MacBook Air hack unearths more relatively inaccessible USB connectors

Unfortunately, Apple's MacBook Air still only arrives with a lone USB port. Save for using a dongle / hub, there's really been no other way to connect a bevy of USB peripherals to the lappie -- until now. Thanks to a curious hacker with a thing for perusing microchip documentation, he discovered that the internal ICH-8 southbridge chip actually has five low-speed and two high-speed USB controllers. After rolling up his sleeves and finding the correct pins, he was actually able to make the partially exposed MBA recognize and talk nice to a USB flash drive. We know, you USB-lovin' Air owners are already dreaming up ways to add new ports to your slim slab of aluminum, so head on down to the read link if you're ready to work (hard).

[Via TUAW]

[John @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:30PM]

unix != linux.


carry on.

[JLTate @ Mar 23rd 2008 9:59AM]

Yes, but mac users have to buy a new OS every time they release a new OS... which costs $199 and comes out every 18 months.

[Rob Conway @ Mar 23rd 2008 10:16AM]

@James
i usually stay out of the Windows/OSX battles (they're fun to watch, though) but i don't get this:
You said "telling them to switch to apple which has a glorified Linux GUI and requires everything to be micromanaaged by apple in order to fool the public that everything is easy with mac."
Isn't that micromanagement by apple software doing exactly that? making it easier?
[i am by no means saying EVERYTHING with apple is easier, just on a very general casual user kinda basis]

[N30 G30 @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:02PM]

No Clak, As a Mac user that insults Windows without reason, you're one of the worst type of human beings on the planet, a hypocrite.

Get a MacBook. I don't know who lied to you but the MacBook Air sucks.

[ethana2 @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:20PM]

"insults Windows without reason"

I ditched windows for ubuntu like a year ago. I often forget how bad it sucks. ..but that doesn't mean those reasons aren't there. Now that we have better hardware support than windows, we need to improve application availability, and with WINE hitting 1.0 this year, we should surpass windows there too within the next 18 months.

[Kizorblade @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:42PM]

Ahh yes... Clak is a hypocrite for insulting Windows, yet you can say

"Get a MacBook. I don't know who lied to you but the MacBook Air sucks." without reason?

Because you know... hypocrites suck.

[clak @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:18PM]

Sorry, guys, you've just been conned by a guy using my name. If you notice, when I post, I don't use a period at the end of my name. And I tend to be more sarcastic than the impostor and capitalize my sentences and my comments are usually very, freaking long and well thought out. Okay, now that you know, carry on bashing me.

[TheCow5 @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:08PM]

It may be cute but it simply stinks, Harsh but true. Flame on
Lenovo’s x300 got it right, give them credit

[Za @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:22PM]

Although I don't agree with Clak in the way he is trying to bring about the point, I am going to have to chime in to his sort of but not really defense.

The X300 is more expensive and slower than the Macbook Air. It does have two more USB ports and an Ethernet port though. But it's SLOWER AND MORE EXPENSIVE.

So really, it seems that Engadget is not at all *pro Mac fanboi* but rather a bunch of disgruntled PC users who seem to miss the point. Most people who wind up with the MBA will not cross-shop with the X300 or vice versa. In all reality, anyone looking for something in that capability range would rather cross-shop with oh, say, a 12" or 13" Macbook Pro...which doesn't exist.

However, that doesn't make the Macbook Air a *bad* product since people who use it actually enjoy it. Most of you also miss the simple cost of *utility*. If someone actually enjoys how their machine looks and appreciates the build quality, it will benefit them more than a generic looking IBM machine [though I love the industrial design on Thinkpads, many don't].

Just like the iPod doesn't necessarily compete with Cowon or iRiver - they aren't directly competitive because packing as many features as possible into something for the sake of packing more stuff in isn't necessarily a *good thing* - look at Vista.

And let's face it - the iPod sells better than all the other players combined - it is not the most featured, certainly, and the GUI is up there though it may or may not be the best. However, overall satisfaction is much higher with the iPod. It's the same with the iPhone - the iPhone certainly has shortcomings but the people who use it are HAPPY with it, and that's what matters. If they want to pay more for something that will bring a smile to their face when they use it, then they damned well should be allowed to.

