Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

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monkeydogcat
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:39 pm

Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by monkeydogcat »

Is it possible to boot from a USB drive that's connected via a USB hub?

I've tried plugging a hub in to the side port and plugging a bootable USB drive in to the hub. When I turn the Joggler on I get the O2 logo for a while, then it boots the stock OS. I know the USB drive is bootable, the Joggler will boot from it if it's plugged directly in to the side port.

Tried searching for this but couldn't find anyone talking about it.
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hawsey
Posts: 2075
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 11:23 pm
Location: Northumberland

Re: Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by hawsey »

Plug the boot USB stick in to port 4 of the hub and try again :-)

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Oh and it's best not to try a powered USB hub as they try to power up the Joggler on their own 8-)
Happy Joggling
monkeydogcat
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:39 pm

Re: Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by monkeydogcat »

hawsey wrote:Plug the boot USB stick in to port 4 of the hub and try again :-)
Why would plugging the USB stick in to port 4 make a difference? Does you advice to plug the USB stick in to port 4 apply regardless of how many ports the hub has? How do I know which one is port 4 when my hub, in common with every hub I can recall ever seeing and can currently find in a few minutes on Amazon, does not have numbers next to the ports?
hawsey wrote: Oh and it's best not to try a powered USB hub…
My understanding is that the side USB port doesn't provide more than 500ma. That makes me think it unlikely I'm going to be able to to run multiple devices which do not provide their own power, including a harddisk, off it without a powered hub.
hawsey wrote: …as they try to power up the Joggler on their own 8-)
That sounds so unlikely that I had to Google it. As far as I can tell this is only a problem with shitty USB hubs that seems like they are essentially unfit for purpose. As far as I can tell my powered USB hub is wired properly and the Joggler remains inert with the hub connected and powered and the Joggler's power supply unplugged.
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hawsey
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Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 11:23 pm
Location: Northumberland

Re: Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by hawsey »

Ha ha , well try it or don't try it , it's up to you , however unlikely it sounds for some reason the port 4 booting the Os is real and well documented if you look far enough back on the forum .
Port 4 will be the forth one from the USB cable input to the Joggler .
You could be right about shitty hubs causing the USB to try to power up but it happened to me and others on here , great if you've got one the doesn't have this behaviour .
I have quite happily had a full size keyboard / mouse and a 750 gig external (unpowered) HDD with Xubuntu on it booting up and working fine on the Joggler .
Good luck :-)

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Happy Joggling
monkeydogcat
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:39 pm

Re: Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by monkeydogcat »

hawsey wrote:Ha ha , well try it or don't try it , it's up to you , however unlikely it sounds for some reason the port 4 booting the Os is real and well documented if you look far enough back on the forum .
Port 4 will be the forth one from the USB cable input to the Joggler .
This seems to be making a very big assumption that all USB hubs are wired the same.

I'm using one of these
http://www.lacie.com/files/lacie-conten ... hub_en.pdf
Which would you say is USB port 4?

What about on on this hub?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-Portab ... 01CHRCOAM/



hawsey wrote: I have quite happily had a full size keyboard / mouse and a 750 gig external (unpowered) HDD with Xubuntu on it booting up and working fine on the Joggler .
That's good to know.

Since making the original post I've decided I don't need wireless for the purpose I'm looking to put the Joggler in question to. I've now got the USB flash drive with the OS on stuck in the port usually used by the wireless adapter. It's a lot neater, gets around the problem of not being able to boot via the USB hub and reduces load on the side port.
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pete
Posts: 2958
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:33 am
Location: Time Traveler

Re: Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by pete »

Here looked for a small flat 4 port USB hub which I cut wires and passed them over to the Joggler / Openpeak motherboard.

Boots Linux USB stuff just fine. I have also connected a USB wireless stick and it works fine too.

Mods on my test Openpeak device now are:

1 - RTC clock with battery - such that it remembers the time now when it reboots.
2 - use of PATA port to SSD drive
3 - went to a USB SSD drive for more HD space and working well
4 - 4 port hub glued / screwed to back of Joggler wired to the Joggler motherboard.
IE: in test mode I have a second 4 port hub plugged in to the side of the Joggler for a mouse and keyboard.
5 - an upgrade to the Realtek ROM with a mac address - this allows now for WOL stuff to work. I can suspend the Joggler and wake it up remotely in Linux and Windows embedded.

It all fits fine inside and outside of the Joggler/Openpeak. This run runs Buzz's latest Ubuntu. The MPlayer stuff written about, KODI, MythTV player (Live TV), Squeezeplayer (works great), Automation touch screen (which really only works well sort of using Wine). I got MS SAPI working in Wine but never got my automation SAPI client to work in Wine.

Purchased a small opticall audio HD connector but have yet to fit it inside the Joggler. I think it would work providing a clean interface. I am using an external USB digital audio device on one Joggler connected to the master bedroom MM receiver today.
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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hawsey
Posts: 2075
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 11:23 pm
Location: Northumberland

Re: Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by hawsey »

The way I work it is if it won't boot , try it straight in the Joggler , if that boots , great , then try what you think might be port 4 , if no joy , try the rest one at a time ... Come to think of it , it might have just been Windows builds that did this , I forget 8-)
That hub you are using has got to be one of the nicest looking but weird hubs I've ever seen...
Happy Joggling
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pete
Posts: 2958
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:33 am
Location: Time Traveler

Re: Boot from USB drive in a USB hub

Post by pete »

Here is a picture of the hub that I have connected to the interior on the motherboard USB 2.0 ports. I did glue and screw this hub to the back of the Joggler then cut the wires and soldered them to the motherboard.

Took it apart and used the tiny plastic Joggler screws in to the back little vent holes. Just a touch of hot melt glue was used and the top of the case did just snap back in to place.

Image
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

Auto mater
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