Project - Internal USB Hub

Check this site out. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5293

They ship worldwide for free! I and several colleagues of mine have shopped there and it has never been a problem.

 

Looks like the hub i posted an url to was only USB 1.1. This one is 2.0 http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9476

Looks like several people has been sucessful in using the last one in their EEEs

 

Tnkgrl (tnkgrl.wordpress.org - have a look at her video) has done exactly this on the One. It seems like the perfect solution. It uses a USB connection that is currently unused and, if you leave the wireless mini PCI express wifi card in, will stay that way.

 

this one looks great for modding
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9476

or this, if one wants esata too
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8479

 

Hei olavxxx

Do you know how the internals of the e-sata one looks? I have a feeling the PCB is a bit big. Then there is the issue of drivers for the e-sata controller.

 

hei,

I've been thinking about buying one of those external wd harddrives, as they cost about 500 NOK atm.
Then I could just use the USB and the 2.5" HD....

As most of us know, the SSD 1.8" use more power than the 2.5" hd's do... even the 7200rpm ones.
I dont know if there is any performancegain going from 5200rpm til 7200rpm, but I believe the faster drives will use way more power and will require a seperate PSU.

I think I'll either sell my SSD ONE and buy one with a proper HD, or I'll mod my one to a regular hd.. 2.5" maybe, via USB? I've been thinking about desodlering the USB ports from the soundcard on the one, then redirect one of them to an internal USB, which I can use for a wd passport external hd fitted inside the case (if it can fit, that is).

Then I can route the other usb to an internal usb hub.

Your thinking: what about the two holes in the chassis then?
Well, then I can solder the usb hub outputs to two ports and fit them back on the soundboard.

I dont know if it's doable, as I didnt really look very well on the One the last time I disassembled it.

 

Niiiice!
Just finished the hub mod, added a BT transmitter and my mouse transmitter to it.

AA1 is definitely perfect for modding!

 

No pictures? Did you do it the same way as the other poster in this thread?

 

ovalx,

thats my idea exactly, i want to remove one usb header plug from the daughter board, (better yet, remove the connections to the daughter board and leave the receptacle on) wire it to a usb hub internally and wire that back to the receptacle. I could use the hub for internal bluetooth, gps, and a usb to serial converter for managing network equipment.

last time i was inside it seemed possible, but i think i may try to get a secondary board to mod. any one have a part number?

dave

 

Yarr, Now I have soldered bluetooth 2.0 with EDR into my Aspire One.
I bought one of those "worlds smallest bluetooth 2.0" adaptors from dealextreme.

Then I used a telephonecable, as they are kindof thin and they have 4 wires inside them, which is as many as the USB needs.
After looking on wikipedia, I saw the pinout of the different USB connectors

Pin 1: Earth (negative, ground)
Pin 2: D+
Pin 3: D-
Pin 4: +5V

So, yes.. Now I just pried off the metal on the worls smallest bluetooth 2.0 usb, then I checked it still worked (was afraid I had damaged it, since it was so small and I had to use a knife to pry it open).

It still worked, yey!

then I took a different path than my previous appempt of soldering.. this time I put soldering tin on the wires and I used a scrape to scrape off the solderingpoints on the soundboard, since I knew now that it had some kindof transparent glue... (corrosion protection maybe?).

Anyhew.. three of the wires where easy to solder to the soundboard, but the first one (earth) turned out to be very hard.
I believe that is because I tried soldering on that point before and then I guess I contiminated the solderingiron in the earth..eg. I think I have mixed into it the transparent glue..
[attachment=4:2cp0g6m4]DSC_8953.JPG[/attachment:2cp0g6m4]

Anyhow.. I knew about another earth point near by (large metal pad) which is common ground with the usb pin 1.
When doing this, it is important to visualize, since the soundboard will in logic be upside down!