It's a free country. I would get an X300 over the MBA but I would tell my mother to get the MBA over the X300. It all depends on what people appreciate.

[Za @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:25PM]

And build quality on the Macbook Air is inarguably better than the X300 - the recent Thinkpads flex considerably more than the Macbook Air, which happens to be made of aluminum instead of hard plastic.

[TheCow5 @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:02PM]

Functionality functionality functionality, if it does not have functionality its crap.
Just think for a second, USB ports, no optical drive, ect.
It’s not that this thing is ahead of its time it simply that is not functional for its time.

I ask only that you think for a second or two.

[Citrico @ Mar 23rd 2008 12:48AM]

iPods don't really sacrifice functionality though. It still does everything you want it to do, it plays music and has a couple extra things like games kicking around for fun. It's difficult to say there's anything wrong with iPods, except for maybe a lack of a removable battery. The Air, however, is pretty crippled, and a lot of money for the lacking functionality you get. It does look cool, and is rather thin, but if you shop around, it's pretty useless.

I can see being happy with it if having the latest Apple thing appeals to you, but comparison shopping makes it a hard sell. I think I would have a hard time accepting one for free it's so pointless, let alone paying good money for it.

[Josh L @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:27PM]

@ ethana2

Linux has better hardware support than Windows? That's a pretty outlandish claim. Care to provide some kind of proof?

[Empress Penguin @ Mar 22nd 2008 11:58PM]

This is true in one sense but untrue in another. Linux can run on many more computers than Windows can, however Windows has better support for hardware peripherals.

For obvious reasons, hardware producers are much more likely to provide Windows drivers than Linux drivers. Some hardware producers are open-minded enough to release technical specifications which are then used (by the Linux community) to write Linux drivers, but some are not.

On the other hand, Linux runs on many different hardware platforms where Windows will only run on the few hardware platforms Microsoft have decided to support. Linux requires much less disk space to run effectively than Windows does, and can run on computers that would be much too old for Windows. Unlike Windows, Linux can run on computers ranging from the lowest to the highest end.

[Kizorblade @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:30PM]

Clak:

- Windows does not suck - This is an opinion. Opinions however, DO suck.

While an Apple fanboy, I think I speak for the majority of Mac/Windows/Linux users here that you should either stop being a stupidass fanboy and post some useful comments OR stop posting.

Mkay? You're making us look bad. (Well, we already look bad)

[tnkgrl @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:28PM]

This is great!

I've located (and hijacked) unused internal USB ports in other laptops before (like my Eee - see links below), but doing this on a MacBook Air is pretty awesome - not sure I'd do it to mine...

http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/modding-the-asus-701-eee-bluetooth/

[XDS @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:12AM]

Please see my comment below.

[morcheeba @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:41AM]

Great work on the EEE, tnkgrl ! When I get my SD card reader wired up (it's in the mail), I'll post pictures like yours.

[roole @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:32PM]

Oh boy. What a loser thread.

I can't believe that a story about some (hidden, probably useless) bit of hardware in an Apple computer brings out so much anger, joy, vitriol, hissing, boos, ecstasy, cringing from both Apple and non-Apple users!

I am putting in a buy order for more AAPL at $133. Man, this company must (and its stock is going to) rock!!

[Chicksta @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:43PM]

Wow, almost all of the biggest names in Engadget trolldom are here! And most all of the same, tired, rehashed themes as always; we're just missing the 'kool -aid' ones, the 'I refer to CEOs of huge companies by first/pet names, and can read their minds' posts, the 'wise yoda telling everyone why they're wrong, pretending to be objective but really being a pompous know-it-all' post, and the 'i have nothing to say but need attention so i'll pretend to be funny and insert one of the trite blend/overlord/doom sayings' post.
It seems weird to not be able to recognize on any level how a system that works for you cannot and should not work for everyone else. I like my MBP, and for what I do, it's the only option, period. I get the reasoning behind this hack for the MBA, and why the MBA was still the right choice for that person.

[thordaddy13 @ Mar 22nd 2008 10:36PM]

nice, you get 7 diamonds

[Garrett @ Mar 23rd 2008 3:20AM]

"the cake is a lie"?

