USB Adaptor & Cables

[nevarrie]

Has anyone found a retractable cable with the mini-a connector?

[[steve]]

There is only one type of Mini-USB receptacle for On-The-Go (OTG) devices. This receptacle accepts both Mini-A and Mini-B connectors. The USB mode of the OTG device is selected by the connector: Mini-A sets the OTG device in host mode, Mini-B sets the OTG device in slave mode.

[img]http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/buses/usb/products/otg/images/roles.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

(from the Philips Overview of USB On-The-Go (OTG))

There does appear to be a considerable amount of vendor confusion when it comes to labeling Mini-USB connectors. 5-pin Mini-USB connectors are Mini-A. 4-pin Mini-USB connectors are Mini-B.

[zaurusgeek]

Retractable version:
http://catalog.blackbox.com/BlackBox/templ...tractable+Cable

[zaurusgeek]

Oh well...just got the retractable USB cable from Black Box and  (altho it says a min-a adapter is included), there is no mini-a capability with this cable.

[alon]

I spoke too soon...

I just took my Zaurus out of the dock and plugged in the external drive.  dmesg says it saw it and attached it to /dev/sda1.  I had modified /etc/fstab to have the line

/dev/sda1   /mnt/usbstorage   auto   noauto,owner 0 0

cloning from the /dev/mmcda1 line.  I did a

mount /dev/sda1

and a

cd /mnt/usbstorage
ls

I am now looking at the directory listing of the files on the drive.

Hi richmitc,

 I did exactly what you did - I have the quickconnect cable, I've connected my usb diskonkey, I've mounted -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb, and I could ls.. But that's not all - I then tried to copy and it got stuck. dmesg showes me:
usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout

I get no response from the terminal. I can't rmmod (in use), removing and reputtnig the usb key doesn't help. Some of the file gets copied (correctly I think), and then it gets stuck.

 Did you have any such problems?

Appreciate any help,

Alon

[Pirate]

Hey
I found a USB to mini A cable that works on a SL 6000.
You can plug USB peripherals such as keyboards, mice, externally powered USB hard drives and card readers into the Zaurus.

 http://www.dcables.com/catalog/1_8_meter_u...in__3239068.htm

[coeus]

Yo-hi.
I've happily got a new Zaurus6000L.
Imported from US to Germany.
(I had to pay $650 + €80(german tax addon))


I'll buy an usb-mini-a adapter this week.

FOR GERMANS:
There exist http://reichelt.de.
There you get an
1.8 meter  USB-MINI-A to USB-A  cable
for just €0,80 !!!
and male/female/a/b adapters for €0,45 !!!

But minimum payment is €10,-(€100,- outside of germany) and postage €3,60.
So you should buy additional stuff. (i.e. to tinker a mobile battery charger out of big batteries and a tension-regulator-7805)

FOR AMERICANS(and the rest of the world):
I'm sure, in usa exist several cheap shops for electronics, too.
Look for internet shops with linux servers (use telnet/netcat on port 80 to find out).
And ask students tinkering with microcontrollers. (Search for microcontroller-forums.)
Most big companies are really expensive, so do not trust those with heavy propaganda. (i.e. CONRAD)
Prices of electronic components differ from shop to shop between 30% and 20000%. The competence of those shops, too.

You should not sell much more than $1.00 for such usb cables an adapters -- or you've been had by a big MS-like company.

http://reichelt.de/ -> (Startseite / Bauelemente, mechanisch / Kabel / Leitungen / Computerkabel und Adapte... / USB Technik / USB-Kabel)

[hubcapboy]

I spent three hours today driving to every electronics story in the greater Seattle area, looking for at least the scent of a Mini-usb A connector, to at least pirate onto the end of one of my other cables.  I ended up at Fry's. I don't know if you have a Fry's near you, but they are a huge electronic store (literally, almost a warehouse) that seems to have almost everything... they even have a motherboard display.

I poured through the four sections of the store (cameras, PDA accessories, computer components, and the cable isle)  and pulled up nothing.  Four different service reps brought me usb-b cables.  When I asked at the repair counter if they had any "special" phone numbers for Sharp, they said they couldn't help me with anything that I didn't buy there, or that they carried. so I got pissed off and started pouring over every electronic device they had in the store looking for something that had the same socket as the tosa.

