Non-standard OTG ports

[Aco]

i post in the main forum because i dont think the question itself relates just to tv boxes although i use them as example.
Looking for various devices, tabs, boxes etc i came across some that claim having USB OTG but have the usual full size A port... the EM6Q-MXQ box for example states one of the four usb ports as being OTG and the port is also marked on the pcb as USB-OTG, and i dont think its a last minute change since even the space for the port on the pcb is marked for the size of a typeA receptacle...
Update: now i have a clone of those...
If USBOTG uses a 5th pin how do they implement it on just 4 pins? or its not at all an otg port but they just call it that way for marketing since the SoC supports it?

I hardly think a port that excludes the possibility to be fully functional or that its attached to an usbotg controller that is configured exclusively as host should be called otg... or im missing something?

[mitchell4you]

Hi, and welcome to freaktab
If you seek a info..howto make a USB A to A otg cable, see in this section the "franken cable" post

Usb otg..seems to work like a regular USB port.. with the option to flash/recover the device..when needed
(Atleast on my device)

Note.. I was really lucky to find the right cable..
Its really disappointing that most vendors don't add the otg cable with the box/device..

Cheers.

[RISCy Dude]

The OTG cable supplied with my UT3 is a male "A" both ends. It is pin to pin, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4. Nothing special about it. Cable shielding is not tied to ground within the cable, but is tied shell to shell.
I imagine a USB strategy is used that detects a hot 5vdc pin and assumes it should operate in OTG mode. USB cables/ports are designed to have power connections made before data connections. If you look closely at a USB cable/port, you will see the outer contacts( - and 5vdc) are longer than the two in the middle(data- and data+). So when a USB device like a mouse or thumb drive are plugged in, the port sense no power on the 5vdc pin and assumes normal operation, if it sense power on the 5vdc pin it assumes OTG. But that's just a guess

[Aco]

Hi, and welcome to freaktab
If you seek a info..howto make a USB A to A otg cable, see in this section the "franken cable" post

Usb otg..seems to work like a regular USB port.. with the option to flash/recover the device..when needed
(Atleast on my device)

Note.. I was really lucky to find the right cable..
Its really disappointing that most vendors don't add the otg cable with the box/device..

Cheers.

Thanks,
i made a few cables in the past some done in a proper way others "McGivered" in the most precarious ways and they still worked decently, i have read of people that in some devices actually added a pushbutton to directly ground the pad at the receptacle.

What i find disappointing is the impossibility to find any sort of documentation and all these boxes are all so touch and go im not sure some documentation even ever existed, who knows how many cloning hands they passed through.

if device mode gets up only in recovery then things are very misleading, even for non-clones... Would that mean that the state of the port is always configured as host just through firmware?

The OTG cable supplied with my UT3 is a male "A" both ends. It is pin to pin, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4. Nothing special about it. Cable shielding is not tied to ground within the cable, but is tied shell to shell.
I imagine a USB strategy is used that detects a hot 5vdc pin and assumes it should operate in OTG mode. USB cables/ports are designed to have power connections made before data connections. If you look closely at a USB cable/port, you will see the outer contacts( - and 5vdc) are longer than the two in the middle(data- and data+). So when a USB device like a mouse or thumb drive are plugged in, the port sense no power on the 5vdc pin and assumes normal operation, if it sense power on the 5vdc pin it assumes OTG. But that's just a guess

I know that the 5V pin is generally monitored to know if a device is attached to the plug or not but i didnt think it was enough to determine the state of the device

From various documentation i pulled from hardkernel it seems to me that the S805 has the id pin that gets a direct connection to the port, as for knowing which pin it is have no idea since even the documentation of the processor has no pin description.

[Rigattoni]

Any news on this issue?
I posted a question in the RK3288 sub forum , because I need a HUB to get all things attached in my car.
There are several USB-OTG HUBs available, but all of them have a USB-B connector.
Any idea how to get around with this issue?