I'm still having problems... (Story of my life ;-) ). I used my external cell phone charger (that's how I would use it on the road - it looks similar to your battery one - just a different model) but nothing. I did take the message from USB control if anyone's interested:
USB controller mode: a_wait_vfall
Bus 001 Device 001:ID 0000:0000

Does that ring a bell with anyone?

C

cyber, yours doesn't look like a powered one! am I wrong ?

@bun : Can you plug the power-input end of the hub to a PC usb port to draw power instead of the AC adapter to see if it still works?

I popped my N800 into USB Host mode using the USBControl and was able to have Canola see my large MP3 collection on a 350Gb external disk. I used the simple mini-USB adapter discussed elsewhere in this forum. I had to mount the disk to /media/mmc2/floppy for Canola to see it.

Seemed to work okay, but with a large collection it can take quite a while for Canola to log in all the songs. With that song collection and the nice library of Internet rradio stations in Media Player, my N800 is spending more time teathered to my stereo as the house music system and less time walking around with me!

All this was with an externally powered USB HD, so much respect to those of you who were able to get this working with portable power!

If you are willing to spend the extra bucks, you might consider the Socket Mobile Power Pack (http://www.provantage.com/socket-ac4...4~7SOCK04X.htm). I've used mine pretty successfully for several years to power my N800, iPod, external speakers and several other things. It is always nice to have that extra power on hand!

@nhanquy
Yes it does come with an external AC adapter that plugs in the end - 5V@1A and I used it. I also tried the trick that the others have suggested by using an external battery pack - not the same as pictured but same concept. Nothing seems to work although any of these methods work fine on my other Linux machines so I know it's not incompatibility. The whole things works if I use my 1GB usb flash on the NIT with or without the powered hub. Not giving up yet because I know it should work fine...

C

I'm using one of these octopus hubs like Atarii has (or something close, but involving more soldering...) Main difference is I'm using it with no adapter; the mini-B is soldered for OTG, and rewired for the host side of the hub. (Since mine had only one host connector, that's become the power connector.)
This should be equivalent to Atarii's setup, but with an OTG-wired adapter (e.g. from jolouis) instead of the female-female rig.

Oh, and I'm using one of the iogear GMP1001W6 USB powerpacks that were on buy.com for $20 a while back for power.

Result: It's sometimes finicky about timing. It makes a difference whether you plug the battery pack first, or the OTG. I think the best config was to plug the OTG, then plug the battery, but... now I can't reproduce the problem. It works either way. But it would get hung up in states waiting for rise or fall, if things didn't go right... Hope this helps those having trouble.

I looked at the pictures again and maybe there is a difference. I am using a OTG miniB to USB connector and not a standard cable with a F-F adapter. It works fine with the USB flash drive however...
Is there a difference between the two ways of connecting it?
Here's my connector: I'll have to get the picture later as it looks like the company's web site is down (or they went out of business because the connector doesn't work ;-) )

C

I guess that's not it. Bun replied with the answer as I was writing...

C

First, you have to see the power light on the HD light up when plug into the hub. If that does NOT light up. You do NOT have enough power. If that light up, then you may be able to keep on trying. Mine the light goes on and I can "feel" the HD is spinning.

bun

The light is on OK - nice and steady and I can hear the drive. If I then plug it into the laptop everything is fine. Unplug it from the laptop and nothing. The flash drive works fine that way but not the drive. Interesting....

The only thing I can think of is the hub requires a little too much power??? even though it's powered externally by either the AC supply or my battery pack and the light is on and steady. Does that sound logical? I guess I'll have to buy, borrow or beg another hub from my friends and see if another brand helps. I can't think of anything else to do...

C

Yes and No. Yes, it works directly with HD connected to N800 and a tail attached to the labtop PC for power. It works this way. No. It does not work with the USB HUB if the USB hub is powered by a laptopPC. My guess is laptopPC is NOT powerful enough to power the USB HUB but is powerful enough to power the HD directly. So, that means any kind of power-brick is out of the question for this particular palmsize drive, I guess.


bun