reading USB drives from PPC?

monkeyboy · #1 (**permalink**) 01-26-2009, 05:22 PM

hopefully not too dumb a newbie question, but...

is there any existing mechanism or driver or means by which one can read a generic USB drive using the USB port of a typical PPC device?

I know that WinCE can support more than one Storage Card...

MattOktaNZ · #2 (**permalink**) 01-26-2009, 05:25 PM

I dont think it can as the USB port on a PPC is typically not host capable

jhw549 · #3 (**permalink**) 01-26-2009, 06:56 PM

that's what I've heard but I'd like an answer to this too...

psiphi · #4 (**permalink**) 01-27-2009, 12:16 AM

It cannot...

**dannzeman** · #5 (**permalink**) 01-27-2009, 03:01 PM

Well, technically it could, if you could get it to interface with the mini or microSD card slot, then it would just appear as a storage card. But I have no idea how you would even go about doing that. Its just theory.

**bedoig** · #6 (**permalink**) 01-27-2009, 03:19 PM

Well, we know that the device does have some USB Host support (at least in the SPL), but so far I don't think anyone has found a way to make anything function within WM. So for now, the answer is no.

psiphi · #7 (**permalink**) 01-28-2009, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannzeman

Well, technically it could, if you could get it to interface with the mini or microSD card slot, then it would just appear as a storage card. But I have no idea how you would even go about doing that. Its just theory.

It would depend on if the PPC being used supported SDIO (advanced SD IO interface for things like WIFI cards) Thats actually a good idea, but not sure if the cost for the interface would be worth it... (Plus, you would need to hook to a wall for 5V power)

It has already been done with a CF slot... Here is link:

http://sewelldirect.com/usb-to-compactflash.asp
$159.95 - CompactFlash USB 1.1 Host

Most portable thing I can think of thats affordable would be a cheap WIFI Hotspot Hub with a USB port...

LittleBreezes · #8 (**permalink**) 01-29-2009, 11:28 AM

Well conventional wisdom will tell us that the Host support for the USB port is not available but the developers of the Redfly must know something we don't. I wonder if you plug a USB drive into one of the Redfly's USB ports would it work?

**bedoig** · #9 (**permalink**) 01-29-2009, 01:45 PM

The Redfly just uses some kind of VNC type connection to display the device's screen and relay commands back and forth. The phone isn't actually the host, the Redfly is. Just like using MyMobiler through a USB connection to your PC.

psiphi · #10 (**permalink**) 01-29-2009, 02:30 PM

The only practical choice I could see is having a EEE PC type netbook handy for transfers of that nature...

Another couple years and maybe wireless USB will be everywhere (including phones) and the theoretic USB2WirelessUSB devices will be affordable...