;D

[thordaddy13 @ Mar 22nd 2008 10:36PM]

i'm somewhat new to the world of mac, i have been under the control of microsoft until recently i broke free, but i was wondering can you buy any of the mac OS software? or do you only get it if you buy a mac?

[Kizorblade @ Mar 22nd 2008 11:02PM]

Well, the internet works pretty well.

Freeware for the win!
But if you want to buy stuff then your Mac store should have some software. If not, there are software on the internet that you can pay for

[webmonkees @ Mar 22nd 2008 10:44PM]

I admire the guy finding the things in there. Kinda like where I got my digital-to-analog coupon, got out the screwdriver and de-cased it before even hooking it up to the tv. The circuit board has a s-video port on the board, just not populated. BTW, that DTV thing is a rip-off of taxpayer dollars; charging $49 when they're charging $29 for a dvd player; pricing designed to get that $40 and no other reason. Consumer: "but it's 9.95 to me", but the govt is paying the store $40 that could have paid for a microsecond of the war.

[AlphaTeam @ Mar 23rd 2008 1:51AM]

I'll pass the offer on dremeling the MBA.

[tnkgrl @ Mar 23rd 2008 4:52AM]

I'm not a guy.

[tnkgrl @ Mar 23rd 2008 4:53AM]

Sorry, I answered the wrong comment :)

[morcheeba @ Mar 23rd 2008 5:54PM]

I'm not going to dremel the MBA. I'm building a replacement back out of carbon fiber -- I'll be dremeling (and reshaping, so it'll look natural) that instead.
http://www.maushammer.com/systems/mba/Carbon_Fiber/Carbon_Fiber.html

[AlphaTeam @ Mar 23rd 2008 7:25PM]

Carbon fiber? Nice. That I would do.

[XDS @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:10AM]

From what i can tell from the pic This would be great for one hidden internal usb slot and one external usb slot (both utilizing the high speed connections) .

SOME , ....they are rare ... but SOME peripherals require a connection to two (YES TWO) "High Speed" (5Volt ;) ) plugs.

So this would be a backup for that situation , ....should it arise , atleast then you would have options.


_To the guy that did the bluetooth mod on his Eee PC_ ,........ im curious if you used a usb connection to start (in order to allow the bluetooth module to be easily removable)

As well if it would be possible to make a led bluetooth indicator.

? ? ?

[tnkgrl @ Mar 23rd 2008 4:52AM]

I'm a not a guy.

[XDS @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:22AM]

Now the MILLION $ question is ....





Can someone do it , but still make it look good (nice) ?

[jeremiah_j_atkins @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:25AM]

Great... just when you thought the MBA had no useless crap built into it someone goes and finds this. I bet they could have shaved nigh a 100th of an ounce of that thing if they woulda left it out.

[Peter J. Lupo Esq. @ Mar 23rd 2008 7:53AM]

Let's keep the comments relevant, please....

almost had ya! :O)

As is so often the case, the process of discovery is more impressive than the discovery itself.

Marvelous!

[Jimmy Jones @ Mar 23rd 2008 10:09AM]

what these shallow head thinking when they made the decision to buy a *thinsulated & sleek* device with just 1 usb port?
* is it to later realize, ooh jeez I spent so much on this machine and now will so much time again trying to hack it so I can get my money's worth?
* Well, it's just because it's Apple
* Well, I only need Wifi cuz I have a EVDO card and the world is changing and there'll be wifi everywhere in no time
* Simply that I'm the most stupidest person and I think I should have bought something else that is more reliable like thinkpad or fujitsu that has more plethora of peripheral ports that will fit my needs.

