Adventures in USB OTG; what are you using it for?

awev · Jan 25, 2013

I have been able to use a number of devices, yet I have not tried enabling special features yet.

Logitech G510 keyboard
Logitech Marble Trackman trackball
Saitek X52 flight control (throttle and joy stick)
Cisco Linsys UM3000 USB to Ethernet adapter
Seagate Black Armor external HDD (using USB port, includes FireWire port as well)

I play Vendetta Online and it supports a lot of the features of the flight controller - x,y, and z-axis of the joystick, along with the throttle and dials. Only two of the triggers work, or should I say where mapped correctly out of the box. I would like to find an app to take full advantage of this controller.

I do have a Razor Nostormn that it recognizes, yet I haven't tried it yet. The G510 has 18 programable macro keys, plus a small LCD display with 5 more selection keys, that I have not programmed in Android yet. Again, an app that let's me program these toys would be nice.

I have tried plugging it into a JVC bookshelf stereo system, that has an USB B input port with no luck. I does work with Linux and windoze. Everything is hanging off of a 7-port powered USB hub. i have ordered a Samsung Galaxy S2 powered USB OTG cable and will find out it that will help power the tablet, currently getting about 3 1/2 hours of battery life without it.

sparksd · Jan 31, 2013

[FONT=&quot]I have a USB-powered Western Digital hard drive that works with my N7 using an OTG cable. I was curious as to how heavy the battery usage would be when powering a spinning drive so I did a small test, playing the same movie from the hard drive and then from a flash drive. Here’s what I saw (I charged the N7 between tests, usage number from battery monitor measure of charge level):

Stock 16GB N7
Play movie with MX Player Pro through Nexus Media Importer
Duration of 1 hour, screen at 100% brightness
Video: 832 x 352 1503 kbps h264 MP4

Results --

Sandisk Cruzer 64GB Thumb Drive, FAT32 -- 12% battery drain

Western Digital My Passport 500GB Portable USB 3.0 External Hard Drive, NTFS -- 23% battery drain[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

jimenezla · Feb 1, 2013

DanielM426 said:
I use otg with a wireless logitech controller. Works about 90% correctly

On what device are you using the OTG cable? The Evo V?

kevinlufc · Feb 2, 2013

Going on honeymoon in a couple of weeks. As its somewhere exotic. We will, time permitting..lol, be taking lots of photos to remember our time there. So I have bought a USB all in one card reader to transfer all our pics to the nexus.

Kamal Hans · Feb 15, 2013

Hi, I have a stock, unrooted N7, running Android 4.1.2 that it came with.( I've ignored all the prompts to install the 4.2.1 update, seeing all the problems that have plagued owners who did so.)
I downloaded NMI & got myself an OTG.
The funny thing is, when I load a folder containing the movie & the srt file thru the usb/charging cable from my laptop, the movie plays fine with subtitles with MX player.
But when I try to play the same movie folder thru NMI/OTG cable, either the movie plays or the srt file opens, not both together as it should be.
Am I missing something or is that a limitation of the NMI/OTG combo?
TIA

Teknologic · Feb 15, 2013

AFAIK, nmi only streams one file at a time. If you want to actually mount your drives so you can properly approach your media, the only solution still is rooting+stickmount.

Kamal Hans · Feb 16, 2013

Kamal Hans said:
Hi, I have a stock, unrooted N7, running Android 4.1.2 that it came with.( I've ignored all the prompts to install the 4.2.1 update, seeing all the problems that have plagued owners who did so.)
I downloaded NMI & got myself an OTG.
The funny thing is, when I load a folder containing the movie & the srt file thru the usb/charging cable from my laptop, the movie plays fine with subtitles with MX player.
But when I try to play the same movie folder thru NMI/OTG cable, either the movie plays or the srt file opens, not both together as it should be.
Am I missing something or is that a limitation of the NMI/OTG combo?
TIA

Teknologic said:
AFAIK, nmi only streams one file at a time. If you want to actually mount your drives so you can properly approach your media, the only solution still is rooting+stickmount.

Ok, one more question.
If I upgrade to 4.2.2( I've got the OTA tho I'm yet to install it) from 4.1.2( where I presently am, I did not install the 4.2.1 update), will I lose the NMI/OTG feature?

Teknologic · Feb 16, 2013

Surely not. Like you said, it's a feature. Updates should only be adding and improving features

Kamal Hans · Feb 17, 2013

Teknologic said:
Surely not. Like you said, it's a feature. Updates should only be adding and improving features

Amen!

