At Last, A Working Usb Host Cable And Hub.

[mrog100]

Firstly id like to thank the folks who helped out in my previous usb host cable thread. And also a big thank you to A R Taylor who helped with the mysteries of it all..

Anyway, my usb host cable project is complete.. and im pleased to say it works this time

My aim was a portable usb host cable and hub. Having enough portable power for things like hard drives aswell as lesser power guzzlers like card readers and mice. Portable being my key thing i didnt want to have to plug in the usb hub into a power outlet. So a battery pack has been used instead.

Heres some pictures for ya

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Firstly the completed cable and hub, note the cable is not powered so this configuration requires any usb device to be self powered.

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For un-powered usb devices on the move a battery pack is required, a small one like this would do the trick.

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And heres a larger battery pack all connected up and working.

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In the not too distant future i hope to write a quick how to do it guide. Allthough theres info out there methinks something a bit more self explanatory wouldnt go amiss..

cheers

matt rogers

 

[chunkyktr]

looks good

looking forward to your how-to

 

[jbess]

Hurry with that How-to! The one posted on the wiki is unclear in various areas that would make me very confused on how to proceed next. Did you have to do any software updates/changes?

 

[prairiefire]

Very clean. Really like this add-on. What type of battery is this? How long do you expect it to last before recharging?

 

[mrog100]

The how to will have to wait till some time in january...lol... xmas and the new year and a trip to scotland kind of get in the way .. but i must agree that the info allready out there is not entirely straight forward

to answer a couple of questions..

there are no software mods required,, firmware 2 or later will do the trick...

the batteries in the pictures are actually battery boxes.. the small one pictured holds 4 aaa sized cells.. and the larger one 4 aa sized cells... they were obtained off the bay for a couple of quid and u just slide open the top of the battery box and pop in yer batteries... 4 aa sized 2500 nimh will run say a mouse and portable 2.5 inche hard drive for at least 2 hours.. with up to 5 hours quite possible dependent on how much reading and writing was done on the 2.5 inch hard drive.. a smaller and neater battery box such as the aaa one pictured will run things like mice and keyboards all day without worries, but i would not recommend the aaa pack for power hungry things like hard drives etc..

the how to will make everything quite clear.. but id like to point out that if you dont have good soldering skills then forget about it so when the old how to is complete ill also prolly suggest it being alot easier to just buy one from A R Taylor... lol..

seasons greetings to everyone

matt rogers

 

[Vimacs]

wow that hub is small, where did you get it?

 

[cowai]

ME WANT!

Thinking of selling a little kit? If no, think of it!



And hey, consider adding a tv-out cable too!

 

[DBH]

That hub really is tiny you could infact actually just attach that onto the battery cover on the GP2X and I doubt you'll even notice the thing! only thing is you reckon if there is a way to make a ribbon / ultra flat ext to usb connector so you dont have the chunky typical EXT cable as pictured? im thinking of something along the lines of the L shaped SATA cables you get for hard drives.

EDIT: Also check out this USB2 hub I found it would fit perfectly along the back of the GP2X above the battery compartment (over the sticker) and it can be powered if need be!


USB 2 Hub

Heres one like mrogs:

Micro USB 2 hub