Hi there,
I have managed to enable host mode, plus gained root (thankfully without having to download SSH source code PLUS a compiler for it as had seemed to be the case...), and am trying to access numerous devices without success. They include a camera, a hard drive, a card reader, plus the powered USB hub (which the hard drive definitely requires), not necessarily in that order, and certainly not simultaneously. Typically, the USB icon does appear, but a message stating "Device not recognized, unable to connect, you are a pathetic jerk", etc. pops up. Interesting, in the case of the hub, it does specifically say "can't connect to USB hub". On the left hand side of the screen a message pops up sometimes if I click on the USB logo stating I'm connected to a mass storage device, which sounds hopeful, but I can't see it mounted anywhere and it certainly doesn't appear on the file browser.
Dmesg, (which I don't really understand and vice-versa) mentions something about a lot of -16 errors (which I'm trying not to take personally).

Any of you wizards out there able to cast your spells and lead me towards enlightenment?

Everything I plug into the USB slot, with my OTG cable and even before when I was doing the echo thing manually, first comes up and tells me unsupported and then a lot of them work when you look a bit later (may or may not require the power injector).

Yes, damn confusing although this may NOT be your problem. Some things are actually really no-kidding not supported :-). Some modules are out there for various things though.

When I was doing the echo thing to get into host mode, the echo thing to get out did not work for me, ended up doing a shutdown -r to get things back to "normal". OTG cable seems to have resolved that issue.

HTH.

You may have to go to peripheral model first before going back to OTG mode as mentioned in the wiki.

wv9k: I like the Herc in your avatar. I used to see those everyday!

Thanks, it is my *favorite* aircraft overall ! Hundreds and hundreds of sim hours in (on?) the Hercs :-).

I twiddled the modes as EIPI suggested (thanks) and have had SOME success. WHen connecting via my powered hub I can see dirs and files on my card reader as well as my Ipod, but can't seem to actually access the files themselves (i.e. can't view photos, play music, or transfer files in any direction).

THe mount shows the following for the card reader:
/dev/sdb2 on /media/usb/sdb2 type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=29999,fmask=0133,dmask =0000,
codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,
shortname=mixed,utf8)

and for the Ipod this:
/dev/sdc1 on /media/usb/sdc1 type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=29999,fmask=0133,
dmask=0000,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,
shortname=mixed,utf8)

The cool thing about the Ipod is that it is indeed recognized AS an Ipod, but I really can't make use of its 30gig drive. I need to back up photos from the N800 while here on my travels.

I feel like I am getting V-E-R-Y close!

So I guess nobody has any suggestions for actually being able to access the files as opposed to just seeing them listed?

BTW, the main Buenos Aires daily's newspaper yesterday had a section about mobile wireless internet, featuring a double-page spread with a large photo of our trusty N800.