Making the Ben NanoNote act as a USB host

Ron K. Jeffries rjeffries at gmail.com
Sat Aug 7 12:57:18 EDT 2010


Soren,

For a small (tiny!), cheap, low energy-consuming
server, consider the Seagate Dockstar.
It has one Ethernet and 4 USB host ports,
no video or keyboard, runs a 1.3Ghz Arm processor
with 128MB RAM. There's also a serial
port if you open the case and make a cable.

Woot had them for $25 (one day) but now
you can find them for about $50 USD.

Debian, OpenWRT and Arch (Plugbox Linux)
are available.
---
Ron K. Jeffries









On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 08:07, Soeren D. Schulze <soeren.d.schulze at gmx.de> wrote:
> On 07.08.2010 14:35, Wolfgang Spraul wrote:
>> Sören,
>>
>>> If there isn't, then I would consider the removal of it a really
>>> hacker-unfriendly decision, and -- sorry of accusing people of this --
>>
>> It wasn't removed, it was never there in the first place. We bought the
>> design, then added some experimental stuff (such as USB Host) on the AVT2
>> small run, while taking the old and stable design (without USB Host) into
>> mass production.
>
> OK, I see your point.  I wasn't aware that the development board was newer.
>
> The fact that the design originates from the proprietary world explains
> a lot.
>
>> It's great that you bought a Ben NanoNote and supported this project, I hope
>> you didn't think it had USB Host and feel misled now. There was one article
>> on linux.com I think that got this wrong, and even though we contacted them
>> before and after the publication I believe it was never fixed. Quite
>> annoying.
>>
>> The Ben has good potential with just USB client, actually this is far from
>> being maxed out right now (USB gadgets etc). By the time we have some form
>> of USB Host (maybe On-The-Go), we will be ready for it :-)
>> Hope this explains the background a bit, keep your feedback coming no
>> hesitation,
>
> Yes, it works well as a MIPS development environment, no question.  Or
> as a USB development environment.
> It also works well as an OGG player (though it would be a bit of an
> overkill).
>
> The two applications I was thinking of do not seem possible though:
> 1. an ultra-portable general-purpose computer that use can use when
> you're on travel (screen size and resolution too low)
> 2. a small server that has a bit more horsepower than a usual network
> router and that can do some easy network services (well, if you need a
> PC to get network access, then the same work can be done by the PC)
>
>
> Sören
>
>
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