External HD
 

I've an external 2.5" HD that can run without a PC, when I plug it into the N800, is there a way that I can access FROM the Tablet?

Did that make sense?

Re: External HD
 

No you can't use USB devices attached to the tablet.

Re: External HD
 

Yes you can with OS2008, I use my camera and flash drive, you need to put it into host mode in terminal.

To enable host mode:
$ echo host> /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc/mode

To set N800 back to OTG mode:
$ echo otg > /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc/mode

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ead.php?t=4177

I have no idea if your HDD will work or not but if it does not use much power it might, give it a go.

Re: External HD
 

I made up an OTG cable by soldering together pins 4 and 5 and tried it with my 40G USB drive enclosure and it worked just fine, but it did seem slow, but not horribly so :-). Takes a while to load up in file manager, but it detected and DID open the drive just fine.

Re: External HD
 

You can? Interesting. I guess I'll need a gender changer cable to take that for a spin. I should have one of those around somewhere.

Re: External HD
 

yes, you can! i've even used a usb keyboard and there is a thread about using a gamepad. research b4 u post. ;)

Re: External HD
 

I ALWAYS do, but obviously used the wrong search terms.

Re: External HD
 

I'm getting an "cannot create /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc/mode".
Permission Denied.
Do I need root?
When I try to gainroot I need a p/w which I ain't got.
Did I miss something?

Re: External HD
 

It should work with proper cable/adapter and N8x0 in Host mode. (Assuming the HD does not take too much current from the USB port.)

You should check what format the external HD is formatted? If it is FAT or FAT32 it should work, but if it is NTFS you may be out of luck.

Re: External HD
 

Fat32. See above about my inability to get into host mode.

The HD is powered by a battery pack, so I'm not worried about the draw - needless to say

**************** edit *****************

Am in as root, and host, plug in and get the infamous "unrecognized ...", then after a few I get "Unable to Connect - No file system available".

I can read the drive everywhere else - other machines.

Re: External HD
 

Whoops! That was meant for InfinityDevil. ;) Didn't want any misinformation to be put out there so quickly.

Re: External HD
 

Yes, you need to be root to do this. The easiest way is to install Becomeroot package and then type in xterm 'sudo gainroot'.

I rewrote this guide now when I packed all the necessary files into one zip file and also cleaned up the scripts a little... so here it goes:

The attached zip file contains four files: host.desktop, otg.desktop, Host.sh and Otg.sh. Before continuing make sure you have Becomeroot package installed.

Here are step by step instructions to install the files:

1) Copy Host.sh and Otg.sh to /home/user/MyDocs
2) Cd into the aforementioned directory and change the files executable by applying commands:
- chmod +x Host.sh
- chmod +x Otg.sh
3) Become root (sudo gainroot) and copy otg.desktop and host.desktop to /usr/share/applications/hildon

Thats it! Now you have two "applications" in your Extras that you can change the USB port mode into Host and Otg mode as you wish.

There are alternative methods to enable host mode as well. Please see the wiki page.

And if anyone finds better way to do this, please feel free to modify the scripts. (I did find the idea how to make entries to Extras and how to write the scripts from someone's post here... don't remember who was it... :o . If you "someone" find the scripts very familiar now you know who did "stole" them... ;) )

Re: External HD
 

Nooo sweat

Re: External HD
 

I put up links to Mara's scripts in the Wiki.

Re: External HD
 

I know this is getting tiring - as I seem to be the only one not to get this to work - ironic as I started this, but I gainroot, then run the command to be host mode as noted earlier, and then plug in the USB HD. I get USB device attached, and that's about it.

I can run file manager but it doesn't show the drive, it doesn't show the two SD cards so that gives me the impression that it DOES think/know there's an USB device attached.

Any ideas?

Re: External HD
 

Maybe you should start testing with something simpler? Like a thumb drive. That way, you can have an easier time narrowing down whether the problem is the HD/ media or the N800.

Re: External HD
 

My thought exactly - got to put together a coupa'la cables.

Re: External HD
 

This does work. The hard drive had to be reformatted away from NTFS. I used FAT32 and the N800 file manager sees the files and folders on the external drive.

My little OTG (pigtail) adapter in the second photo won't do the chore for a hard drive because the ext. hdd needs more power than the N800 will source, so the powered Hub in the first picture is for HDD and the little adapter pigtail adapter is for low power stuff like flash drives and keyboards. Both the pigtail and the powered hub automatically throw the N800 into host mode when inserted (no need to gainroot or run scripts).

I was unsuccessful in getting my SanDisk Ultra II with USB (not in the photos) to read even though it was formatted FAT. The SanDisk Ultra II plus USB are probably Windows only devices.

