sure for bigger things like full-blown HDs, you need more juice, but not for these smaller things.
for me reading from a sandisk cruzer micro works with the host mode hack however when copying larger amounts of data the connection sometimes breaks up