I also put shrink stuff on the wires by the soundboard (of course before I soldered them, since I used a telephone wire).
After that, I also used a gluegun to secure the heatshrink to the soundboard.

[attachment=3:2cp0g6m4]DSC_8954.JPG[/attachment:2cp0g6m4]
On the blutooth end, I soldered it, as you see above.
Then I used electric tape.

But as we all know, the electric tape really sucks bigtime..
[attachment=2:2cp0g6m4]DSC_8962.JPG[/attachment:2cp0g6m4]
After a year or two, the glue just doesent do it anymore..

So, I used a very small heatshrink on the electric tape too!
[attachment=1:2cp0g6m4]DSC_8963.JPG[/attachment:2cp0g6m4]

After that was done, I just tried to get the bluetooth usb to lie down there, without any force on the cable.. eg. let it lay naturally by itself.
[attachment=0:2cp0g6m4]DSC_8964.JPG[/attachment:2cp0g6m4]

When I turn my aspire one upside down, as we all do from time to time (eh? no?), it looks blue there too now
Seems 5 pictures was all I where allowed to upload.. anyhew.. It works..
Ps. I have yet to remove the USB port on the side, from the soundboard.

before I do that process, I want to buy a dremel or a dremel-like tool.
Also I need one of those TINY usb-hubs.. I think I have found one on dealextreme.

Yeah, I will have to desolder the bluetooth again.. that is why I took such a long cable, so I can route that cable to the unusable expansionbay and put a tiny usb-hub in there (4p I think), then I will route on of the outputs from the usb-hub back to the bluetooth device.

I will also buy a new soldering-iron tip, as it's not really nice to solder with a tip as beefy as.... eric cartman.

 

I used the usb pins under the wifi card, placed both hub, BT(mini) and mouse transmitter in the free space around the 3G space, going to add a usb 3,5G modem in there also, maybe even a GPS.

 

I've been reading the diffrent internal USB-gadget mod-threads, there are some really neat stuff, very useful

I'm pickin up my AAO today and I've also orderd a USB-hub, HSDPA and USB-BT that will go in to the AAO.

the question is how much current the USB devices use... if the BT and HSDPA dongels are ideling do they use that much current or shall I build in a switch to turn them off when not useing them. do the hub it self use much current?

 

There is some info about it as well somewhere close . I can tell you about stuff I have:

1. Micro USB Bluetooth dongle is taking 50mA standby up to 80mA RX/TX,
2. Belkin Bluetooth dongle Class 1/100m is taking about 100mA,
3. Dane Elec 8GB USB pendrive - 200mA,
4. USB GPS is taking about 25-30mA...

That's all I remember ATM.

 

Thanks

I just installed my AAO, works very well so far, trying booth Wifi and the HSDPA dongle (external at first)

Sorry for such a noob question but where do I check the power consumption of the devices? I guess google knows, but it might be useful info in this thread too

 

Right click on My Computer>>Properties>>Hardware Manager>> USB devices and one of them suppose to be Universal USB HUB, click it...

 

hi you can also enable power save mode for usb devices

ALSO:
check this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=4236

it's a very good place to take the usb from.. If I had only known, lol..
I will desolder my soldering and solder it there instead

 

thanks guys

I checked the power consumption, it says 500mA for my USB HSDPA went to work on theb us today a little over an hour, and used about 50% battery surfing the net, watching youtube and so on, so no problem with the battery power for my usage anyway.

I will look for the usb power save options later today.

thinking I will nick the USB signal on the main board as in the thread olavxxx linked, and try to hook the power up right at the 5v stab as shown here: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/ ... bluetooth/

grabbing the best parts out of every thread :mrgreen:

 

why not take the power from where you take d+ and d-?

 

I read that an USB output only supply 500mA a piece, so a more powerful supply might be handy if feeding Hub

 

you can buy one of those usb hubs that have two supply-cables, where one only supplies +5v.
Then you can solder that wire to another usb port

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13526