USB keyboard works with Ipad 2 strange

[keevill]

I have just acquired an Ipad 2 and have read in several posts, that the camera kit dodge to get a usb keyboard functioning with the Ipad no longer works as the power output in the latest 4.3 OS has been reduced.
The only option is to use an electrically powered hub. I decided to go this route and buy such a hub.
However, I have just discovered that the keyboard works WITHOUT connecting to the hub. I just plugged the keyboard in to the camera adaptor and it works.
Any comments on that ? Am I just the lucky one or is it a fluke ?
-keevill-

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

Using USB keyboard's should generally be possible, only sometimes does it not work.
But I don't actually know why. My first iPad 2 did not work with the external USB keyboard, but after exchanging the iPad does the USB keyboard work, also without a powered hub.

The powered hub's should only be needed for devices, which draw a higher current then the iPad can supply, 10mA.

 

[Brockly]

thats kinda cool and i might have to pick one up that that works with a keyboard

 

[keevill]

Using USB keyboard's should generally be possible, only sometimes does it not work.
But I don't actually know why. My first iPad 2 did not work with the external USB keyboard, but after exchanging the iPad does the USB keyboard work, also without a powered hub.

The powered hub's should only be needed for devices, which draw a higher current then the iPad can supply, 10mA.

Perhaps some USB keyboards draw a little less than the 10mA limit ?
That would explain it would it not ?
-keevill-

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

Perhaps some USB keyboards draw a little less than the 10mA limit ?
That would explain it would it not ?
-keevill-

Well, the keyboard did not work with the initial iPad 2, but now works with the replacement i2. So considering the current drawn by the keyboard stayed the same, it is not entirely clear, why the keyboard did not work initially.

The keyboard in question is a MS Natural Ergonomics 4000.

 

[nguyen]

This is a bit off topic but I'm just gonna ask anw. Im planning to get a 16gb iPad 2 and thinking of expanding its storage with sd card or usb stick, but I hv read a few post saying the problem with iPad 2's power output. So since you have the powered usb hub, could you try to connect a thumbdrive to iPad 2? I know this could be done with iPad 1 but given the reduced voltage thingy that Apple did to iPad 2, this is no longer possible.
Thanks

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

I don't think thumb drives work without a jailbreak, which is not yet available for iPad 2. Btw. a powered hub is not necessarily required for thumb drives, my Kensington stick works directly from the camera connection kit. And since the current limit is the same on iPad 1 and 2, should it still work, once a jb is made public.

 

[nguyen]

I did some research around and it all said the current is limited in iPad 2. Thats what they said anw.
Also, there is a way to connect a USB to iPad 1 that is to format your usb stick to Fat32 and create a folder name DCIM and put your stuff inside that folder to trick iPad 1 into thinking its a camera. Now thats what they did before the jailbreak was available, so I wonder if I can do the same for iPad 2?

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

I did some research around and it all said the current is limited in iPad 2. Thats what they said anw.
Also, there is a way to connect a USB to iPad 1 that is to format your usb stick to Fat32 and create a folder name DCIM and put your stuff inside that folder to trick iPad 1 into thinking its a camera. Now thats what they did before the jailbreak was available, so I wonder if I can do the same for iPad 2?

Neat trick.

Works a treat on iPad 2. I created a DCIM folder on a Kingston thumb drive, filled it with a few images and they than showed up in Photos. But of course does it not read any other files.

I think both iPad 1&2 limit the current to 10mA.

 

[nguyen]

Thats nice... how big is your kingston thumb drive? It'd be great if you can test usb with larger storage, see what the limit is. Im also interested to see if other thumb drive that previously showed the "not enough power" message could do the same...

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

It is a Kingston DataTraveller G2 4GB, which is the largest thumb drive I have here.

Also tried the same DCIM, Fat32 thing with an external hard drive, but it doesn't mount. Even though a powered hub is used, but the same setup doesn't work on iPad 1 either. It may be that the Fat32 partition is in fact behind the NFTS one.

 

[madhatter61]

This is a bit off topic but I'm just gonna ask anw. Im planning to get a 16gb iPad 2 and thinking of expanding its storage with sd card or usb stick, but I hv read a few post saying the problem with iPad 2's power output. So since you have the powered usb hub, could you try to connect a thumbdrive to iPad 2? I know this could be done with iPad 1 but given the reduced voltage thingy that Apple did to iPad 2, this is no longer possible.
Thanks

An SD card doesn't expand the storage. you can however, load movies on it and as long as you setup the proper file folders and have the proper format then you can load movies from the card, just like you can transfer photos into fixed internal storage.

The iOS nor the other apps do not read or write to the SD card like it does to the solid state storage built in. So you can not expand your storage like you think you can. You can not.

 

[nguyen]

@madhatter: yeah you're right, i should hv been more precise. What i meant is to read off usb and all. It'd be great before a long trip or sth to have an extra storage for movies from which you can load into you iPad.
@Dontunderstand: so basically you can only use your kingston usb in both iPads, not the external hard drive though?

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

@Dontunderstand: so basically you can only use your kingston usb in both iPads, not the external hard drive though?

Yes, the USB drive works, but the external hard drive doesn't, though the latter may be due to my own incompetence.

It is probably a mistake to have a NFTS partition on the external hard drive.

 

[nguyen]

Ok that's great... it's gonna be too much to ask here but if you can partition your hard drive with a small partition in Fat32, we could find out.. but it's just a thought though.