USB 2.0 Host Port Hack for Mitac Mio P560 PDA

Most of PDA devices do have support for USB host in their hardware in addition to the regular device mode. Vendors just do not add this feature to the software and do not provide apprioprate connectors, power support etc. But that doesn't mean we cannot exploit this functionality by ourselves.

The Mio P560 PDA is based on Samsung S3C2443 CPU which provides both device and host mode in a signle USB 2.0 port. All I had to do is to write an application that enables host mode and add appriopriate host controller and USB class drivers to the onboard Windows Mobile 6. The application is called MioBlaster and you can find it at the bottom of this post together with all required drivers and other tools.

To use USB host mode you will need an USB pass-through cable that will provide +5V to both: USB device you connect and PDA. This is because PDA wasn't designed to export power to the mini USB connector (it would drain your battery too quickly anyway). Instead, it powers internal USB device/host controller circuits directly from mini USB (why waste battery power for USB electronics when it is not connected to PC?). You could use USB disk pass-through cable available is some stores, or solder your own:


When you need to be mobile and there is no other PC to get power from, you can use AA battery-to-5V converter I've built. I would post the design here some day if you want:


To use MioBlaster follow the steps below:
1. Connect USB pass-through cable to power source and PDA
2. Launch MioBlaster
3. Press 'Enable' in the USB Host Controller section
4. Connect your USB device to the cable
5. Enjoy!



As a bonus, MioBlaster allows you to change the default function driver in USB device mode. This way you can turn your PDA into a USB pendrive. No more ActiveSync!

Password for all archives: hwhack.com

Please, how can I run _setup.xml files in my unlocked MIO M400PNA? This is not .exe or .msi .

First of all, your PDA is not supported.
Secondly, you were supposed to unpack rar only, not the cab file! Windows Mobile installs software packages from single cab files.

Oh Yes! Sorry, I am stupid. In rar is .cab file ! Why my PNA is not supported? I have unlock and I run some programs normaly in this Win CE5 system... So, I need connect in to my PNA some USB device, like in normal PC, but my PNA still working only as mass storage. Can You help me, how can I switch USB mode to HOST? This is realy not possible with Your hack? Thank You very much !

See the title of this topic. This is only for Mio P560 due to low level hardware access, which is platform-dependent.

Hm...sorry of my qwestions

Hi Everyone,

Can I run a cable OBD II to diagnose my a car ? If so, How?
Thank you for quick answer.

If your ODB II cable has a regular RS232 interface on the other end, you can plug that into a serial-to-usb converter cable and then use that with Mio. Driver for the serial-to-usb converter is included above.

Ok...
I have a cable OBD II with USB connector and I installed the driver package from link above.
What should I run and set to my device MIO P560 see my cable OBD II.
RS232 USB Serial Driver and what's next?
How do I know that there is a connection ?

If you already have USB connector in the ODB cable istead of RS232, it could be either a built-in serial-to-usb converter or something else. When you connect ODB cable to P560 a window should pop up asking for a driver. Enter '232usb' and after that you should have a new COM port that you could use with a serial terminal like putty.
If the driver window does not pop up, you have not setup your usb host mode properly.
If the '232usb' driver does not work with the ODB cable, than this is not a serial-to-usb converter and probably there is no Windows Mobile version of the ODB driver out there.

Hi
How can I connect two sockets together?
enough that will cut the cover and solder to it second pair of soldered wires to the second slot?
thx

Yes that should do the trick. You can connect only red and black wires for the power supply connector if you want.

Hello
Is it possible to run usb host on other samsung cpu's, for eg. s3c2413 or S3C2443 ?
Is there hardware differences by using usb host?

S3C2443 is the CPU used in P560, it is not the 'other' CPU.
It should be possible to use USB host on PDAs with S3C2440, but not without hardware changes. I don't know anything about S3C2413.

hi rawsock,

you did a good job!

I have a gps wayteq x920bt and I want to use the USB Host!
I did Y cable with external power.
I want to connect a USB-Serial adapter with FTDI chip!

You know if this GPS supports USB Host?
If you want to help me I will describe what I did until now!

thank's

You can post your work in a new topic. We'll see what we can do

Hi 'rawsock';
Great job, thanks a lot!

I also have a P560 and I want to use it this way (as USB host).
I thought to make a passive adapter located between the PDA and its charger
(car or network) and contains an additional normal size female (?) USB socket.
Can you help how to make exact connections?

You wrote:
... you can use AA battery-to-5V converter I've built ....
As I see in the picture, it's a piece of AA batteries. But for how long?
(for example, if I write to/from a USB stick ...).
Please send the necessary drawings to build it.

Greets
Istvan

Power source from AA battery should be enough for 1-2 hours of regular USB mass storage copy. You can buy one of those universal AA battery emergency chargers on ebay, no need to build your own. This is needed to pump up the voltage from 1.2-1.5V to 5V. If you go this path, remember that you will probably need to put a small resistor on the PDA side. It will power USB host controller but will prevent PDA from starting charge process which would draw too much current together with USB stick.
If you want just a USB pass-through cable, there's not much to add here. It is just 1:1 cable, addidtionally with black and red wires connected to - and + of the charger.