Database Develop

USB GPS Mouse connection

Hi there,
let me first thank you for this great site you put up here!
And here comes my question:
I want to hook up my USB GPS Mouse (made for the notebook -
meaning it get's it's power via USB) up to my XDA.
And now I wonder if I can simply solder the data +/- cables
from the USB Mouse to the USB data +/- pins on the XDA plug
(so I could still use the same cable for ActiveSync on the PC),
or if I have to solder the data +/- cables from the USB mouse
to the serial RX/TX pins as described on the 'The XDA's connectors'
page of this site...
I was planning to hook both the GPS and the XDA up to my car
power adaptor in a kind of a Y constellation:
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::__________ Power
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/
::::::::::::::XDA ----------
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\___________ GPS
and use Power for both.
Maybe someone can tell me about the data hookup.
Thanks, Lars.

I don't have answers but some things you have to consider.
1) The XDA is a slave device. I presume the GPS receiver is one too. I really wonder if they can communicate with eachother
2) Based on how you describe this you want to power the receiver from the the car. I assume you have checked the right voltage requirements for the receiver and that the powersupply can deliver the currents required for both the XDA and the receiver. My personal experience is that the latter shouldn't be too much of a problem, but it can't hurt to check.
3) Combining USB and Serial the way you describe it is not a good idea. (mark the last character '.' as in PERIOD).
Robert

Power Supply
Hi Robert,
thanks for your suggestions.
Indeed both (the original ActiveSync cable from the XDA and the
USB GPS) get their power off a USB port on the notebook so
this must be the same voltage requirements.
This ActiveSync cable is a combined car charging cable with an
USB 'A' type connector on the end which you can plug either into
the USB port on the notebook (where it also ActiveSync's) or into
the car's power adapter (where it only charges).
So this both same voltage. And the car power adaptor should
nominally supply enough power for both...
But I don't understand what you said about it not beeing a good
idea to hook up the USB data to the SERIAL data.
When plugged into the notebook in WinXP the USB GPS installs
a 'Prolific USB-to-Serial COM5' to emulate to the programms
working with it a com5 (or com1 or com2 depending on your
hardware settings) communications port. So I guess the data
coming from the USB GPS is just the same as if delivered via
serial cable and all the driver does is faking to be a serial port
to any programm asking for data from com5.
And I think a USB device is 'not really' a passive device as it starts
popping out ASCII data strings as soon as it get's power (no matter
if there is a device to read the data or not).
So I figure when you plug it into the XDA and tell the XDA by means
of USB wakeup (USB_VDD pin 13) that there is an active USB
connection, that it will start trying to figure out what the heck the
connected cable is trying to tell it.
And here is the tricky part where I don't know if the XDA might not
believe it is beeing Sync'ed and therefore starts ActiveSync.
Anyone with any experience or suggestions there...??
(Sorry for the rather lenghty post)
Greetings, Lars.

Lars,
seems like you got the power all figures out
regarding the usb/serial discussion.
If I understand you correctly you can plug the USB connector of the GPS receiver into the USB port of the PC.
'somewhere' in the PC this is modified into a virutal serial port in order to enable serialport aware programs to work with the GPS receiver as well.
This is a good concept but at an electrical level that still means that the GPS receiver is connected in an USB fashion. There is nothing Serial Port about that. In a way you already pointed that out in your messages by using the word 'emulate'.
You can hook it up to the USB part of the XDA but still I doubt about the master/slave discussion of USB.
Regards Robert