Finally, success...  the new iRiver PMP-140 (a 40 gig media player) had two mini usb inputs in a pop-out door on one side, one was a mini-b, and was labeled something like "USB client" and right next to it was a mini-a, that was labeled "USB Host."  I assume this would be used for the iRiver to play from external HDD's.  I thought it had seemed absurd that Sharp would include hardware that could not be used in it's product due to an unavailable accessory, and surely iRiver couldn't make the same mistake, RIGHT?

I pretended I was interested in buying one, and managed to get the rep to pull a boxed unit out of the back of the store, and among the contents listed on the bottom of the box was "USB host cable adapter."  

here I am ten minutes later, feverishly thumbing to you after finding this cable available on the iRiver accessories page.  I ordered four.

Here's the link to the iRiver store

They're only FIVE BUCKS!!!!

[bgsfh]

Good job dude.  

Lexar makes a Multi-Card Reader that is about the same size as a pack of cards, is blue and silver and reads seven kinds of different memory cards (they don't include any better identifyiers like model numbers on these products, darn it).  It includes a three foot cable that looks like it has mini-A male to standard-A male ends on it.  Someone with a 6K might try to see if this works as well.  If I upgrade from my trusty SL 5500 I will update this thread.  

Good to hear that Fry's is still satisfying the techlolust of the west coast,  I am in NYC now and would like to hear if there is anything comprable in this area.


- Edit 12/2/04 -
I have verified that this cable does not work with an SL 6000L.

[aki]

Great find.  I almost bought the QuickConnect "ensemble" from Staples.
I didn't want another long cable and multiple connectors to lug around, so I waited for something better.
The iRiver adapter is much more like it. So I just ordered one.  $10 including shipping.

[bugmenot]

I just ordered 126 pieces (to reach the €100)
I will be offering them back at cost here in the forum.
Any one interested contact me.
I think the price will be around $1 or $2 shipped to any U.S. address.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ May Peace be Upon You  ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE

Shipping is exorbitant to U.S.A
I had to cancel order
 

[lumi]

Great find!....

I also found the GoldX QuickConnect at Staples but I returned it.

I found this ... GE H097920 "USB 2.0 6-in-1 Cable Kit - 6 ft." at MicroCenter in Tustin, CA for $20.  It contains a mini-A Male to A Female adapter about 2 in. long which works fine though it won't allow the Z in the cradle.  The cable kit is white cables / adapters with silver ends.

And then I found this .. GE H097912 "USB 2.0 6-in-1 Cable Kit - 10 ft." at a Goodwill store in Fullerton, CA for $8.00 previously opened with all parts.  The cable kit is black cables / adapters with gold ends.

Even though the the mini-A Male to A Female adapters don't fit with the cradle I prefer them to the proprietary ends on the GoldX cable.

I've tried a USB keyboard with embedded hub (still trying to work out the special key mapping) and a USB thumb drive and have others to go.  It is _very_ cool to have USB host capabilities.

I'll need to get a couple of those adapters from iRiver too.

Dave

[hubcapboy]

way to go on ordering a few... I don't want to be babying this thing like oh-so-many dongle adapters I have lying around... "oh don't move the laptop it's on the ethernet" etc...

[angst]

Good job dude.  

Lexar makes a Multi-Card Reader that is about the same size as a pack of cards, is blue and silver and reads seven kinds of different memory cards (they don't include any better identifyiers like model numbers on these products, darn it).  It includes a three foot cable that looks like it has mini-A male to standard-A male ends on it.  Someone with a 6K might try to see if this works as well.

I have a multi-card reader in my desk at work which I believe is a lexar. The plug looks the same but does not fit my SL6000. Its so close that just looking at it you would think it would work. Maybe filing it down would get it to fit but I decided to just go ahead and order a cable for the Z.

[lumi]

I have a multi-card reader in my desk at work which I believe is a lexar. The plug looks the same but does not fit my SL6000. Its so close that just looking at it you would think it would work. Maybe filing it down would get it to fit but I decided to just go ahead and order a cable for the Z.

I don't have a Lexar but I do have a multi-card reader.  It has a mini-B connector.  Please don't modify the mini-B connector to fit in the mini-A plug of the Zaurus.  They are not electrically compatible.  Just like you can't modify an A connector (goes into your PC) into a B connector (the large "house" shaped connector) which goes into devices.

Mini-A is new connector for smaller host devices.  Smaller than PC's at least.  In the USB world there are host devices and client devices and the cable ends for each are intentionally different.  We just have one of the new devices which have the mini-A connector.

Get the mini-A Male to A Female connector from IRiver or the GoldX set or one of the two GE sets I mentioned.

Dave