Re: External HD
 

Thanks for yor works!
But my usb hard drive can't work on my N800, the flash disk and usb keyboard works fine! My usb hard disk is 30G which two partitions, on is 10G, another is 20G. The two partitions are FAT32 system. A message "can not connect , no file system available" popped up. I also used a usb hub with separate power suplly.

Can you help me? Thanks!

Re: External HD
 

if you have one or both partitions FAT32 it should work even though the error message pops up. Connect it all up and wait a period of time. Ignore all error messages. The file manager on the N800 should launch, if it doesn't your partitions might not be FAT32 as you believe (or there is something else not correct). I trust you have verified that the hard drive is spinning....

Re: External HD
 

************* snip (argh) *******************

I'm not sure this matters, as I can not get it to work no matter WHAT I do - seems to be my fate; I start the thread and end being one of the few that can't get what I asked to work - but I digress - I noticed that the USB icon is not present in the "taskbar", is it only there when it's NOT the host?

Just got it to work doing all that you did EXCEPT I had to go to xterm and put it in host mode. I'm thinking you're running something I'm not maybe?

Re: External HD
 

mara-

when I run ./Host.sh I get:
/home/user/MyDocs # ./Host.sh
/bin/sh: ./Host.sh not found

Any idea why?

Re: External HD
 

Hmm?

Did you set the file executable? (chmod +x ...)
Who has read rights to it? (ls -l)

When I tested this I tried with command "sh Host.sh"... (when in MyDocs directory) that worked for me. (I think this works even if the files are not set executable? But I may be wrong...?)

EDIT: Sure you have Becomeroot installed?

Re: External HD
 

If you are talking about the format (FAT32/NTFS), then it actually matters since N800 can't read NTFS.

Re: External HD
 

sh Host.sh worked. Should ./Host.sh work as well?

Re: External HD
 

I got Host.sh to work in osso-statusbar, but I can't get Otg.sh. Any ideas?

Re: External HD
 

This worked nicely for me, at the point I could connect my n800 to my new n810 and read its mmc2 as it were an usb stick.

Re: External HD
 

jgallen23,

I had similar problem and I solved it by downloading Mara's app's again and putting them on my mmc and then manually moving them to my user file at the top of file manager. It took me about three hours to do this because I thought they to be in a MyDocs folder. Once I did that and followed Mara's directions both files showed up in x-term. Also make sure you put them into osso desktop properly. lol, Dan

Re: External HD
 

hey xxM5xx, amazing work, thank you, and i couldn't help but notice that that drive is filled with Pink Floyd, amazing band. and amazing work.

Re: External HD
 

Mara,

I followed your advise on USB Host mode and got it working great. Thanks.

Can I stop or turn off osso status bar long without damaging the setting for osso-status bar? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dan

Re: External HD
 

To work? Or is it not there?

Re: External HD
 

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The Seagate Digital Audio Video Experience will enable your smartphone and handheld to connect to the drive via WiFi or Bluetooth. Data can also be transferred via USB through a PC.

http://msmobiles.com/news.php/7021.html

Re: External HD
 

what if i were to use ext2 format on the drive, since the n800 is linux based, it should work, shouldn't it?

Re: External HD
 

How much more difficult would it be to run these commands from the "command line in the CPU monitor on the desktop.... Since I can't imagine that these commands are something that are used a lot. furthermore, what is the default, and does it have to be "turned off" to save battery power to the port? Any help, suggestions would be appreciated.

Re: External HD
 

The Nokias need ext2/ext3 loaded as kernel modules but they should recognize the format. (The native filesystem is jffs2 for the tablets and most embedded systems or those that use flash only). You could also have maybe found and loaded an ntfs (or fuse-ntfs) kernel module to access NTFS natively.

Re: External HD
 

- it should work *very* well...

(i hooked up a 120GB Maxtor USB drive that had been partitioned ext2/HFS+ ; attached to my n800 in host mode and BADA BING! - the ext2 partition appeared in the File Manager; alas, no HFS+ support in the stock os2008 kernel)

Re: External HD
 

Does this approach work the same on the N810 even though it has the microUSB port?

Re: External HD
 

- it *should*, but i do not have an N810 (YMMV)...

(there's no reason it should not - the host mode is available under os2008 and that's what you're running on the n810)

Re: External HD
 

For my iPod with hfsplus, it just needed the kernel module:
http://homepage.mac.com/tz1/.Public/n810/hfsplus.ko
(and some fidgeting to create a loop device displaced to the partition)
This was on an n810

Re: External HD
 

Same problem here, ony I can not get any media drives working Flash,Hard drive, USB cdrom. I just get the "can not connect , no file system availabe" message and it never shows up in the File manager