No cahnce.
Save yourself time/money.
Forget it.
Lars said:
Hi there,
let me first thank you for this great site you put up here!
And here comes my question:
I want to hook up my USB GPS Mouse (made for the notebook -
meaning it get's it's power via USB) up to my XDA.
And now I wonder if I can simply solder the data +/- cables
from the USB Mouse to the USB data +/- pins on the XDA plug
(so I could still use the same cable for ActiveSync on the PC),
or if I have to solder the data +/- cables from the USB mouse
to the serial RX/TX pins as described on the 'The XDA's connectors'
page of this site...
I was planning to hook both the GPS and the XDA up to my car
power adaptor in a kind of a Y constellation:
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::__________ Power
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/
::::::::::::::XDA ----------
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\___________ GPS
and use Power for both.
Maybe someone can tell me about the data hookup.
Thanks, Lars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Guess U R right
Hi Guys thanx for the feedback,
I spent an afternoon researching on this stuff and am very disappointed that I have to admit you are both right.
Now way (other than putting some 'intelligent' converter between the USB GPS and the RX/TX pins of the XDA) to make the USB 'language' sound like 'SERIALean'.
I think there should still be a possibility:
Let everything run via the USB, persuade the XDA it's not ActiveSync talking to it and write a driver that talks to the GPS via the open USB connection and sends the proper commands to recieve the NMEA ASCII.
And then you would still need to tell your route software to take the incoming data from the virtual (or emulated) COM port...
And when I read the above chapter once more :shock: I find this is definitly not a job for me!!
So I will just get a serial GPS an hook it up the nomal way.
Cheers and thanx again, Lars.

Hi,
Just read your post. I am new to pda land. Just bought a xda2
I have a laptop which I use with a gps usb mouse via usb on the laptop. Am I right in thinking that I could have bought a ps2 mouse and used a ps2 changer to usb and it would have worked??
If so can't I buy a usb to ps2 changer in order to plug into a car connection cable which has the ps2 and the xda conection and a ciger lighter plug for power? OR is there a similar cable for a usb connect for gps?
Am I missing something here?
Thanks
P

HTC Advantage 4 - 1 Cable, Not Working??

Hiya,
I just got my cable from expansys, the vga and s-video out is working fine, but i haven't got any thing usb to work yet. I've tried flash Drives and a card reader, just no response, no light or any thing... is there a trick to it or is it not very compatable or is there a chance mine is faulty?
cheers

My guess is that although it is a Host, it does not supply any power, I say this because the battery is only 3.7 V DC and USB devices are 5 V DC, this means that there is not enough Volts in the advantage to power a USB device to start with, never mind powering a USB device and an Advantage at the same time.
You will probably need to plug it into a USB hub that supplies it's own power, like this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-4-Por...106823769QQcategoryZ96866QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I had the same problem but it was because the TV out was still on. Once I turned this off in the settings menu it worked fine.

I too had no trouble hooking up a flash drive. No other peripherals were attached to the cable. Alas, no go on a hard-drive MP3 player, but trying a powered hub is a good idea.

Have you tried connecting your USB device, and then soft resetting?
Works for me.

I have no detection of USB devices by my Advantage.
I tried with and withour Soft Reset before and after the cable connection, before and after the cable and flash drive connection, with or without the VGA or Video Output disabled or enabled, but my Advantage does not recognize any USB device (I tried with 2 flash drive, a keyborad and an optical mouse. Nothing to do. These devices do not work with my Advantage).
It seems that the relative drivers are missing.
Someone has a sure fix or solution to this problem ??
Thanks

Battery Powered USB Hub...
This device should work well with the x7500/Advantage. It doesn't require you to carry around a bulky power plug. It runs off of 4 AAA batteries and provides power for up to 4 USB devices. Since the x7500/Advantage has limited power and can't power external drives itself, this is a nice addition and cheap. Hope someone finds it useful.
http://www.radioshack.com/sm-cyberpower-4-port-battery-powered-hub--pi-2259675.html

I have the Dopod U1000. I have connected a thumb drive and a USB mouse without issue. The mouse is useless as far as I can tell as there is no pointer though the buttons work.

I have no problems with a T-Mobile Ameo and a 1Gb Corsair USB Flashdrive - don't even need a soft reset. It's listed as 'Hard Disk' on the Ameo.
Question though: can I just unplug it when done? I'm used to 'safely removing hardware' on the PC, and it just feels wrong unplugging it from the Ameo, but I can't see any similar 'safely remove' method.

Hi.
It depends of the usb device. My 1GB pen drive is recognized but my 4GB isnt recognized (my 160 GB isnt). So I suppose If the usb device isnt powered then only "very low powered" devices are recognized...
If I connect my 160 GB and I plug it to AC then It is recognized correctly...

