cell phone / tablet USB host ?

On Sun, 6 Feb 2022 11:40:46 -0800 (PST), whit3rd <whit3rd@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 7:33:28 AM UTC-8, legg wrote:
>> Recent experience (first) with a Lenovo Tab 8 
>> had me scratching my head. 
>> 
>> It's USB (~charging) port could communicate with a 
>> PC for file transfer, but couldn't read a memory stick. 
>> This with all the recommended OTG cabling. 
>> 
>> Why would you stick a communicative USB port on a 
>> battery-operated device and then restrict it from 
>> acting as a USB host? 
>
>USB was a master/slave 'bus'.   The master (host) was the sole source of
>electrical power to run your mouse, keyboard, speaker, etc.
>So, a master could charge a phone.   The phone, on the other hand is
>a slave (and thus won't try to provide regulated power on the bus).
>
>OTG was the name of the change that made it possible to power a gizmo
>from a phone, and it ONLY worked with micro-USB connector (they had to use an extra pin).
>Maybe your Lenovo  was not OTG-compatible, or maybe it has a bad extra pin.   I've been
>able to  use OTG-connect  memory sticks with iPad and Android tablets, but there's some
>wierdness (takes a special app on the iPad, and reformatting the stick is verboten).
>
>What's the file system on the memory stick?

They're all FAT-32

I haven't tried a powered usb bus port yet. 
Lack of 'settings' doesn't predict well.

We used to laugh at the 'help' drop-down option 
in MS OSs. Nothing to laugh at in this thing.

RL

søndag den 6. februar 2022 kl. 21.12.27 UTC+1 skrev legg:
> On Sun, 6 Feb 2022 10:46:21 -0800 (PST), Lasse Langwadt Christensen 
> <lang...@fonz.dk> wrote: 
> 
> >s&oslash;ndag den 6. februar 2022 kl. 19.40.58 UTC+1 skrev legg: 
> >> On Sun, 6 Feb 2022 17:02:28 -0000, Mike Coon <gra...@mjcoon.plus.com> 
> >> wrote: 
> >> >In article <l8qvvg90aa541vdla...@4ax.com>, 
> >> >le...@nospam.magma.ca says... 
> >> >> 
> >> >> Recent experience (first) with a Lenovo Tab 8 
> >> >> had me scratching my head. 
> >> >> 
> >> >> It's USB (~charging) port could communicate with a 
> >> >> PC for file transfer, but couldn't read a memory stick. 
> >> >> This with all the recommended OTG cabling. 
> >> >> 
> >> >> Why would you stick a communicative USB port on a 
> >> >> battery-operated device and then restrict it from 
> >> >> acting as a USB host? 
> >> >> 
> >> >> Is this normal? 
> >> >> 
> >> >> Is this sane? 
> >> >> 
> >> >> I know there are a multitude of other methods of 
> >> >> com available for these devices, but why not 
> >> >> simple USB stick transfer? 
> >> >> 
> >> >> RL 
> >> > 
> >> >My smartphone requires "OTG" to be allowed in Settings/Additional 
> >> >Settings. Get sane and RTFM... 
> >> You should see the manual and the 'settings' window on this 
> >> thing (and what it doesn't include). 
> >> 
> >> The OTG harness is here, but if the 'settings' only allows 
> >> choice of USB transaction type and niether mentions hosting, 
> >> you're plumb out of luck. 
> >> 
> >> Wrong toy for the job. Just had higher expectations (and those 
> >> were pretty low to begin with). Brought in just to cover a 
> >> simple bluetooth com app - figured I'd see what it could 
> >> do with some ADC, thermometry, logging or SDR dongles - 
> >> for which hardware and apps are available for PC . . . 
> >> and for 'android'. 
> >> 
> >> Quad core ARM Cortex A35 ARMV7-A 64bit in a MediaTek SOC. 
> >> Android 7, last patched in 2019. 
> >> 
> >> What's all this GooglePlay crap anyways? Do I really 
> >> want to know? 
> > 
> >it's where you download apps, equivalent to Apples App Store
> Download? Where's the download option? 
> It's install or uninstall. 

sure, and install obviously downloads first

Ed Lee <edward.ming.lee@gmail.com> wrote in news:b3d46de3-2da8-478c-
aaa8-c29fda25fd82n@googlegroups.com:

>   But implementing a true device is a different story.

Yeah...  look what happened to you.

   No truth there.

  Another retarded Lee crack from his lower Le Crack.

On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 1:14:17 PM UTC-8, DecadentLinux...@decadence.org wrote:
> Ed Lee <edward....@gmail.com> wrote in news:b3d46de3-2da8-478c- 
> aaa8-c29f...@googlegroups.com:
> > But implementing a true device is a different story.
> Yeah... look what happened to you. 
> 
> No truth there. 
> 
> Another retarded Lee crack from his lower Le Crack.

Silly.

On 2022-02-06, John Larkin <jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 06 Feb 2022 10:33:35 -0500, legg <legg@nospam.magma.ca> wrote:
>
>>
>>Recent experience (first) with a Lenovo Tab 8 
>>had me scratching my head.
>>
>>It's USB (~charging) port could communicate with a 
>>PC for file transfer, but couldn't read a memory stick.
>>This with all the recommended OTG cabling.
>>
>>Why would you stick a communicative USB port on a 
>>battery-operated device and then restrict it from 
>>acting as a USB host?
>>
>>Is this normal?
>
> It is for USB. Devices are either controllers or targets (formerly
> known as masters and slaves.)
>
> Does anyone know of devices that can do both?

