PPC to USB cable/converter?

[maikii]

Is there such a thing as a cable (or adapter to put on a cable) that will hook on one side to the PPC's cradle port (in my case IPAQ 2210) and the other end to a USB device.

I know there is one kind of PPC-USB cable. I have one, to hook the IPAQ to my computer for syncing. In that case the IPAQ is an external device for the computer. I mean the other kind, where the IPAQ would be the computer to hook devices to, and the USB end would be the device end. (I forget which is A and B.)

That sure would be great, if one could hook up any kind of USB peripheral to a PPC. I guess it would take more than a cable though, but also drivers for those devices, or drivers built into the OS (as with Win XP).

If not available now, is that idea being worked on at all? It sure would be nice to be able to connect any kind of USB peripheral to a PPC.

[Robb Bates]

You get into the problem of USB hosts. Your PC is the USB host and the PPC is the USB, uh, client. Very few PPCs can act as a USB host. It has little to do with the cables.

Robb Bates

[maikii]

You get into the problem of USB hosts. Your PC is the USB host and the PPC is the USB, uh, client. Very few PPCs can act as a USB host. It has little to do with the cables.

Robb Bates

Some can? WHich?

Is Microsoft working on that for the next version of the Windows Mobile OS, USB connectivity as host?

[Robb Bates]

I know one of the higher end Toshibas can with the VGA / USB expansion adapter. I'm sure others can too. I just don't know which. Maybe there is even a compact flash USB host card out there. But then you run into the problem of getting drivers for the device. It may plug in and get recognized, but if you don't have the software for it, it's pretty useless. If someone does make something like that, then I would hope most of the generic USB devices, like the ones I mentioned, would have generic drivers available.

What were you wanting to use it for? I'm guessing you were hoping to use maybe a flash drive or keyboard or mouse, yes? Those would be cool.

Anyone else know anything?

Robb

[maikii]

What were you wanting to use it for? I'm guessing you were hoping to use maybe a flash drive or keyboard or mouse, yes? Those would be cool.

Robb

Sure, and a lot more than that. How about USB sound cards, MIDI interface, hard drives, etc., etc., etc., etc. PPCs would be a lot more versatile if you could use any USB device with them.

[Robb Bates]

No doubt! But can you imagine how quickly your battery would drain?

"Yea! I got this USB hard drive working. :D (BEEP! WARNING LOW BATTERY) :( :roll: "

Robb

[Janak Parekh]

The iPAQ 2215 doesn't support USB host natively -- you have to get a USB Host adapter. There are two currently on the market I know of: one (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21945), two (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9310). However, once you have the USB host to drive devices, you also need a driver. That's the more tricky one -- a few drivers exist, but not many. I believe keyboard is built-in, and people have developed mouse and hard drive drivers -- do a couple of searches.

Robb -- you're right -- most Toshiba high-end units have native USB support.

--janak

[Robb Bates]

That second one looks pretty sweet. The first is UGLY! I hate those big modules sticking out the top. But after looking at the specs, it seems to be the better of the two. It says it will be ready in Feb 2004.

So Maikii, there's your solution. Hmmm, maybe I'll end up getting one myself!

Robb

[maikii]

According to the twin-paradox site:
http://www.twin-paradox.com/classdrivers.html, some USB drivers are built into Windows Mobile 2003. (I guess Microsoft was anticipating USB connectivity for PPCs.) Perhaps more PPC makers will start to include USB ports on PPCs.

I still doubt they would work for USB sound cards, more likely (at least for now) just keyboards, mice, and mass storage.

I wish these interfaces didn't take up the CF slot though. (I guess using the cradle port would be more problematic, since that's not standardized, and different makes have different cradle ports.) Many PPC users put a lot of their applications on CF cards, as most units don't come with much built-in storage and memory. With the CF card USB interface attached, one could not run a program from the CF card.

[Robb Bates]

Maybe you could put your programs on an SD card. Or maybe if we hold our breath long enough :oops: , someone will make a USB host/Memory card combo.

I decided with my h2215 that I'd reserve the SD card for memory and the CF slot for IO devices. It's cheaper that way. And there are just some things you just CAN'T get for the SD slot.

Robb