I think that would drain the battery, but feel free to try
What I did was to mount everything inside a neat little box and glue it to the back of one of my spare 770 hard cases. The combination makes it very easy to use USB flash drives on the move. Here are some pics (yes, I'm proud of my achievement )...

PS: Yes, I know that my screen protector is _terribly_ dirty, but I spilt some milk over it this morning during breakfast

Wow, that's awesome. Unfortunately, I think i'm incapable of making something so finished-looking . That would definitely be the route I would take if I wanted to develop this further.

I should think something like this should work.

It's a USB-rechargeable battery-powered hub.

I think you could get it working with the 770 and N800 like this:
1. Cut the connections for the power pins on the upstream port
2. Cut all of the connections on one of the downstream ports
3. Solder wires connecting the power that used be connected to the downstream port to the upstream port
4. Solder wires connecting the power that used to be connected to the upstream port to the downstream port

Voila! Your NIT should work on the upstream port, with up to three devices connected on the unmodified downstream ports, and your hub is rechargeable by plugging the modified downstream port into your computer or anything else with a powered usb port.

Note: at this point, this is just conjecture - I hope to get around to trying it out, but it won't be very soon.

edit: Just realized that it has a hardwired upstream port. So it looks like you would instead swap the data lines between upstream and downstream, so that what used to be a downstream port instead becomes the upstream port.

ok. so i think i have all of the necessary hardware (thx Thoughtfix...) for reading external flash/hard drives. now i am looking for a SIMPLE software solution. i've searched these forums and found this way and that way to enable usb host mode. but what i'm looking for is a one 'button" solution. as in: tap 'here' to enable usb host mode and tap 'here' to disable usb host mode. no flashing, no becoming root, no this and no that. just an extremely easy "program" that can be installed and executed. is this available for the n770?

Nope, hardcore hacking all the way . Unfortunately, there is not yet a single click type program for modifying the 770, but the mods aren't that difficult, now, are they?

thanks for the reply. I know pretty much zilch about linux and with all of the warnings and disclaimers about bricking my device, well, let's just say I am proceeding with the utmost caution. One false move and it could be curtains for my n770. I have no recovery solutions other than reflashing (which can be a real pita).

so is it difficult? Maybe not, but it's damn intimidating!

Didn't thoughtfix have a very thorough how-to on this subject?

Yeah, but if you still want to use it, you now have to stencil his company logo on the Penguin tin.

(Sorry, Daniel. Couldn't help myself )

When I built mine, I cheated. I ripped from an old pc the backplane usb pieced, jumpered the two together while putting power on the power rails from a RadioShack 4AA box that had a switch on it.

I did throw the thing in a nice little container and it even doubles as a battery extender for other usb devices.

I just have a question before I start my USB host attempts.
(And yes, I have been reading and searching the forums. :-)

If you enable USB hose mode, does the 770 no longer work as a USB client?
I found this searching (see, I did search!)
(As root)
command to put it into host mode:
echo host > /sys/devices/platform/tahvo-usb/otg_mode
command to put it into peripheral mode:
echo peripheral > /sys/devices/platform/tahvo-usb/otg_mode
So, do I need to flash (--enable-usb-host-mode) it AND do this, or does the flashing just do that?
(seems a bit weird if that's all the flasher did with that option, but..)
Do I use to flasher to enable it so it will boot with support and load drivers and then I can toggle it off and on with the above?

Also, most of the references I've seen mention flashing with RD mode AND USB host. Do I need to do that? Can I just enable usb host without RD mode? I am already root, so I don't need RD for that. Does USB host require RD mode?

Thanx in advance.

desiv