It's called "USB on the go" and is fairly common in portable devices.
such devices will have an mini or micro AB shaped socket, (or more recently many have C)

-- 
  Jasen.

On 7/2/22 2:33 am, legg wrote:
> Recent experience (first) with a Lenovo Tab 8
> had me scratching my head.
> 
> It's USB (~charging) port could communicate with a
> PC for file transfer, but couldn't read a memory stick.
> This with all the recommended OTG cabling.
> 
> Why would you stick a communicative USB port on a
> battery-operated device and then restrict it from
> acting as a USB host?
> 
> Is this normal?
> 
> Is this sane?
> 
> I know there are a multitude of other methods of
> com available for these devices, but why not
> simple USB stick transfer?


I have a Lenovo TB-850SF with Android 10 and it has no problem reading 
USB memory sticks. I don't recall having to enable anything.

Google doesn't like local file transfers, because that enables you to 
manage content they can't spy on. That can be the only explanation for 
why they haven't put an SMB server into Android, and all the standard 
file transfer apps are so crap.

On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:00:25 PM UTC-8, Clifford Heath wrote:
> On 7/2/22 2:33 am, legg wrote: 
> > Recent experience (first) with a Lenovo Tab 8 
> > had me scratching my head. 
> > 
> > It's USB (~charging) port could communicate with a 
> > PC for file transfer, but couldn't read a memory stick. 
> > This with all the recommended OTG cabling. 
> > 
> > Why would you stick a communicative USB port on a 
> > battery-operated device and then restrict it from 
> > acting as a USB host? 
> > 
> > Is this normal? 
> > 
> > Is this sane? 
> > 
> > I know there are a multitude of other methods of 
> > com available for these devices, but why not 
> > simple USB stick transfer?
> I have a Lenovo TB-850SF with Android 10 and it has no problem reading 
> USB memory sticks. I don't recall having to enable anything. 
> 
> Google doesn't like local file transfers, because that enables you to 
> manage content they can't spy on. That can be the only explanation for 
> why they haven't put an SMB server into Android, and all the standard 
> file transfer apps are so crap.

That doesn't make sense.  You can do any file transfer with a PC and slave Android.
I prefer to transfer from PC anyway,  even will another USB stick on the PC.

On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:06:12 PM UTC-8, Ed Lee wrote:
> On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:00:25 PM UTC-8, Clifford Heath wrote: 

> > Google doesn't like local file transfers, because that enables you to 
> > manage content they can't spy on. That can be the only explanation for 
> > why they haven't put an SMB server into Android, and all the standard 
> > file transfer apps are so crap.

> That doesn't make sense. You can do any file transfer with a PC and slave Android. 
> I prefer to transfer from PC anyway, even will another USB stick on the PC.

Oh, it makes sense, all right.   You can't install an application with 'file transfer'
because you can't access the directory where apps reside.   You can't even inspect
the filesystem except within a walled-off area (try, for instance, to find a fonts 
folder, or a picture file from a text message).

Maybe there's developer tools that can explore the walled garden...

On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 3:16:27 PM UTC-8, whit3rd wrote:
> On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:06:12 PM UTC-8, Ed Lee wrote: 
> > On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:00:25 PM UTC-8, Clifford Heath wrote: 
> 
> > > Google doesn't like local file transfers, because that enables you to 
> > > manage content they can't spy on. That can be the only explanation for 
> > > why they haven't put an SMB server into Android, and all the standard 
> > > file transfer apps are so crap. 
> 
> > That doesn't make sense. You can do any file transfer with a PC and slave Android. 
> > I prefer to transfer from PC anyway, even will another USB stick on the PC.
> Oh, it makes sense, all right. You can't install an application with 'file transfer' 
> because you can't access the directory where apps reside. You can't even inspect 
> the filesystem except within a walled-off area (try, for instance, to find a fonts 
> folder, or a picture file from a text message). 
> 
> Maybe there's developer tools that can explore the walled garden...

You can do it all with rooted device.  The protection is for accidental messing up of files, just like a typical Linux system.

On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 3:22:52 PM UTC-8, Ed Lee wrote:
> On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 3:16:27 PM UTC-8, whit3rd wrote: 
> > On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:06:12 PM UTC-8, Ed Lee wrote: 
> > > On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:00:25 PM UTC-8, Clifford Heath wrote: 
> > 
> > > > Google doesn't like local file transfers, because that enables you to 
> > > > manage content they can't spy on. That can be the only explanation for 
> > > > why they haven't put an SMB server into Android, and all the standard 
> > > > file transfer apps are so crap. 
> > 
> > > That doesn't make sense. You can do any file transfer with a PC and slave Android. 
> > > I prefer to transfer from PC anyway, even will another USB stick on the PC. 
> > Oh, it makes sense, all right. You can't install an application with 'file transfer' 
> > because you can't access the directory where apps reside. You can't even inspect 
> > the filesystem except within a walled-off area (try, for instance, to find a fonts 
> > folder, or a picture file from a text message). 
> > 
> > Maybe there's developer tools that can explore the walled garden...
> You can do it all with rooted device. The protection is for accidental messing up of files, just like a typical Linux system.

By the way, why can't you install apps or transfer files with ADB (Android Debugger)?  ADB will take care of all the details without rooting (by-passing security) the device.  And if you must root it, be sure to turn off the cell radio, or your phone is wide open to Russa, China, Iran, N. Korea, etc.  There are reasons for the phone's tight security.