Kamal Hans · Feb 17, 2013

So, updated to 4.2.2 with a prayer on my lips.
All good so far.
And the NMI/OTG feature still works.

sparksd · Feb 22, 2013

sparksd said:
[FONT=&quot]I have a USB-powered Western Digital hard drive that works with my N7 using an OTG cable. I was curious as to how heavy the battery usage would be when powering a spinning drive so I did a small test, playing the same movie from the hard drive and then from a flash drive. Here’s what I saw (I charged the N7 between tests, usage number from battery monitor measure of charge level):[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Stock 16GB N7[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Play movie with MX Player Pro through Nexus Media Importer[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Duration of 1 hour, screen at 100% brightness[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Video: 832 x 352 1503 kbps h264 MP4[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Results --[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Sandisk Cruzer 64GB Thumb Drive, FAT32 -- 12% battery drain[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Western Digital My Passport 500GB Portable USB 3.0 External Hard Drive, NTFS -- 23% battery drain[/FONT]

An update to this - I tried the 1TB version of the same WD HDD and it does not work with the OTG - apparently it has enough of a power requirement that the N7 can't handle it.

Yet another update - I tried a different WD 500GB drive (same model as earlier drive) and it doesn't work. The light comes on but it never connects. This drive and the 1TB drive I tried both work fine through the Asus Transformer Infinity's keyboard dock USB - it provides fairly significant power. Bottom line - seems like it's hit or miss on using an unpowered HDD with the N7 and OTG.

Kamal Hans · Feb 24, 2013

Kamal Hans said:
Hi, I have a stock, unrooted N7, running Android 4.1.2 that it came with.( I've ignored all the prompts to install the 4.2.1 update, seeing all the problems that have plagued owners who did so.)
I downloaded NMI & got myself an OTG.
The funny thing is, when I load a folder containing the movie & the srt file thru the usb/charging cable from my laptop, the movie plays fine with subtitles with MX player.
But when I try to play the same movie folder thru NMI/OTG cable, either the movie plays or the srt file opens, not both together as it should be.
Am I missing something or is that a limitation of the NMI/OTG combo?
TIA

Teknologic said:
AFAIK, nmi only streams one file at a time. If you want to actually mount your drives so you can properly approach your media, the only solution still is rooting+stickmount.

An update-
I exchanged emails with Dustin, the developer of NMI, & his take was that the limitation lay with MX, not NMI.
He recommended using BSPlayer.
I downloaded BS & yes, the movie & the srt files both play off the OTG/Thumb drive.And BSPlayer is a pretty good player, more than matches MX
Wonder if any other Video player would also play both...?

Piecake · Jun 14, 2013

Tablet: Nexus 7 32gb wifi only
OTG: forgot brand, bought it where i work
Uses: Plugging in a 4port USB hub, and 4x 128gb usb drives. didnt have to root(Using Nexus Importer App)
Added: 10000mA battery pack
Keyboards/Mice: Wireless mice(Inland and a few other brands) same with keyboards. Nothing with LED lighting worked correctly, but controllers did.

End results:
a tablet that now looks like a 7in pc, with a Evangelon inspired custom homescreen made of like 50 widgets.
compounded confusion of my co-workers. Im the only one who uses a android phone(Note1), which they made fun of due to its size. Now they just stare at my tablet-stein because lol....500gb of storage on a tablet? Reworking case so i can streamline everything so its not 1.5 in thick XD (and adding a heavy duty stand)

Kamal Hans · Jun 15, 2013

Is the 4 port usb hub powered?

Teknologic · Jun 15, 2013

Piecake said:
Tablet: Nexus 7 32gb wifi only
OTG: forgot brand, bought it where i work
Uses: Plugging in a 4port USB hub, and 4x 128gb usb drives. didnt have to root(Using Nexus Importer App)
Added: 10000mA battery pack
Keyboards/Mice: Wireless mice(Inland and a few other brands) same with keyboards. Nothing with LED lighting worked correctly, but controllers did.

