[Q] Hardware UART and charging cable pinout? - Nook Color General

I think it would be fun to try to interface some external hardware to the NC. A serial port would make this much easier.
Has anyone discovered any serial lines on the PCB? I've searched quite a bit on the forum and not found anything. Perhaps some of the GSM or 802.11 module lines are connected to a UART?
Thanks,
DC

Related

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

GPS RS232 to XDA

Hallo, I'm from germany and i've got an Laptop-GPS with RS232 and PS/2 conectors and i would like to know if there is any possibility to built an adaptercabel?
Then i don't have to buy a new GPS antenna.
Thanks for answering
If your gps is made by Haicom or similar, the adaptor lead containing power and data connections are only £15 here in UK, lot less trouble than obtaining an xda connector and trying to solder the connections, if you get power in the wrong place you have no xda or gps.
Hello,
my GPS is build by GARMIN. It's a GPS 35-LVS. I don't know, if it is similar to a Haicom. Maybe anyone else knows it.
You can use a serial cable + null modem adapter which is no problem.
The biggest problem for you is how to power the GPS.
I understand it is normally powered by PS2 so you need to find an adapter so that you can power it in car or use batteries.
You may be better off buying another GPS.
Hi PC-Mobile,
thanks for your answer, thats the way i supposed. In my opinion i can use a powersupply that makes 5V out of 12V. Than i get power for both, the XDA and the GPS.
Thats the cheapest way for me, the null-modem cabel i can build myself and seriel cabel is easy to buy.
Look here.
Regards, Tore

11-pin to 3.5mm for X1 - Possible?

Hiya,
I understand that the USB socket on the X1 is slightly different than that of the Orbit 2...
...so I was very confused to see the following:
http://www.easydevices.co.uk/pp/Son..._3.5MM_STEREO_HANDSFREE_ADAPTER_WITH_MIC.html
Would the above accessory work, or are they selling something without actually knowing whether it would work?
If it DOES work, I'll be able to configure my CK7-W to charge/connect to my X1, which is what I want ultimately.
Hmm, I am almost certain it will not work. Not sure why they advitise it for the X1.
The X1 has a mini-usb charging port, but it does not have the extra tack-on pins that HTC's proprietary Ext-USB ports have. So, data and power can flow through the port, but audio and video can not be accessedd natively from the port.

[Q] Line out audio question

I've searched the HD2 accessories forum and found some inklings of the question I'm asking, but none that quite hit at the heart of the matter. So, my question is this:
Does the HD2 (TMO US) send line audio out through the micro-USB port? I would assume it does, since the dock HTC sells for the HD2 has a 3.5mm jack in back, and it only plugs into the phone via micro-USB.
And my follow-on question would be, if the HD2 does indeed have line audio in the micro-USB port, does anyone know of an actual splitter accessory that splits out line audio and USB charging? I saw this device at AndroidCentral.com's store (sorry, my new account doesn't allow external links) (htc-3-in-1-usb-adapter/5A18A3571.htm) in another thread. But since it's mini-USB and HTC claims it only works for the phones specified, does that mean a gender changer (Daydeal.com, Product ID 31355) wouldn't work with it? Thanks for any info/experiences you folks have!
No one has any info for me?
I browsed around to see if i found anything on this also but i don't think it's possible since it's not a A/V port of any sort. as far as your second Q: The splitter would only be that; something to add additional port's on the device. ie: Since it's connected thru the Micro-sub and the splitter has a mini(assuming)-usb port, it can therefore be charged, Also add's an extra audio jack. (just examples)
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks for the response. It may be that the HD2 by itself may not have line audio or any video out signal tied to the micro-USB port, but just the fact that that splitter exists for earlier HTC phones' mini-USB ports gives me hope that the line audio pin out is there. I mean, I'm not an electronics wiz by any stretch, but I think mini and micro USB only require 2 pins for power, right? And there's at least 4 pins there on a micro port.
The older HTC phones used the mini-USB compatible extUSB interface-where the top portion of the connector did the duty as the USB interface and the bottom portion of the connector was the audio interface. Between everyone hating to have a dongle to the emergence of microUSB as the industry standard put extUSB on the road to extinction.
ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extusb#Proprietary_connectors_and_formats
Thanks for that. Makes sense, since they decided (for some stupid reason) to not add a 3.5 mm headphone jack to those phones. But what doesn't make sense is how they can give these newer phones great hardware, and tout their multimedia capabilities, and yet not add a functionality that Apple has had built in since their first iPhone. That's the main reason I still use it: because I don't want to carry two devices around.

Microphone n voip

Any workarounds for a voip app and microphone for a rooted book color?
the cool guys that know what they are doing are working on bluetooth, that seems to be the best bet to getting a microphone working with NC, cross your fingers!
what about a wired headset with a built in mic. does the nook have the connections to support this?
I think the two best options right now for voice applications are probably the Bluetooth and the slight possibility that the micro-USB port on the Nook seems to have quite a few extra pins on it, which may have left B&N open to a proprietary connector that would allow for additional device connectivity via the micro-USB port.
I've purchased a number of micro-USB adapters in order to plug various devices into the micro-USB port of the NC, with zero success (keyboards, USB headsets, mice, etc). Clearly that port isn't currently operating in that manner, and I'm sure there's a tech savy person that could drop in and give us a simple answer to why this is.
I was also curious about the headphone port possibly have mic capabilities, and was about to purchase a single post headset to test the theory, but then I took a (very unscientific) look at the headphones jack, and it would appear that there aren't enough ring connectors inside it to support an additional channel. Obviously the guys doing the tear-down would know far more about this than myself.
We'll see what turns up over the coming months.
Found this teardown post with spec list and it says that there is no mic input in the headphone jack. I know I read another teardown post which I cannot find that indicated the same thing. I agree that our best bet may be getting the bluetooth working.
KryptoNyte39 said:
I've purchased a number of micro-USB adapters in order to plug various devices into the micro-USB port of the NC, with zero success (keyboards, USB headsets, mice, etc). Clearly that port isn't currently operating in that manner, and I'm sure there's a tech savy person that could drop in and give us a simple answer to why this is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you detail what sort of adapters you tried? Have you tried a gender changer (type a-a female-female) on the end of the nook cord attached to a keyboard?
Someone correct me if I am wrong but, in order for the usb to do something other than just charge and connect to the PC from the usb, you would have to activate USB host, which is not turned on in stock. Hence no of the fancy toys will work. There are a lot of funky pins on the connector so it may have to be some funky adapter, assuming you get usb host running. There are a lot of hackery potential, but until that project is completed, the wait for bluetooth continues.
Go Occip! (the guy hacking the bluetooth.)
Mike
This is what I've been thinking about. I don't have the ability to figure out how to activate the USB Host function, but I read several posts about how it worked on N1, D1, and Hero.
The thing I want to try is using a micro USB to 3.5mm minijack cable like those that came with the G1. It's the only thing I could think of that could logically be supported by the default system since it was necessary in 1.5 on that device.
I don't think anyone is using VOIP yet, but you may be very interested in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=989637
I'm running the CM7 image via SD card from that thread, and the Bluetooth works, and I can connect to my phone and my headset. Several people can connect to their standalone GPS units. Worth watching.
Anyone know if the micro USB port is even powered?
On a lot of phones, the USB connectors aren't powered by the device (like my HD2), so you have to hack together a proper setup that supplies power.

Categories

Resources