Sven Killig has managed to run LXDE on his Nexus One in a USB host mode. He has made a video showing how all kinds of devices plugged in – including a web cam, keyboards, screens and a display link unit.

Connect USB devices to your Nexus One

• Hardware
  • Nexus One
  • Micro USB OTG cable (e.g.)
  • USB Dual Power Cable (e.g.) to provide power to the hub chip through the uplink port, since the Nexus One doesn’t provide bus power
  • Powered USB 2.0 hub (will charge the Nexus One) (e.g.) and optionally a battery pack for mobile use (e.g.) (measurements)
• Software based on Android 2.2 Froyo FRF72 (2.1 may work, too)
  • Download binaries…
    • boot.img or zImage
    • Modules (Mind /system/lib/modules/bcm4329.ko!)
  • …or build from source
    • git clone git://android.git.kernel.org/kernel/msm.git
      cd msm
      git checkout origin/android-msm-2.6.32
      wget http://sven.killig.de/android/N1/2.2/usb_host/.config
      patch -p1 < android-kernel_msm-3c98b0d_Nexus-One_usb-host.patch
      make -j2 ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/android-ndk-r4/build/prebuilt/linux-x86/arm-eabi-4.4.0/bin/arm-eabi-
  • Install kernel
    • Boot from RAM (till next reset)…
      • /android-sdk-linux_86/tools/fastboot boot arch/arm/boot/zImage
    • …or write to flash (boot.img from a nandroid backup)
      • /getramdisk.py /boot.img
        /android-sdk-linux_86/tools/fastboot -b 0x20000000 flash:raw boot arch/arm/boot/zImage ramdisk.img
  • Start ConnectBot, enable full screen and connect to Local
    • su
      insmod drivers/usb/core/usbcore.ko
      # Ignore the Unbalanced enabled for IRQ 58 stack trace for now
      insmod drivers/usb/host/ehci-hcd.ko
  • Substitute device mode (or port Andrew de Quincey’s work)
    • Use adb over TCP/IP
      • adb connect IP_address:5555
    • Filesystem access
      • Nexus One’s
        • On Air (Vista/7 registry patch)
      • PC’s
        • insmod fs/cifs/cifs.ko
          mount -t cifs -o username="username",password="password" //IP_address/share /mnt/sdcard/cifs

Links:

Hackaday: http://hackaday.com/2010/06/08/nexus-one-as-usb-host/

Sven Killig: http://sven.killig.de/android/N1/2.2/usb_host/

Mario Behling

Mario Behling is a German born serial entrepreneur. He founded the lubuntu project, and as the co-founder of FOSSASIA he supports communities to develop open technologies for social change. Mario presently works on SUSI AI from his Singapore base.