End results:
a tablet that now looks like a 7in pc, with a Evangelon inspired custom homescreen made of like 50 widgets.
compounded confusion of my co-workers. Im the only one who uses a android phone(Note1), which they made fun of due to its size. Now they just stare at my tablet-stein because lol....500gb of storage on a tablet? Reworking case so i can streamline everything so its not 1.5 in thick XD (and adding a heavy duty stand)

Sounds badass, pics would be nice

zenraider · Jul 20, 2013

MartinS said:
Does a USB OTG cable actually do anything? Other than convert from micro USB to USB? I've seen an HP micro USB memory stick which looks interesting...

just i caseyou diddnt get your answer to this, usb otg is a host cable so the inner workings of the cable are physicaly different to get the signals right from host to slave. specificaly pin 4 & 5 are directly ground on the host cable. you can look up usb cable otg mod and see the particulars. i did it with a 10 ft usb extension to make a docking station of sorts with my workstation in the office. i suppose if you want to hack up an old stick and see if you can make the connector fake otg then that could be awsomeness in itself.

Swell · Dec 27, 2013

Hope this thread can be revived! I just wondered if its possible to designate functions for mouse buttons when a mouse is used via OTG? Other functions also e.g. selecting text. Its just that the mouse behaves differently when hooked up via OTG. I've searched for apps to do this but not found any.

Deleted User · Jan 13, 2014

Swell said:
Hope this thread can be revived! I just wondered if its possible to designate functions for mouse buttons when a mouse is used via OTG? Other functions also e.g. selecting text. Its just that the mouse behaves differently when hooked up via OTG. I've searched for apps to do this but not found any.

That's actually pretty plausible. No app exists but that doesn't mean it's impossible

you'd have to do some research, but I believe it is like any other input on Android, meaning remap is possible. Just would need to find the key code device name and set the combo

NitinSrinivad · Mar 22, 2015

Have any of you tried connecting a nexus 5 to another nexus 5 or a tablet to see if your able to transfer files between 2 devices?

hjdfye · May 28, 2015

I have a Fake Samsung Note 8.0 with USB OTG and I tried to connect to my Genius EasyPen i405 a graphics tablet devices but it did not work. I tried with Samsung Galaxy Sii, it works but it moves with writing with a pen, not to move a point before it writes.

Isaac Elenbaas · Oct 3, 2015

So, I went a little crazy and set up a whole pc with usb otg. I used a micro usb to usb and micro usb (for charge) and plugged a mouse into that. Then I got a bluetooth keyboard and hooked that up. Finally, I attatched a hdmi chromecast to a hdmi to vga adapter and plugged that into our old monitor. Do ya think it's too much?

Aakashb101 · Nov 16, 2015

binary visions said:
What are you guys using USB OTG for?

As an offshoot of another thread, I thought I'd post some of my thoughts and ask for other ideas. So, post up!

--------------------------

Edit: I thought I'd keep track of what we're using USB OTG for, so this could be a one-stop-shop for what works and what doesn't.

Updated 08/10/12:

Mass Storage: (ROOT ONLY) This post. The one you're reading. Further down. That's everything you need to attach a mass storage device to your tablet.

Serial Communications: This post. Use your tablet to control devices using a serial cable and terminal emulation! Very handy for IT guys out there, or even a lot of gadget geeks.

Keyboards/Mice: This post says that a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard/trackpad combo works nicely. A number of other wired keyboards and mice have been tested, too.

Game controllers: This post says he uses it with an Xbox controller for games. Also, this post indicates that the PS3's Six-axis controllers work.

Importing photos from a camera: This post proves that PTP picture mode works on cameras, and the N7 can import photos. Of course, mass storage mode on cameras works too!

Camera controller: This post points out that you can use the DSLR Controller app to control your Canon camera via USB. Cool.

Ethernet connectivity: This post has some details about using USB powered Ethernet network adapters to connect your OTG device to wired Ethernet. Handy when wifi isn't available, or for network troubleshooting.

--------------------------

There is, of course, the obvious use. Storage. I've purchased this USB OTG cable. It was higher priced, but I liked the 90 degree bend could use Prime shipping.

Along with that, I bought this 32gb HP USB drive which was dirt cheap and tiny.

I've installed this kernel, which supports NTFS so that I don't have to re-encode my movies into smaller file sizes. You don't need this if you can stick to the FAT file system.

Lastly, I installed Stickmount to mount and unmount the drives when they are plugged in.

All of this works great. Stickmount is very nice for mounting and unmounting the drives, my 8gb test movie played easily, and I even tried plugging in my 500gb USB drive to see if the tablet would deliver enough power - it's perfect.

Bro i am just curious that can i transfer my whole game data and application from mobile to usb flash drive and then play it by just connecting the usb flash drive

glc · Nov 16, 2015

No, you cannot.

Aakashb101 · Nov 16, 2015

Thnx @glc

Adventures in USB OTG; what are you using it for?

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