'USB on the go', is Going Places

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theinquirer.net/pocket.aspx?article=18945' target='_blank'>http://www.theinquirer.net/pocket.a...x?article=18945</a><br /><br /></div>The Inquirer has a report that there is soon going to be a new form of USB, specially designed for PDAs and mobile phones etc. Apparently at USB.org they've been working on the specification for the past year:<br /><br /><i>"Products were slated for the second half of this year. Maybe we've just been dozing. As you'd expect, there's a huge raft of companies working on the spec, including the usual suspects. It's a supplemental specification to the USB 2.0 standard but will allow host capability to be included. USB OTG will co-exist with Bluetooth, according to the USB.org."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hi_speed_otg.gif" /> <br /><br />It's always good to see a standard like USB being extended. This promises good things for Pocket PCs in the future. The <a href="http://www.usb.org/developers/onthego/">USB.org website</a> contains the official announcement and more information for your perusal:<br /><br /><i>"Due to its widespread acceptance, USB is becoming the de facto industry standard for connecting peripherals to PC's and laptops. Many of the new peripherals now using USB are also portable devices. As these portable devices increase in popularity, there is a growing need for them to communicate directly with each other when a PC is not available. The On-The-Go Supplement addresses this need for mobile interconnectivity by allowing a USB peripheral to have the following enhancements: - Limited host capability to communicate with selected other USB peripherals. - A small USB connector to fit the mobile form factor. -Low power features to preserve battery life"</i>

[OSUKid7]

The Inquirer has a report that there is soon going to be a new form of UBS...Hate to correct people, but shouldn't that be USB? sorry!

[dartman]

Read Cringely's article about how Microsoft is looking at the new USB standard. Lots of things being done in the name of security.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040916.html


dart

[Steven Cedrone]

The Inquirer has a report that there is soon going to be a new form of UBS...Hate to correct people, but shouldn't that be USB? sorry!

UBS, USB, you say tomato, and I say...

Fixed! :wink:

Steve

[Phillip Dyson]

Is this what the new Tungsten T5 is using?

[Jonathon Watkins]

UBS, USB, you say tomato, and I say...
...the spellchecker did not pick it up and neither did I. :?

Fortunately we have readers that can spot a typo at 1300 meters. :wink:

[Talon]

Pity it's such a non-story.
USB On the go has been around for at least a year.
Depending on how you read the spec. the Bulverde has it built in as does the OMAP.
I'm sure PDAs will use it in the end but nothing new happened this week, the state of USB on the go is still the same as it was 6 months ago.

[JimPAQ]

UBS, USB, you say tomato, and I say...
...the spellchecker did not pick it up and neither did I. :?

Fortunately we have readers that can spot a typo at 1300 meters. :wink:


I really really love Universal Bus Serial... Much better then Captan Crunch. :wink:

[johncruise]

very nice. looks like they are going to have the same implementation like firewire (1394) and bluetooth -- peer to peer -- connection without a PC. This is really interesting. I'd like to see where this new tech will take us even when we already have similar technology being used already -- BT (looking through a PPC market point of view)

[Talon]

looks like they are going to have the same implementation like firewire (1394) and bluetooth -- peer to peer -- connection without a PC.

Yes but only in a limited way.
In a connection between two OTG devices there is still a master and a slave. Which is which is determined by which way around you connect the cable. Once a link is setup the two devices can negotiate to switch which one is master. In other words it's a master/slave system that is trying to act like a peer to peer connection

The other differences between OTG and normal USB are fairly intuative. The power that an OTG host must be able to supply is far lower than the power from a PC.
Also an OTG host does not need to be able to support a full range of clients. Bluetooth defines a list of standard connection types that everything must use. USB doesn't, it relies on installing drives for each device on the PC. This means that if you want your PDA to act as a host you need versions of those drivers for the PDA. USB does however have a few standard interfaces, storage, keyboard, mouse etc... and those are the ones that will show up on OTG devices.

I'd expect most PDAs that come out with USB OTG to only support USB mass storage devices (cameras, memory sticks etc...) and keyboards initially. Maybe one or two other basic devices but not a lot more.
You certainly aren't going to be able to buy a USB WiFi adaptor, connect it to your PDA and surf the web that way. In theory it could be made to work but all the driver support needed means it's not going to happen any time soon.

But then with the price of memory sticks these days I'd be quite happy with just mass storage devices being supported.

[ctmagnus]

iirc, I saw a product a while back advertising that it supported USBOTG. Can't remember what, though ;)