C6100 extender board USB

[Chuckleb]

Parts came in. Quick reply, YES the onboard USB works. I may have to try with another node to learn more but my results:

- 8 pin picoblade is correct, and the pre-terminated jumpers are great
- I snipped a USB extension cable in half and use clips to quickly mount.
- It is 2 separate USB ports. Pins pattern is: red, green, white, black, black, white, green, red
- Able to power a bluetooth transciever for kb/mouse
- Able to power a 2GB and 32GB USB drive, but won't boot from it.
- I was able to install ESXi to the USB stick and it completed successfully. Note, set the Force USB in the BIOS to do the ESX install.
- I did not solder on capacitors, maybe I am missing that? I can't tell if the pads above the connector are for the USB or if the caps on the left are for the USB.

I will need to test again on a different node when I have time to confirm these results. Regardless, I think we are mostly there, need to figure out booting issue. Everything is detected in Linux though.

Pics below, stole your image post site Tsmooth
--

 

[dba]

Parts came in. Quick reply, YES the onboard USB works. I may have to try with another node to learn more but my results:

- 8 pin picoblade is correct, and the pre-terminated jumpers are great
- I snipped a USB extension cable in half and use clips to quickly mount.
- It is 2 separate USB ports. Pins pattern is: red, green, white, black, black, white, green, red
- Able to power a bluetooth transciever for kb/mouse
- Able to power a 2GB and 32GB USB drive, but won't boot from it.
- I was able to install ESXi to the USB stick and it completed successfully. Note, set the Force USB in the BIOS to do the ESX install.
- I did not solder on capacitors, maybe I am missing that? I can't tell if the pads above the connector are for the USB or if the caps on the left are for the USB.

I will need to test again on a different node when I have time to confirm these results. Regardless, I think we are mostly there, need to figure out booting issue. Everything is detected in Linux though.

That is very very good news! Thanks for taking the time to lead this effort. I'm looking forward to USB boot on the c6100!

 

[Patrick]

Parts came in. Quick reply, YES the onboard USB works. I may have to try with another node to learn more but my results:

- 8 pin picoblade is correct, and the pre-terminated jumpers are great
- I snipped a USB extension cable in half and use clips to quickly mount.
- It is 2 separate USB ports. Pins pattern is: red, green, white, black, black, white, green, red
- Able to power a bluetooth transciever for kb/mouse
- Able to power a 2GB and 32GB USB drive, but won't boot from it.
- I was able to install ESXi to the USB stick and it completed successfully. Note, set the Force USB in the BIOS to do the ESX install.
- I did not solder on capacitors, maybe I am missing that? I can't tell if the pads above the connector are for the USB or if the caps on the left are for the USB.

I will need to test again on a different node when I have time to confirm these results. Regardless, I think we are mostly there, need to figure out booting issue. Everything is detected in Linux though.

Pics below, stole your image post site Tsmooth
--

This is awesome! I have a feeling I am going to buy one to four from you one of these days.

 

[Chuckleb]

SUCCESS.

I've booted off 3 different USB sticks (16GB USB3, 2GB, 8GB), one of which was the ESXi install that I did last night.

I was curious if my cable was too long and had power loss or noise so I made the cable as short was I was comfortable with. In addition, I tried a different node in case I had a bad node. Whatever the combo was, I was able to successfully boot to an OS from the internally mounted USB stick. Not bothering to post photos of an ESX boot screen, but you can see the latest install. Make sure you have "Force USB" turned on.

I've verified the cable pinout as well. It is: red, green, white, black, black, white, green, red

I would rate this project as easy for anyone now that we have the parts list. For reference:

8-pin Picoblade connector
300mm pre-crimped cable - they also have a 150mm.
I used any USB extension cable that I had around since it was non-conductive.


So some further thoughts. It's HOT in there, may be best to extend the USB to the interposer so that it gets cool air or you could risk damaging the USB stick long term. Or at least move it before the CPU/RAM somehow. I'm not sure what the max length to run would be.

Enjoy!

 

[TheBay]

Nice work

Caps won't be needed unless you are doing hot swapping, would be good practice to keep the USB device away from the motherboard and put a ferrite on your loom or use shielded cables.

Now we know it works, I can have a look at the interposer and find out what caps are needed if people want to put the USB flash drive on there, also make up some looms to link the interposer to the mainboard.

 

[s0lid]

Nice work

Caps won't be needed unless you are doing hot swapping, would be good practice to keep the USB device away from the motherboard and put a ferrite on your loom or use shielded cables.

Now we know it works, I can have a look at the interposer and find out what caps are needed if people want to put the USB flash drive on there, also make up some looms to link the interposer to the mainboard.

J13 is directly connected for interposer USB connector, no need for any capacitors there. Caps C1 and C2 in interposer are not related to usb.
I can pull out one of my nodes and check the pinout for J13

 

[TheBay]

J13 is directly connected for interposer USB connector, no need for any capacitors there. Caps C1 and C2 in interposer are not related to usb.
I can pull out one of my nodes and check the pinout for J13

Can you get a close up shot of the interposer, it looks like the caps filter +5v

 

[s0lid]

Well here's some pinouts I quickly cooked up in photoshop:

 

[korban]

Do you believe it could be easyer to connect an eUSB like this ATP Electronics, Inc. > Products > eUSB SSD

TheBay mention this in this threath http://forums.servethehome.com/hard...ives/1611-dom-vs-cheap-ssd-vs-usb-vs-pxe.html

 

[Jaknell1011]

SUCCESS.

