UsbHostMode
Latest
Nook Simple Touch gets USB host mode support via hack, plays nice with low-power devices (video)
Codemonkeys exhibiting the kindness of strangers? Why, yes, this is such a tale. When XDA Developers member verygreen came across the pleas of one user obsessed with attaching an external USB keyboard to an eReader, he did what any decent hacker would and created a workable solution. Using a loaned Nook Simple Touch, this self-styled Make-A-Wish Hack was able to patch Barnes & Noble's existing kernel, which already supported USB host mode, and send commands over ADB to enable the connection. It's not a foolproof workaround, though, as only low-power devices will function without additional juice and even so, at a great cost to the greyscale device's battery life. Sure, this may not excite you much, but it's certainly made for one very satisfied forum dweller out there in cyberland. After all, isn't that what haxxors are for?
Nexus One gets USB host driver from a dude with an oscilloscope (video)
For Sven Killig, running Android 2.2 wasn't enough. No sir, this dude wanted even more power for his Nexus One, so he went ahead and penned a few lines of code that have allowed his Googlephone to act as a USB host. As a result, he can now do cutting edge stuff like plugging in USB keyboards and webcams, as well as more useful things like watching movies off USB sticks or connecting to a monitor via a DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter. All these features are demonstrated in the video after the break, and you'll find the downloadable binaries at the source -- Sven expects them to work on Android 2.1 as well.
Droid gets a USB hack allowing it to control printers and cameras, humans put on alert
Time to resurrect that old Droid Does chant, folks. Already headed for Android 2.1 from official sources, the Droid is gettings some extra software capabilities courtesy of a few benevolent UK hackers as well. Chris Paget has revealed a mod for Motorola's flagship that turns it from a USB peripheral into a USB host, thereby letting it communicate with and control USB devices that speak the Linux language. That includes printers, webcams, and the vast majority of other things you typically jack into your computer. Mind you, this is one hack that'll require you to get your hands dirty, as you'll need to splice a few cables together and reboot your phone to switch between modes, but that's how real modders do it anyway, right?