Does mini usb-usb host cable exist? Where to buy it?
THX!
Look this one http://www.pixmania-pro.it/it/it/255677/art/cowon-iaudio/cavo-usb-host.html#
seems to be what I'm looking for...don't you?

spmc said:
I have the Dopod U1000. I have connected a thumb drive and a USB mouse without issue. The mouse is useless as far as I can tell as there is no pointer though the buttons work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search the forum for the Modaco Mouse driver. It has a mouse pointer and works flawlessly with a USB Mouse!

4 in 1 Cable
I found te following description of this cable:
http://www.expansys.com/htc/p_htc_item.aspx?i=145166
The HTC SC V100 4-in-1 cable can split the HTC proprietary 16-pin interface on the Advantage into these 4 functions:
- USB 1.1 host (supports USB low power): Plug USB accessories into the USB standard A female port. The host can support these accessories:
1. Thumbdrive
2. Card reader
3. USB keyboard
4. USB mouse
- VGA output: Connect the Advantage to output the screen contents to a projector or PC monitor
- TV output – S-video: Connect the Advantage to output the screen contents to a TV through the S-video interface
- TV output – Composite Video: Connect the Advantage to output the screen contents to a TV through the composite video interface (AV cable)
Technical Details:
Resolution: 640 x 480 pixels, 262K colours
Cable length: 100mm ± 10mm
Connectors support:
- HTC specific 16-pin male for connecting to the Advantage
- USB standard A (Female)
- VGA D-sub (Female)
- S-video (4-pin) out (Female)
- Composite video out (Female)

4
Hi,
I have the HTC 4 in 1 cable for the T-Mobile Ameo (HTC Advantage 7500) and the ability to access a USB thumbdrive or stick appears to depend on the device.
The following devices worked without a hitch:
- Kingston DataTraveler 1GB
- Q motion 1 GB
- SanDisk MobileMate SD+ (This a SD card reader in a USB stick format, very handy to copy data from a SD/miniSD/microSD card to your 7500 without going through Activesync)
Another noname USB stick that I had did not work.
So the trick is to find a low powered USB stick.
Cheers,
Tim

Please can someone give me some exaples about how could I use
Video/S-Video/ option in 4 in 1 cable, considering that I can image how to properly use VGA out and USB host?
THX so much!

Hi,
before I buy it, could it work?
USB 2.0 (compatible 1.x)
Adapter USB from Type A (female) to mini USB 5pin (male)
THX so much!

asci said:
Hi,
before I buy it, could it work?
USB 2.0 (compatible 1.x)
Adapter USB from Type A (female) to mini USB 5pin (male)
THX so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that should work for you. I'm sure it's not more than $5.00 USD. ;-)

asci said:
Hi,
before I buy it, could it work?
USB 2.0 (compatible 1.x)
Adapter USB from Type A (female) to mini USB 5pin (male)
THX so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you hoping to connect USB accessories to your Athena with this?
If so, it will not work.
Only the 4 in 1 Host cable connected to the ext USB socket will do that.
This adaptor will only connect to the Sync & Charge socket, and will not provide USB Host capabilities.

Pantaloonie said:
Are you hoping to connect USB accessories to your Athena with this?
If so, it will not work.
Only the 4 in 1 Host cable connected to the ext USB socket will do that.
This adaptor will only connect to the Sync & Charge socket, and will not provide USB Host capabilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it will not provide me host function...?
Than the HTC cable should have something like a "chip" in it to provide host, is it right?

Yes, the USB Host chip must be either in the addon cable, or linked to the extUSB socket in the Athena. But definitely not the sync & charge socket.

HTC kaiser USB, Host or only Client?

hey, anyone knows if the kaiser's usb is host or only client? and if it is client, any way to make it host??

Isaygarcia said:
hey, anyone knows if the kaiser's usb is host or only client? and if it is client, any way to make it host??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
testing with otg adapter and flash drive...
change the title to kaiser otg host or something

hum?
tyeo098 said:
testing with otg adapter and flash drive...
change the title to kaiser otg host or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any results for it??