I've booted off 3 different USB sticks (16GB USB3, 2GB, 8GB), one of which was the ESXi install that I did last night.

I was curious if my cable was too long and had power loss or noise so I made the cable as short was I was comfortable with. In addition, I tried a different node in case I had a bad node. Whatever the combo was, I was able to successfully boot to an OS from the internally mounted USB stick. Not bothering to post photos of an ESX boot screen, but you can see the latest install. Make sure you have "Force USB" turned on.

I've verified the cable pinout as well. It is: red, green, white, black, black, white, green, red

I would rate this project as easy for anyone now that we have the parts list. For reference:

8-pin Picoblade connector
300mm pre-crimped cable - they also have a 150mm.
I used any USB extension cable that I had around since it was non-conductive.


So some further thoughts. It's HOT in there, may be best to extend the USB to the interposer so that it gets cool air or you could risk damaging the USB stick long term. Or at least move it before the CPU/RAM somehow. I'm not sure what the max length to run would be.

Enjoy!

I need 4 of these cables, is anyone making/selling them?

 

[Dr_Drache]

I need 4 of these cables, is anyone making/selling them?

I am new here, first post, I just ordered the materials to make 20 cables (configuration a bit differnt) , going to need 4 for myself, but due to my stature here, (or lack there of) I won't be selling, but I will send people what i have made when i have my 4 (so, 16?)
I will not send anyone more than 4, without getting paid, if you have that many nodes, you can afford it. so, to the mods : I AM NOT SELLING ANYTHING, THE ITEMS ARE FREE.

BASICLLY, i'm going to do :
Pico cable - > ferrite filter - > IDC10 8-pin male

->

->

which then allows you to plug in standard USB2.0 headers, from where ever you want to get them

 

[Jaknell1011]

I am new here, first post, I just ordered the materials to make 20 cables (configuration a bit differnt) , going to need 4 for myself, but due to my stature here, (or lack there of) I won't be selling, but I will send people what i have made when i have my 4 (so, 16?)
I will not send anyone more than 4, without getting paid, if you have that many nodes, you can afford it. so, to the mods : I AM NOT SELLING ANYTHING, THE ITEMS ARE FREE.

BASICLLY, i'm going to do :
Pico cable - > ferrite filter - > IDC10 8-pin male

->

->

which then allows you to plug in standard USB2.0 headers, from where ever you want to get them

I would LOVE to get 4 of these from you. PM me and me can get whatever information to get these. I would appreciate it a ton! I just got my c6100 in today!

 

[Dr_Drache]

I would LOVE to get 4 of these from you. PM me and me can get whatever information to get these. I would appreciate it a ton! I just got my c6100 in today!

as of now, 9 are spoken for (including yours) it's going to be a few more days, shipping is sucking. I will test every cable on my own c6100. (which, hasn't been fired up yet, too clean )
also need to get drives... but that's another story

 

[Patrick]

Can I order 4? Happy to pay.

 

[sag]

Can I also get 4? I would be happy to pay also. Well worth it.

 

[Dr_Drache]

Can I also get 4? I would be happy to pay also. Well worth it.

well, i guess i can order some more parts and make more cables. i'll put you guys down for some, but that goes over my first quota, so i'm going to order a bunch more supplies, please, PM me if you want me to make some for you, only way i can keep track.

 

[utp]

Just a quick thought, please excuse me if I were wrong,

There seems to be only 1 usb host controller on the board, which means all 2(3) USB port share the same USB bandwidth, what would be the diff to a USB hub then lining the onboard USB out?

Thanks.

 

[Dr_Drache]

Just a quick thought, please excuse me if I were wrong,

There seems to be only 1 usb host controller on the board, which means all 2(3) USB port share the same USB bandwidth, what would be the diff to a USB hub then lining the onboard USB out?

Thanks.

i don't fully understand the question, but if you need more USB bandwidth, the only way is a pcie card.


EDIT, for all the are interested, I ordered enough extra parts for 40 more cables.

 

[utp]

Sorry for my unclear question,

I was trying ESXi 5.1 and OSX, and the USB was shown as UHCI, which is USB1.0 speed (12MB/sec)

My question was are the 2(the extra 1) USB port work as a root hub as separate or do they work as ports under same root (which if thats the case then a USB hub may just work "same as" the extra work to get the port from the board..

Anyway, Interested at your cable too, nice work there!

 

[Dr_Drache]

Sorry for my unclear question,

I was trying ESXi 5.1 and OSX, and the USB was shown as UHCI, which is USB1.0 speed (12MB/sec)

My question was are the 2(the extra 1) USB port work as a root hub as separate or do they work as ports under same root (which if thats the case then a USB hub may just work "same as" the extra work to get the port from the board..

Anyway, Interested at your cable too, nice work there!

usb1 means usb2.0 isn't turned on in the bios,
there are 2 usbports that we are taking from the pico, which is under one root hub. don't understand how a hub makes this any simpler, you'd still need a way to connect the hub.

Edit : seems element14 messed up my order, double charged me, and sent me the wrong items, so i'm a bit behind on this, and the cash to reorder while waiting for them to fix it, isn't there. trust me, this will get done, just a few extra days of BS. sorry to anyone who hoped for a really fast turn around.