usb News - Page 29 of 31 - CNX Software

April 29, 2015April 29, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

USBminiPower USB Power Supply Delivers 3 Outputs: 5V, 3.3V, and a Variable Output up to 14.3V (Crowdfunding)

Yesterday, I found out about a cheap 5V/3.3V USB power supply board, YwRobot MB-102, selling for $1 shipped on Ebay, but one person lamented the lack of 1.8V output, which may be required for example for modules like AsiaRF AWM002 that takes both 3.3V and 1.8V. One way is make your own power board, and get an expensive lab power supply, but I got a solution in my inbox this morning, with USBminiPower, as tiny USB power supply board with three output: 5V, 3.3V and a variable pin between 1V and 14.3V, as well as a 4 digit LED display showing the voltage and intensity just like Charger Doctor. USBminiPower specifications: MCU – Microchip PIC16 MCU (several are supported) Voltage outputs – 5V (from USB port), controllable 3.3V, and controllable & adjustable 1V … 14.3V Display – 4 Digit red LED to display intensity and voltage Max Power – 2.45 […]

April 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

This Multi-function Capacitive Stylus Includes a USB Flash Drive

If you have fat fingers, or somehow capacitive touchs creens don’t work that well with your fingers, or you simply need more accuracy, you may have purchased one of those cheap capacitive stylus, many of which come with a real ball-point pen and/or a flash light. However, I’ve just noticed GeekBuying listed a few USB multi-functional 6-in-1 touch pens with 4 to 32GB internal flash with prices ranging from 8 to 19 dollars. Based on the picture above, you can open the stylus to take out a USB flash drive that you can insert into your computer, laptop or mobile’s micro USB OTG port via an OTG adapter. Specifications include: Use with touchscreen of smartphone or tablet PC Ball-point pen Files storage (USB flash drive) Money inspection (ultra-violet light) Pointer (red laser) Mini flash-light Dimensions – 143 x 12 mm Weight – 25 grams I find the USB drive-in-a-pen idea […]

March 25, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Cubieboard4 Benchmarks in Android

Last time I tried running benchmarks in an Allwinner A80 board (A80 OptimusBoard), it either rebooted during the benchmark, or had fairly disappointing results for example for USB storage. I documented my findings in a post entitled “Current Performance and Stability Issues on AllWinner A80 OptimusBoard Development Board” which was written in October 2014. But a few months have passed, and since Cubieboard4 is another hardware platform, so I was interested in running benchmarks including storage and networking performance testing on the new board to see if any progress was made. Cubieboard4 Android Benchmarks – Antutu, Vellamo, and 3DMarks Manufacturers can add the key ro.sys.hiritsu to build.prop in order to artificially inflate their Antutu scores with Allwinner A80 processor. So before running Antutu, I checked /system/build.prop in the firmware, and found out no trace of this variable, which can only be good for CubieTech reputation. CC-A80 board, the other name […]

February 27, 2015February 27, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

Zsun Wifi Card Reader Adds up to 64GB to Your Smartphone

I’ve previously covered Zsun SD11x USB flash drives with 8 to 128 GB internal flash, a battery, and Wi-Fi connectivity in order to easily add storage to devices without micro SD slots. The company has now launched a new Wi-Fi card reader to do the same, but with your own micro SD card instead allowing up to 64GB extra storage, and easy replacement. Zsun card reader specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 WiSoC System Memory – 256 Mbit RAM (32 MB) Storage – Internal flash for firmware (capacity TBD), micro SD slot up to 64GB Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi @ 150 Mbps USB – 1x USB 2.0 port for power and use as standard USB card reader Dimensions – 33 x 30 x 13 mm There’s no battery, so you’d have to connect the dongle to a power bank, PC, car charger etc.. to power it. If you connect […]

November 16, 2014November 16, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Zsun SD111 Is Now “Officially” an Hackable Wireless Flash Drive

Zsun SD11x are Wi-Fi flash drives for 8 to 128 GB eMMC, alternative to Sandisk or Kingston. Yesterday, I soldered the UART pins to Zsun SD111 (8GB) flash drive to access the serial console, but I did not manage to enter the terminal as it was password-protected. I posted my results anyway, as I was convinced I would get some clever ideas from my readers, some of which appeared to be a little time consuming, but Zoobab offered a simple solution that consisted in changing the boot parameters, by replacing /sbin/init by /bin/sh. The first step is to interrupt the boot by pressing space or another key, in order to access U-boot. Now we can check the U-boot environment ar7240> printenv bootargs=console=ttyS0,115200 root=31:02 rootfstype=jffs2 rw init=/sbin/init mtdparts=ar7240-nor0:64k(u-boot),64k(u-boot-env),6720k(rootfs),1216k(uImage),64k(NVRAM),64k(ART) bootcmd=bootm 0x9f6B0000 bootdelay=4 baudrate=115200 ethaddr=0x00:0xaa:0xbb:0xcc:0xdd:0xee ipaddr=10.168.168.1 serverip=10.168.168.10 stdin=serial stdout=serial stderr=serial ethact=eth0 Environment size: 361/65532 bytes Let’s keep everything the same, except the init, […]

November 13, 2014February 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Zsun SD111 Wireless USB Flash Drive Review

Zsun SD111, SD112 and SD113 are Wi-Fi / USB flash drives with respectively 8GB, 16 GB and 32GB storage. GearBest sent me the 8GB version (SD111) for review, as it could be an interesting platform to hack. I’ve take picture of the device, take it apart to check the board, review quickly the standard features with Android and Ubuntu, and try to access the board from the network. Zsun SD111 Unboxing I received the device in the following package. The flash drive comes with a micro USB to USB cable for charging and accessing the device from a computer, and a user’s manual in Chinese. You’ll probably prefer using a soft copy user manual in English… Zsun SD111 Board and Battery To open the stick, insert a sharp and thin object in the hole for the neck strap, and push upwards to lift the top cover a little, and finish […]

October 10, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

ZSun Wireless USB Flash Drives Add up to 32GB to Your Mobile Device

Yesterday, I wrote about the Egg personal cloud storage device which allows you to easily store and share your files without having to rely on cloud services, and also includes a touchscreen display. But it might be possible to achieve the main selling point of that product, that is keeping your data private, while accessing it from anywhere, at a fraction of the cost, by using a Wireless USB flash drive instead. Some well known companies such as Kingston (rather expensive), and Sandisk (much more affordable) already offer such products, but I’ve been informed Zsun, a Chinese company, was also manufacturing such devices with up to 32 GB capacity. The company calls its wireless flash drive “Apple Disks” showing how much money you could save with their device, by showing the ridiculous price different between apple devices with difference storage capacity, but they can also work with Android devices, as […]

August 13, 2014August 13, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

USB Type-C Reversible Connectors Specifications Published

We now have all sorts of USB receptacles and connectors, but this is supposed to eventually change thanks to type-C connectors, which are small and robust enough to be used in laptop, computer, smartphones, and other type of devices, and will replace the USB type A, micro and mini USB ports. Type-C connectors will also be reversible, so there won’t be a way to insert the cable upside down. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has just announced the completion of the USB Type-C specification, and transferred it to the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) for ongoing management and the establishment of a compliance and certification program. Key features of Type C specifications include: Entirely new design Tailored for emerging product designs Robust enough for laptops and tablets; slim enough for mobile phones Similar to size of USB 2.0 Micro-B Usability enhancements – Reversible plug orientation and cable direction Supports scalable power charging […]