Paul Boddie wrote: > but I suppose the Y-Box is effectively an unpowered hub
It's much more primitive than that: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/ybox-20131025.pdf It's basically the equivalent of a Y-cable, only more complicated. I'd of course have preferred simply finding a suitable Y-cable, but - after looking at about a hundred items on Alibaba - it seems that combination doesn't exist on the market. Given enough volume, one could of course just get a custom cable from ACME (Amazing Chinese Make Everything). The only component that has an active role is diode D2. What it does is block power coming from the wrong port, so that the device will not appear to be "running" (LED is on, keyboard and Anelok are powered) yet fail to work (because the data lines aren't connected) if you get the two Micro USB B ports wrong. > and where the Anelok appears as a peripheral > to the PC but as a host to any connected keyboard. It's only the second half, the host for the keyboard. The PC only acts as a power supply (a USB wall wart will work just as well). If you want communication as well, you need to use RF (and a second USB port.) This is admittedly a clumsy solution. Its main purpose is to let us experiment with this sort of connectivity. If it leads to nice use cases we can think of a more elegant approach. An "intelligent" Y-Box along the lines of what you've described would certainly be an interesting option. But then, three USB ports ... - device + host + host (Anelok is device), - device + host + hub (Anelok is device), or - device + device + host (Anelok is host) ..., yuck. - Werner _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
