I have found a good link to dive into the topic (pdf warning):
http://www.usb.org/developers/ontheg...mechanical.pdf

if you search this forum you will see that i already explained how usb otg works and what you have to do to make it work automatically!cheers!

I'm going to build my own cable (looks easy enough) to short pin 4/5, but in the meantime since I didn't have one to sacrifice I decided to just try it with a home made "gender-bender" (as opposed to Bender-the-offender); I simply took two female USB A jacks that I had from an electronics store and soldered them together pin-to-pin to make the adapter. I then plugged the USB cable that came with the N800 into one side, and a usb keyboard on the other. Manually set the device into host mode (running the latest "official" OS 2008 release), but nothing happened. The screen came up and said "Usb device not supported" as everyone says it should, but then, nada. Doing a cat of the mode file simply reports a_idle, and dmesg doesn't seem to show any useful information.
Is there something I'm missing here? Does a store-bought changer swap TX/RX or something? I'd like to have this working as a test before I spend my time destorying a few more USB cables for the auto-switching...
Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks!

Frmo what i read the n800 has 200mah output, might not be enough to run a keyboard - if so you need to power it somehow

not all usb keyboards work! try a Genius usb keyboard! i have one and it's working perfect!

Hey, for debugging, try:

dmesg -c

in console. You should be able to see what's going on exactly. It may be you need a kernel module for the device you're using. I haven't had any luck with an Apple USB keyboard I tried, but everything else has worked. Had to use CDC-ACM class driver for a USB-Serial device.

http://www.minidisc.com.au/iaudio-x5...ble-p-958.html
....this wouldnt work....?

In all probability, the male end is probably mini-A, since the OTG standard specifies it that way (i.e., mini-A for the host end) IIRC. In any case, you can remove part of the metal shielding off that end and it will fit snugly into the N800 socket. There is a reference somewhere stating that all the metal shielding should be taken off, which would make the plug not fit well into the N800. If you remove the top and sides off the metal shielding, you will be home free.

actually the Cowon X5 only has a Mini USB B connection, so unless the A one fits in it...

will the usb cable hack also work for micro usb which is used by n810?