OTG adapter fits, but the jump drive doesnt light up, indicating its not being powered, no recognition. but I am sure that there is an OTG chip on the device though. otherwise they would have a standard mini-a usb port.

where can i find an OTG adaptr??

Mine came with a set of usb adapters, for 20$ I can hook anything TO anything!!!
Although google is your best bet.

I also read that the chipset used in this PDA should have support for OTG USB, and that OTG is controlled by 1 pin on the USB connector, and that HTC might
have left it unconnected..
would be possible to connect it and have OTG functionalities?
Otherwise does it exist something like bluetooth hubs which transform usb devices into bluetooth?

Make usb host from Athena VGA out cable

hi
I wanted a 4-1 cable for using it's usb. but I couldn't find it.
so I made it myself from an HTC VGA out cable.
you need a female USB A connector and some wires.
connect every pin from VGA out to USB connector as are in pictures.
you may connect a flash memory and it doesn't work because some
flash memories need more power than Athena makes.
a simple laser mouse is the best tool for test this.
come on ...
Start it!

MHL to VGA

Are there MHL to VGA adapters available that are know to work with the 4x?
Or is MHL standardized enough that i can pick any MHL to VGA without any worrying about working?
I know HDMI is usually better but my HMD (tac eye) takes only VGA or SVideo (though SVideo quality really suxx, its only on for NV not for data).
Also I see some MHL to VGA adapters have a secondary USB port, can this be used only as client or could I somehow connect a pointing device to my phone?

If I were you i would take MHL to HDMI cable and then HDMI to VGA. Reason is simple. Sometime you may want to connect your phone to new TV so you will need HDMI as it is standard port.
Secondary USB port is microUSB and it is used to charge phone while conected to TV (at least thats how it works with MHL to HDMI cable).

Stevic Milos said:
If I were you i would take MHL to HDMI cable and then HDMI to VGA. Reason is simple. Sometime you may want to connect your phone to new TV so you will need HDMI as it is standard port.
Secondary USB port is microUSB and it is used to charge phone while conected to TV (at least thats how it works with MHL to HDMI cable).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, for me this would than look like: MHL-HDMI adapter connected to a HDMI-VGA adapter connected to VGA-"Proprietary HMD Port" thats in used space and weight more for the adapters than for the phone and HMD. As i intent to wear this on my body thats rather not cool. Also the HDMI-VGA adapter will want some juice what will be an additional drain on my batteries.
The "VGA-"Proprietary HMD Port" is passive, so if I like the setup I will probably cut the MHL-VGA adapter open and attache the signal lanes directly to a fitting plug for my HMD.
Also I don't own a TV just a 30" WQXGA Dell Monitor with a Duallink DVI port its one of the old models that had only Duallink DVI, no scaling no DVI no VGA and no other ports.
An other issue would be how to control the phone when it in my pocket, how can I attache some pointing device and would this even work with android OS?
Or would I have to wait for an unlocked bootloader and this cool ubuntu on phone projects that provide a full ubuntu desktop?
PS: is the micro usb port on the adapter only used for charging or is there still a USB signal on it?
David

If i got you right, you want to control phone, connected to PC monitor, over HDM goggles?
You can try something like this https://code.google.com/p/androidscreencast/
It is a software that enables remote control of your phone over WiFi, so if your goggles work on PC it should work here to. It does the same job as the cable connection (MHL to VGA)
As for the MHL to VGA adapter you have 4 connectors:
1) male microUSB (one you connect to your phone)
2) female microUSB (charger or power supply, so it doesn't use phone battery)
3) female VGA (for monitor)
4) 3,5 audio jack for sound

Stevic Milos said:
If i got you right, you want to control phone, connected to PC monitor, over HDM goggles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly I don't want to use a PC at all. I want to connect the HMD (Vuzix-Tac-Eye-LT-Monocular) directly to the phone and use some pointing device or mini keyboard to control the phone.

I have the adapter and a problem,
the phone is only giving out its native screen resolution, my HMD cant handle.
How can I change the resolution so SVGA ?