Pandora As Sd Card Reader, Will It Happen?

[lulzfish]

Edit: Is there no strikethrough right now?
Whatever. Disregard this section:

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My MP3 player also takes SD cards, and it has a mode where you can attach it to a PC with a USB cable, and it will show the SD card as a mass storage device.

If the Pandora has SD slots and a similar USB interface [The USB 'client', because I've forgotten the correct term] then will the Pandora be able to do the same thing as well?


Can I use the Pandora as an SD card reader?
Like, just plug it into a PC and directly read the SD cards I have in it?

I tried to take my own advice this time and search the forums, but the forum search kept returning "graphics card" or "SD card" or something almost but not quite related to what I wanted.
The Google search kept thinking "GP32 GP2x Pandora The Wiz" counted as "Pandora", and so it kept giving me stuff about using the GP* systems as card readers.

 

[Kramy]

The Pandora has USB "host" support. It can act as the parent for devices like your MP3 player, so the third SD card should show up just fine.

 

[lulzfish]

Ok, but I wanted to know if I could use the Pandora itself as an SD card reader?

 

[PoisonedV]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rpDgucVN5M

LMAO!!1

 

[gruso]

Most likely, yes. Even the GP2X allowed that.

 

[TrevorBradley]

Most likely, yes. Even the GP2X allowed that.

That's exactly how I'm using my GP2X right now... It's the only SDHC reader in my house!

 

[gruso]

Deliciously slow innit. :lol:

 

[lulzfish]

Yeah, the MP3 player is not really related to this topic other than this personal .. series of words:

My MP3 player acts as an SD card reader, which is cool. My laptop already has an SD card reader built-in, but if the Pandora can do that too, I can transfer files to and from any PC with just a standard USB cable, or I can use it to read other SD cards like the one my camera uses.

So this is a really cool feature, and another gadget i'll never need again once I own a Pandora. [Of course, I already don't need one, but I might later]

 

[gruso]

I can totally relate to no longer needing a product you don't actually need yet but might need later. If you know what I mean.

 

[bzar]

I have this impression that the OTG port can serve as both usb host and client. That would suggest that it would be possible to make pandora work as a SDHC-reader, if the functionality was implemented (I don't know if it has, but it most likely will be).

 

[EdCa22]

I have this impression that the OTG port can serve as both usb host and client. That would suggest that it would be possible to make pandora work as a SDHC-reader, if the functionality was implemented (I don't know if it has, but it most likely will be).

You are correct - that is essentially what USB OTG is - both host and slave. And linux has a driver to make any drive on a system with USB slave appear as a USB mass storage device to the host - as used on the gp2x - so it will work out of the box, assuming that the devs put the driver in the pandora angstrom distro.

 

[gruso]

For all your OTG host adapter needs:
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http://shop.ebay.com.au/items/?_nkw=usb+otg+adapter&_sacat=0&_fromfsb=&_trksid=m270.l1313&_odkw=usb+otg&_osacat=0

Mine's on the way. I hope the Pandora bag is big enough for all the shit I'm buying to carry with it.

 

[CCmachined]

Most likely, yes. Even the GP2X allowed that.

That's exactly how I'm using my GP2X right now... It's the only SDHC reader in my house!


Funny, my gp2x is the only non-SDHC compliant device in my house. I've been waiting a year or so to use this SDHC card i bought especially with my Pandora, its collecting dust.

i don't want firmware 4.0 and i don't want to bollock around with replacing my kernel on an easily brickable device. forget GPH.

(F100)

 

[hch]

what you are looking for is a program called "usb_gadget". it's contained in debian, very likely also in angstrom. it allows you to use an existing usb connection as either ethernet or mass storage emulation (and other stuff i now forgot). worked great on the zaurus and was demoed i think in the ethernet mode on one of the videos a few months back.

what i am a bit unsure about is the speed. as i only know it working with the otg port, i suspect it will be full speed usb only - not exactly what you'd like from an sd card reader.

i don't know whether the same feature is supported over the hi-speed a port, but i suspect that it will be rather unpractical in any case as you'd need a nonstandard a-a usb cable.

 

[OrR]

Well, there are USB adapters for every kind of forbidden usage around for cheap.

 

[hch]

Well, there are USB adapters for every kind of forbidden usage around for cheap.

cheaper than an sdhc card reader? i'd be surprised. last time i checked on ebay, a new one was less than 3 euros (including shipping!)

of course you could instead buy that cable, install the SW, boot your pandora and use that... hm, actually thinking about it again i really start liking the idea...

 

[viridior]

I have some interest in making my Pandora a SDHC card reader and displaying it via USB. When I get more time to work on side projects I will post a HOWTO on the Gentoo Pandora Wiki, http://gentoo.openpandora.org/wiki/

 

[cb88]

my sansa e200 running rockbox linux does this...

 

[VRAndy]

SDHD readers cost as low as $4.32.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10767


I'll bet you could cover it by finding five people who would be willing to pay 87¢ to get you to change your annoying and slightly pretentious avatar. (Not me, though. I just added it to my Adblock+ blacklist.)

 

[lulzfish]

But why would I carry an SD reader if I'm already going to have a Pandora?
The point is to consolidate gadgets I might not need into ones I already need, not to buy more ones I don't really need.

And I am going to change my avatar soon, I was just using that one for testing to see whether the board supported APNG avatars, since I know a lot of sites love to convert everything to a low-res JPG no matter what you originally uploaded.

"(Not me, though. I just added it to my Adblock+ blacklist.)"

Good thinking. Instead of yelling at me, you just solved the problem directly.