Ipod As Infrared Hard Disk?

[gabrielm]

I have a sl-c860 and a 40Gb iPod that take with me everywhere. I would like to hook them together and use the iPod as a hard Disk for the Z, but the 860 has no usb host and the host cards are really expansive. Then I saw this:
http://features.engadget.com/entry/6336778455600767/

Belkin is also coming out with this cool device.

Does anyone know if this would be possible/practical?
Thanks in advance,
gabrielm

[lareya]

I use a usb/irda device and i transfer files bck and forth w/ my z very easily. Just a plug and go, but I don't have a ipod.

Lareya

[gabrielm]

Lareya,

What (which brand) is this usb/irda device you speak of?
gabrielm

[lareya]

I picked it up at Fry's.  it is a USB-1500USB to IrDA adapter converter (infra red) The package says Irda wireless bridge. I don't see a brand on it.  Weird - bought it for $24.99.  It is only however USB 1.1 and IRDA 1.1, SIR up to 115Kbps transfer rate, FIR 4Mbps transfer rate.  Transmit distance up to 1.0m, and transmit angle up to 30. That is all the packaging states.

BTW, it looks just like the Belkin except for the Belkin label

Lareya

[gabrielm]

Thanks! I might have to go give it a try.
gabrielm

[omega]

?  This is just a usb irda client. You still have to have a host such as a computer that knows how to use it. pity though...

[ran]

The Total Remote is a "consumer IR" device,  i.e.,  a replacement for remote controls for TVs,  VCRs,  etc.  Communication is one-way,  and very slow.  Not suitable for hooking up the iPod as a peripheral.

IrDA is rather like Bluetooth:  it replaces cables between devices,  and requires hardware/software on both ends for the devices to establish a connection and communicate.  The ipod probably doesn't  have this,  and IrDA is still very slow for disk drive purposes even if it did.

Since it also supports Firewire,  the ipod might have the hardware and firmware needed to drive a USB-to-IrDA adapter,  but it's very unlikely:  the USB standards folks have developed something called "USB On-the-go" that's more peer-to-peer-ish like Firewire,  but almost everything on the market is still built around the original "PC master, device slave" protocol.

Buying a USB host adapter for the Z is almost certainly the cheapest,  and mybe even the only,  off-the-shelf option for what you want to do.

Ran

[gabrielm]

Ran, you’re probably correct… Good thing I procrastinated and didn’t go get one right away. So, if I get a usb host card, does anyone know if I can use a splitter to attach it to 2 devices at the same time. What I really want is to be able to hook it to the ipod and a camera at the same time, so that I can transfer photo directly to the iPod for cold storage, then later, pull them off the iPod to edit on the Z. I have a 1Gb sd card, so it would be possible to download them all to the zaurus and then upload them to the ipod and then delete them from the camera and the zaurus, but bleck! I have to be able to carry all this around easily, so the least amount of wires and cards the better. That’s why I was hoping the IR would work… oh well.

-gabrielm

[omega]

The CF USB host card is apparently terribly slow according to reports on this forums, and i'm not talking usb1.1 slow...

can't run the ratoc usb with pdaxrom at the moment either...

The 'splitter' is just a usb hub.

next prob, is there a compilable ipod driver for the arm processor?

It would be a lot cheaper if you could get your hands on a microdrive... (depending on your cameras memory type as well).

[BarryW]

Depending on which iPod you have, belkin makes an adapter that does just what you are wanting to do.  Put your camera's media in the adapter and hit a button, everything is copied to the iPod.

[ran]

If your only requirement is to stash pictures from the camera,  the simplest and cheapest solution is probably to just buy some more flash cards for it,  and treat them the same way you would rechargeable batteries: change them out when they're out of space/charge,  and deal with them when you get back to your home/hotel where it's cheap to unload/recharge them.  Think of it as a return to The Golden Age of Photography,  when you had to pack lots of film to be exposed,  then developed later  

If you already have a WiFi or Ethernet card,  check out this thread.  You could use it as a "bridge" to the ipod (possibly even without installing drivers,  if it has a standard usb-storage interface) and/or a USB card reader.  

Ran

[g33k]

When the Ratoc CFU1 USB host card was working with pdaXrom, a friend of mine hooked his 40GB iPod up via USB and was using it as generic storage within minutes. It was all filesystem level stuff (ie, no adding songs to the iPod music database), but it worked great for mass storage. I'm really really wanting to get the CFU1 working with the new pdaXrom...