so far that pandora may be ones best bet, even if its a dark horse...

maybe a smartq with cortex internals could do it, but i have not heard of such a thing.

the android powered archos claims usb host, but that seems to be via a optional dock/addon, not thru the micro-usb on its side...

i fear the designers are all to indoctrinated about having a pc to do the heavy file work, with all the rest orbiting around it...

hell, that may also be why there is a cry for a "desktop" os on pocketable devices, before they are "true" computers in ones pocket. As if the os magically makes the hardware "desktop" grade...

I was looking forward to buy n900 asap - when it's in stores.. One of the main reasons was the usb-otg feature, so this would be a great dissapointment - I wanted to be able to use usb-to-ethernet dongle...

However, as I understand the situation, the usb commitee didn't approve usage of micro-ab for some reason. But that doesn't have to mean that the hardware doesn't allow this - I've read somewhere that in order to get the OTG aproval, device has to also contain some supporting software (which n900 obviously doesn't, as host mode isn't supported officially).

From what I've read, the OMAP 3430 (often) comes with the TWL4030 chip, which serves power management (among other purposes), and allows usb-otg.. In case nokia didn't do some dirty tricks there (like unsoldering something), the functionality still could be there. According to discussion here

http://translate.google.cz/translate...p%3D1058152020

there is a kernel module for wtl4030, so they probably really use the chip...


The only question left is only, whether the omap3430 is implemented in a standard way. In this case, imho, the OTG could still work - though probably only by using a non-standard usb cable...

IMHO you only solder and provide traces for what you use & need. There are enough traces and solder points in such a small device. When they say hardware level not supported I understand that is something you can't hack away with software...
Maybe some weird cables a la 770 could save the day but I wouldn't put my money on it...
I for one I want usb otg too much to spend 500e to find out if I can enable it ...

either i am confused, or someone else is. I could have sworn that there is a difference between true usb host mode and usb OTG mode...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go

As I see it USB OTG is a special kind of usb host...

I understand mainly this:

What about waiting for the final release, gentlemen? :-)

Please help me to get one thing straight.

OF COURSE there will be zero support from Nokia for usb host mode on the n900. Any announcement of that kind would result in a storm of outraged NIT newcomers who expected a fully USB capable phone and wouldn't know about the host-mode hacks.

So NO ONE from Nokia would ever admit that usb host mode would be possible.


Now let's do a quick reality check.
The N810 has exactly the same USB OTG setup as the n900 (without usb charging). USB host mode works, with a simple modified usb cable.

Both the 770 and the n800 had the option to enter usb host mode. The 770 doesn't even have a clean way of powering external devices and you have to use the power injection hack.

None of the former NITs have a clean, out-of-the-box way of enabling USB host mode, be it for OTG or whatever.


The n900 is much more marketed towards power users and away from hackers. Any announcement of it being possibly able of usb host mode is far less likely.

Now here comes the catch.
USB OTG is quite complicated.
I have read Quim Gil's announcement and the linked technical discussion a few times. As I understand it, there is no hardware support for USB OTG host mode. Which is a different kind of animal than general USB host mode (read: supplying power, negotiating power supply and whatnot).


Personally, i'd have loved being able to plug in a usb stick just using a small adapter. But I have no problem using a little blackbox with power injection.

So what really itches me is: is there a magical command you can enter in xterm and kick the n900 into host mode?

n8x0 was not announced as being hardware incompatible with host mode.

Yes you need a special adapter or cable for it, in order to kick into host mode automatically, if you don't have one you simply manually set the device into host mode. I'm afraid that's not the same as missing hardware support ...

I don't think I've ever even once used host mode or needed OTG at any point during my internet tablet use, and as Quim said, a lot of what the N900 has already negates the need for OTG/host mode in certain use cases.

So to those of you who are mourning the missing OTG/host mode, what were your day-to-day use cases where you needed them? What were you doing with your previous tablets and host mode?

Knowing the resourcefulness of the NIT community, I'm sure we can figure out alternative ways to make your use cases still work.

Easily swap files with colleagues / students when I was in school, use a usb ethernet adapter to connect to wired networks, usb external harddrive for the holliday. I started working with microcontrollers that know usb and want to explore this dirrection. Compact flash cardreader in order to download pictures from my dslr, s10sh for remote controlling my Canon dSLR

I mourn the loss of a feature that made the device more hackable. Yes you can use some device to copy files from thumbdrives, you can use a portable AP for wired networks, you can use cf-sd-microsd adapter in my canon camera, find another remote for it, 32Gb negates the need for an external harddrive and so on. But you'll end up with a bigger and more hairy mess of accessories to replace OTG. Much bigger bag than n800+e71+otg cable