Yay.

I'd buy two, and to hell with the shipping costs.

I would go for an adapter or 3-4" dongle (like the micro B to mini B) would be best - I can keep them in a pocket or case where a longer cable tends to take up lots of space and can get tangled.

You might be able to do better with surface mount solder paste. My silver ink conductive pen also works but I would prefer something soldered.

I've managed to find a source for a small mini-B to Female A adapter that I'll be modding up to do the OTG auto switching; should be a nice compact solution for most applications. Can't get my hands on them for 2-3 days yet, but as soon as I get them in and fixed up I'll post up a new thread.

In fact this should probably go in a new thread anyways, but just before that, anyone got votes on a short cable still? (as opposed to the adapter) The only advantage that I can think of would be that a cable would be a bit more compact for leaving attached and carrying around, but not really sure on that point...

Also, the adapter spec only says USB 1.1 but I'm guessing thats more because nobody's thought of a USB 2.0 scenario for it rather than a physical wiring limitation...

Anyways, here's the adapter to give you an idea:


-Rob

My preference would be a dongle. If adapters are easier to modify, how about this idea:
A modified Female mini-B to Female A adapter, mated with a 3-4" Male mini-B to Male mini-B cable.

The adapter exists (wish it were black): http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-OTG-Adaptor-...QQcmdZViewItem

I'll bet the cable exists as well. With these two, you'd end up with the requested dongle, and if your peripheral is mini-B, just take the adapter off the dongle!

Can you think of a case in which using an adapter would be preferable to using a dongle?

Check out this angled mini-B to A cable:
http://industrialcomponent.com/newnex/uhr22mbro1.html

It's expensive...

http://www.tca-inc.net/usbmatousbbf.html

Yep, but can you find one that has a Female connector on both ends? Unless you weren't replying to me...

Alternatively, this dongle with 2 adapters:
1) Male mini-B to Male mini-B
2) Male mini-B to Female A (like so many we've seen)

The first adapter probably doesn't exist (recurring theme) so again I'd be looking for a short mini-B to mini-B cable. Shoot.

The small adapter would be preferable for travel use or use with peripherals that already have a cable. For example, if you're out and about or travelling around and want to be able to just grab some files quickly off of somebody else's USB thumb drive (or your own of course), just plug in the adapter and the drive, grab your stuff, and toss the adapter back in your pocket when you're done. The problem with a dongle is that it's easy to damage and rather difficult to carry around on a regular basis. The compact size makes it very handy, and it would work well with things like travel USB keyboards/etc as you could just leave it attached to the keyboard's USB cable and not have to worry about loosing it or having it get damaged while transporting.

On the other hand, the dongle is better for "on the go" usage; i.e. having a USB device attached while carrying the tablet in your hand, which I'm pretty sure is more what raynman is after. Biggest problem there is the cost difference:
the modded adapter is probably going to end up being somewhere between $10-15 Canadian + shipping
That mini-B to mini-B angled dongle cable itself is going to cost me $50 USD + taxes just to get, let alone mod and put back up for sale. And on top of that you'd still need something like the original adapter that we're talking about if you wanted to connect up your standard USB equipment... so it comes down to cool idea, but is it really worth it?

Raynman, I know what you're going for, and if you're willing to commit to the costs then I don't mind doing the mod on the cable for you, but I can't see many others really willing to go that far for the added bit of convenience; am I wrong?

yes they do have A female to A female.