Additional usb port

[cmstar]

Hi, I'm new here. Just got this great little tablet yesteday.

In looking over the teardown pictures, notice the three buttons (home, list, back) are attached to a 4 pin header.

And in this thread http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...de-any-success an attached mouse simulates the same buttons.

My guess is that this is simply another usb port devoted strictly to the side buttons. Would we squeeze a mini/micro two port usb hub in there and hard wire the buttons to one port and have one additional port?

[sabercatpuck]

Doubt it will work directly

The buttons in question are tied into the 4 pin header, one is common the other 3 go to each of the switches so that they are individual return lines and USB just doesnt work that way. Now it is possible they tie into a support chip that then broadcasts the results onto a usb host line (there are 3 BTW) and they get interpreted the same as the buttons on the mouse by the OS. In that case you could try to find the chip and get lines pulled off of it, but that will require some fine soldering work most likely. Guess it depends on if you think that adding a second internal usb line is worth it vs just using an external hub.

Personally I am more inclined, if I was going to break out the ultra-fine tip for my iron, to look into another flash to boost the memory

[cmstar]

I see what you mean. I jumped the gun. I saw the 4 pin header and the relatively empty spot in the case nearby and totally skipped looking at the actual buttons and where there lines went.

I did, obviously, notice the space for the extra ram chip. My soldering skills are not that good, but I have access to a hackerspace where I'm sure someone can do the work. Though I'm not looking to be the guinea pig on that one. But I'd like to see someone try.

Overall, it's a great little tablet for the money. Looking forward to see how much better we can all make it.

[notpod]

all that empty space !!!

Lots of empty space!!! But do we have the spare power with that smallish battery for a internal mod?

That said I would consider a internal BT mod as the power to that could be toggled with the OS, should a working spare port be found that is.

[cmstar]

BT would be nice for sure.

But for that matter, can we get a larger capacity battery for this thing? I'm still pretty shocked as to how small the mother board is.

This is my first Android device (though I'm familiar with Linux/Unix based systems) and I'm having lots of fun playing around with it. I'm pretty happy with the device as is, a camera would have been nice. But really no complaints.

A memory mod seems to be the most compelling thing to me at the moment as suggested above.

[Finless]

I am very familiar with the batteries used in this tablets! I am into RC Helicopters and we use this type of battery extensively. These are not Lion (Lithium Ion) they are LiPo (Lithium Polymer). I know much about them

If you have a RC hobby shop around that caters to Electric RC Airplanes or RC Helicopters, you can easily go in there and find all kinds of different packs of different sizes and capacities! Trust if my LiPo cells go bad in my Arnova I will be replacing them myself!

Now if you decide to check this out let me give some tips. Do not go for high discharge rate packs. We do not draw the AMPs a RC heli would. The lower discharge rate packs will have smaller and thinner cells. This will allow you to possibly get the largest MAH (Milliamp Hours) cell that will fit which is what you want. The more MAH the longer time you get.

So guys for sure you can probably easily find replacement LiPo cells and up the time!

Bob

[Bruiserman]

tempting

I seem to get pretty good battery life but more is always better. Just built a couple packs for some rc cars, might have to take a look at making one for this.