mini USB 1.1 master port on Netbook Pro

First, I need a definition or a distinction between a master port and a host port, if any at all.

I'm on a Psion Teklogix Netbook Pro running Windows CE.NET 4.20. I'm trying to shed some weight and to go back to just having a handy little word processor. So I have a full registered copy of SoftMaker office but to use it again I need to have a working flash drive. I don't have an SD card, CF card, or even a PCMCIA card to run SoftMaker, but I do have a mini USB 1.1 master port on the Netbook Pro. The problem is that I just can't get the Netbook Pro to recognize any of the 3 USB flash drives I've plugged into it (via a mini USB to female USB cable). I tried 2 sandisks, a 1 gig and an 8 gig, and a 4 gig Kingston. Are Kingston and Sandisk usb flash drives 1.1 compatible?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Other people have had the same problem. The USB port is a Type A mini usb on the Netbook Pro, not Type B...which is really nothing more than the physical shape of the jack. Some devices, such as my Mobilepro 900 have two USB ports on them, a CLIENT and a HOST port. One I use to sych with my desktop, the other I can plug in periphreals, such as mice and keyboards and flash drives. Other devices use the same port for both actions.

Be sure that your USB drive is formatted to FAT, not NTFS. People who have been successful have used an adapter and a 1gb USB flash drive...Kingston if I remember correctly.

However, truly the simplest way to run Textmaker would be to install it onto a SD memory card and run it from there...and they really are inexpensive these days...

And if you are really desperate, you could always just email the files to yourself and download them on the Netbook Pro as an attachment and copy them to a folder in the main RAM of the Netbook Pro....assuming you have a wifi card you can use with the PNBP.

Of course an Activesync connection to your desktop is probably the easiest way to install Textmaker...

USB protocol is fully backwards compatible. Any combination of host and client USB device should work.

Thanks for the replies. Now my mind is drifting towards the thought of using a MP 900c...hmmm. But, I need to be content with what I have and make it work. Besides, I have adjusted quite well to the keyboard of the Psion NB Pro.

I also wanted to know if a PCMCIA adapter card with USB ports or a Compact Flash card with the same would work? Are there such converter/adapter PCMCIA or CF cards that work well with the Psion NB Pro? Rather than convert to using a different storage media, and if such cards would work reliably, I'll just go that route with my USB flash drives.

Thanks again.

Most PCMCIA --> USB adapters are CARDBUS and will not work. It is rare to find a 16bit adapter these days. Check the format of your files storage on your USB flash drives and make sure they are FAT...they should work. Sometimes it takes a few seconds after you plug them in to have them recognized...especially if you have a lot of files on them...

Unlike Windows XP, when you plug in an USB drive, it doesn't automatically pop up and open...you will need to open "My Computer" and look for the "Hard Drive" icon...

Thank you for that info! I was close to ordering a 2 or 4 port USB converter off of Amazon. I think I would be disappointed.
I'm wondering if I need to do something to either upgrade the OS. Do you know if installing the USBclik cab file would do me any good?

How about a link for downloading Activesync? I would have to sync through IRDA because I don't have the cable.

Do you think it's possible to install Textmaker through IRDA? You mentioned installed it into the RAM. How would I do that?

The last firmware flash for the Netbook Pro should be on this website under the update section: http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/update/ But you need a memory card to run it from...

Again, searching this website you will find Activesync: http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/i/S0017.asp But if you want to sync via infrared, that means you need an infrared port on your desktop or laptop.

After you have an Activesync connection, you can install Textmaker to any folder on your PNBP or to a memory card on your PNBP.

As far as the USBClik drivers...I don't know if that would make any difference to your PNBP's ability to read a USB flash drive or not. CE.NET 4.2 contains the mass storage device drivers already by default...so you should be able to use the USB flash drives regardless I would think...unless they are not formatted in Fat or Fat 16. Sometimes Fat32 format does not work with some OS builds. NTFS format certainly doesn't.

Perhaps some PSNB users on this website have better ideas than myself...or at least different...

The NB Pro has no trouble with FAT32-formatted mass storage volumes. Either that or FAT(16) will work.

You pretty much have to look online for SD cards that aren't SDHC nowadays. I don't recall if there is an SDHC driver that works on the NB Pro. I still troll eBay for SD cards for my devices that don't read SDHC. Even some of my CE 5 devices fall into that category.

Thank you for all the input. I have no idea how to get my USB port to recognize a flash drive. Once I get a flash disk of some sort I will upgrade the OS and see if that will get the USB port to work.

I have an old Sandisk Ultra II Plus USB 512 MB. Although tiny compared to SDHC standards, the USB option is very handy, and, most importantly, my NBPro always recognized it. I would like to get another one like it but with larger capacity, does anyone know if the 2GB Ultra II Plus USB model would work?

Also, how do I tell my NBPro where to install Textmaker? I have 80MB of ram, but how do I put Textmaker there when I try to install it through Activesync over IRDA?

I tried installing Activesync 3.8 and a strange thing would happen. My laptop with IRDA would recognize the NBPro and the NBpro could make a direct connection via IRDA with my laptop. However, when I would try to establish an IRDA connection through Activesync, the NBPro would say the connection was lost. Should I use a specific revision or an older version of Activesync?

Thanks again.

I prefer version 4.5 myself. Open Activesync before you try connecting and check the third block down and select the infrared port as your means of connecting. Sometimes on some machines you have to uncheck the USB option.

Also before you even do this, you need to go into the Control Panel on your PNBP and click on the "Network and Dial-Up Connections" icon. Make sure you have an "Infrared Conection" icon there. Right-click on it and check the properties. While it should not make any difference, set the baud rate to a reasonably fast speed, like 57600. If that proves to be unstable, then you can later slow it down. I use 115200 with no problem.

Then go back to the Control Panel and select the PC Connection icon and change the connection using to: "Infrared Connection"

Save it all and then soft-reset your PNBP and try to Activesync again...





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Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

Good news!
1.) I found my copy of Textmaker 2008 (cab file) and sent it via IRDA from my laptop and installed it into the NBPro's memory. It works like a champ.

2.) And I installed Activesync 3.8 and have been able to sync the work I'm doing on Textmaker with my laptop so that I can then email/save to USB/print my work.

The only thing I need now is a good SD card to eliminate me having to lug my laptop or an IRDA interface around. I'd love to go with a Sandisk Ultra II Plus USB. I believe they made those as large as 2 GB.

What is the largest SD card that a Psion NBPro can read/write?

Thanks.

Non-SDHC cards go up to 4 GB as I remember. The NB Pro will handle that with no problem as long as it's formatted to FAT32.

Okay I will be looking on Amazon and eBay for some SD card storage today. Thank you.

What about some good CF storage cards? PCMCIA cards? Which ones work infallibly with NBPro? What are some good cheap ones to look for?

Also, anyone familiar with how the docking station works for a NBPro? Is it worth getting? Does it have a USB port? VGA? They seem pretty hard to find.

Any CF memory card should work...they are not like SD/SDHC cards...

Although there is a limitation with the OS recognizing size limitations and number of files in a folder...but that is a software thing and not dependent on the card itself.

But I've never had problems, even with old CE devices, recognizing large multi-GB CF memory cards...