[lostinram @ Mar 23rd 2008 12:35PM]

I own macs and windows computers.
MBA is great, and although it might be nice to have more usb ports, it is hardly necessary. As far as it not having an optical drive: the optical drive is only necessary for loading in programs, or watching movies, otherwise people are mostly using the programs which they have put in the hard drive.
it is easy to load programs into the MBA, when you have another mac, or the optional external mba drive to install. If your concern is for watching movies on planes or while your out traveling, then the MBA might not be for you. As a business machine the MBA works great and is very functional.
As far as macs being unable to be upgraded beyond what the apple store offers, is wrong, there are many computer places who will upgrade peripherals and video cards (not on the mba )for the Mac Pro line, and the mac book pro line.
The thing about apple that makes itbetter then a PC, is that there are no known virus' for the OSX!
Check it out, there aren't any. With windows there is a new virus every week.
I use my pc, because I have to, I use my mac because I want to! (although I could get bootcamp or something similar and get rid of my pc altogether )
As to the one of you who was complaining that he or she would not buy an imac, because you can not upgrade the video card, well, dumb*&^, the imac is made to work right out of the box, the only upgrades available for it are memory upgrades.
Don't screw with it it works great.
You want a better video card get a pro, or buy a pc, and buy extra virus protection.
you people should feel free to go and buy whatever computer you want, I on the other hand will stick with my imac, mac pro, MBA, and Iphone.
BTW, IPhone works great, I will be happy when I can add some functionality without going on the web, but,
I can do almost everything I want with it, without any secondary applications being installed directly into it.

[Allen @ Mar 23rd 2008 1:31PM]

eggothewaffle:
Mac's website says the Mac Pro starts at $2799, much higher than your "less than $1000" point.

Also, its using the Skulltrail chipset, which has been deemed utterly useless by just about everyone. There isn't even full quad core and SLI support yet, much less oct-core.

[allen @ Mar 23rd 2008 5:04PM]

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[skulldriveshaft @ Mar 24th 2008 1:52AM]

holy smokes - please stop drinking the haterade!

nice on the dude for finding some kinda useless USB solder points - did he also find the power supply and ground points to use?

will this cause a HTC style backlash?

[Brian! @ Mar 24th 2008 12:44PM]

The fact is, this is news better to be put on twaw.com. Sure it is gadget news of a sort, but Engadget does not report on the majority of laptop/computer hacks. In fact, unless it is Apple or a game console, it rarely get covered.

But then, that is why there is a dedicated Apple Weblog right? So that the Apple owners/fans can go there to read about how they can hack their Air to have more USB ports (when a week earlier they were telling us all how no one needs more than one).

Lets return Engadget to new gadget news and let the Apple Weblog cover stories like this.

[Kyle @ Mar 24th 2008 3:13PM]

@Brian

It's true that Engadget does not report on the majority of laptop/computer hacks. I think the difference here is that, like it or not, people simply seem to care more (one way or another) about Apple-related news. So, if there were an article about hacking someone's fancy new Dell laptop, it wouldn't be less valid than this article, but I doubt there would be much reader response. Whatever the reason, people get really excited about Apple stuff, so frankly it makes a lot of sense for a blog like Engadget to post this article.

[marnok @ Mar 24th 2008 5:06PM]

Well you get what you pay for... or not. If what you paid for was a macbook air.

[DesignWonk @ Apr 8th 2008 8:20PM]

You guys are a stitch. Honestly, the computer market is a little like any high-tech/service market. The cable company I hate the most is the one I have, the cell phone company that gives me the most trouble is the one I have, etc.

People have a confirmation bias for their own opinions. When I run around the city and notice that I have dead zones on T-Mobile, I hate T-Mobile. But I have no idea what Verizon's service is like. Very few people on this board (or any) own both PCs and Macs at the same time. Instead they're evangelists for what they just bought and haters for what they had before. You're going to find traits you love or hate in either if you go looking for them.

What I can tell you is that so far the defection has been mostly FROM pcs TO macs, not the other way around. Hell, I even reverse migrated from Vista to XP (and I own macs too). So basically Bill is a totalitarian autocrat, and low and behold, Steve's a totalitarian autocrat in a completely different way.

The best and the worst thing about pcs is that they're flexible. The best and the worst thing about macs is that they're inflexible. Because pcs are so versitile and configurable (well, except for Vista drivers) people can do a lot of things with them, including bog down their own machines. Becaus mac software is so inflexible, they boot fast and rarely get crowded with 50 trivial programs that all have to boot at startup. The bottom line is that people buy machines for their own benefit, not the blogosphere. People keep buying both, so some benefit must exist. Yay duopoly!