USB to go on Nexus 7

[guy]

Problem trying to connect my camera to my Nexus 7 tablet via USB. I've tried various apps and the camera always displays something like "corrupt connection."

Setup is: Nexus > USB On The Go adapter > PC-to-camera USB cable supplied > camera.

Things that might be wrong:

- Does the PC-to-camera cable need to be USB On The Go as well? What is the difference?

- Do I need to download a special USB OTG driver/app for the camera app to find?

- Any other thoughts?

[nelz]

The Nexus 7 needs to be rooted to use USB OTG. A standard USB cable is fine as long as you have the correct adaptor between it and the Nexus - mine cost a pound or two from Amazon. I haven't tried it with a camera but it works well with pendrives and an SD card reader. To use a camera, it must be in mass storage mode, not PTP.

I also installed Stickmount to enable automounting of devices.

Alternatively, you could try one of the camera apps in the market.

[wyliecoyoteuk]

Actually, Nexus media importer allows transfer without rooting.

[nelz]

That's good to know, although I rooted mine the day I got it so it never really bothered me.

[guy]

Thanks all. Pay-for apps, pay-for cable, still no guarantee of success.

Think I'll use my PC to drag-and-drop from camera to Dropbox. Backs everything up for me at the same time.

Dropbox is awesome. Why doesn't someone build a cloud-based hardware+software platform? (Only joking, Google. Just wish there was a 6" widescreen Chromebook out there).

[nelz]

Thanks all. Pay-for apps, pay-for cable, still no guarantee of success.

If the device is rooted, there's no need for a paid app, just a £1 cable. If you like, i can dig out the URL of the one I bought from Amazon.

Dropbox is awesome.

Wait 'til you see LXF 173

[guy]

Hi Nelz,

'fraid I don't root things, too much like hard work. And I think the automount toy would still be an extra. Other issue is whether my camera's file format is compatible with the available apps.

It'd have been nice not to need a PC in the loop, but it's not worth fussing over those niceties when I can just drag-and-dropbox. Saves me a speculative quid on the cable, too.

[nelz]

You're joking. Download a shell script, plug in the tablet, run the script. It really is that simple. I root all Android devices as a matter of course now, if only because it lets me run the excellent Titanium Backup. The was a godsend earlier this year when my S3 died overnight, but not before Titanium Backup had saved everything to the SD card.

I did post the URL to Stickmount, so you know it's free.

[guy]

"Download a shell script". Which shell script/rootkit should I trust and why? How does this particular exploit affect security? Might some future Android update turn out to be incompatible with my rooted toy? Where do I find it? If it's such a great idea, why is there no root-my-Android app prominent on Google Play? Do I care enough to find answers to all these questions? Yawn.

"Plug in the tablet". That'll be yet another cable for my family to half-inch, then.

"Titanium Backup." Who needs backup apps when you've got cloud storage with an offline mode? On Dropbox, star what you want to access offline and every device is a backup server. Has already saved my bacon at least once.

[nelz]

I got mine from xda-developers but Google and pick one from a reputable source. It doesn't affect security because rooting the phone only allows you to run apps as root, you still need to give permission for individual apps to run as root.

Keep your USB cables in a locked drawer

Does Google backup every program, its settings and data to the cloud? Can you restore everything back to a working phone in less that 30 minutes? Although I have to admit I'm paranoid about backup of everything, including my backups (Titanium Bckup backs up to my SD card and then it is synced to my local server because Dropbox is too slow).

[guy]

Well, yeah, I could do that but do I really want arbitrary apps to run as root? Google certainly don't seem to think it is a good idea.

I don't have a locked drawer. The kids accidentally "borrowed" and lost the keys longer ago than I care to remember.

Why back up device-specific stuff when a dead device means buying a new device? I mean, it's not as if I am going to take risks with the config settings by rooting it or something. This is a consumer device and I am a dumb consumer not a Linux geek (ducks for cover). I don't backup my TV or my car or my washing machine settings, why my tablet?

[nelz]

Well, yeah, I could do that but do I really want arbitrary apps to run as root?

You don't, neither do I, and that's not what happens. NNothng runs as root unless you say it can. Even an update of a program to a new version resets that permission.

Why back up device-specific stuff when a dead device means buying a new device? I mean, it's not as if I am going to take risks with the config settings by rooting it or something. This is a consumer device and I am a dumb consumer not a Linux geek (ducks for cover). I don't backup my TV or my car or my washing machine settings, why my tablet?

Have you not heard of warranties. When my S3 packed up after 6 months it was repaired and factory reset, yet I restored everything in minutes. In fact, I managed to restore most of the settings, and all of the software, to my old Nexus S to use in the meantime.

TVs and washing machines don't hold any useful information. Resetting a TV will not affect my ability to earn. Now, a reset/reformat of a PVR would be far more tragic - but we have iPlayer and Pirate Bay for backups of that content

[guy]

"Nothng runs as root unless you say it can". Like, I am going to read all the "this app will pwn your soul" permissions before I decide whether to download it. At least it won't pwn my OS quite so easily if I have no root access to grant it.

Seriously, the ability to run as root provides a significant opportunity for malicious exploits. While I can run stuff as root on my desktop PC, I don't download apps which demand manifold and curious permissions. OTOH I download all kinds of toys to my Nexus, so avoiding the option to run as root is more sensible. Or, you could say it boils down to trusting the Debian official repos more than I trust Google Play.

On backups. How many toys fail under warranty during the lifetime of a typical backup app installation? Over the last 40 years, I'd say 0% was an accurate count in my experience. Bear in mind that nowadays I use computers because I want to use them, not to tinker for the sake of it. So these days my settings are pretty vanilla. Frankly, the various backup tools I have used over the years have given me far more grief than the hardware ever did. Even Unison ****ed me around over versioning and networking. I saved a lot more time when I stopped faffing with settings backups.

One backup I do still maintain is the dead tree with dye stains detailing my user accounts and passwords. Not that I keep it anywhere too obvious, grin - my kids taught me that one a long time ago!

[nelz]

"Nothng runs as root unless you say it can". Like, I am going to read all the "this app will pwn your soul" permissions before I decide whether to download it. At least it won't pwn my OS quite so easily if I have no root access to grant it.

you've got hold of the wrong end of the stick here. Do you have su installed? Does that mean anything can run as root? The program asks for root permissions when it runs, you can answer Yes/No/Just this time. If you don't answer, it takes it as no. Basically, you have su on the device and when a program needs root access it calls su (a nit like some desktop apps that pop up a similar requester when they need root privileges). There is no more danger of RandomApp getting root privileges on Android than there is of Synaptic running as root on a Linux desktop.

On the failure rate, of the Android devices I have bought in the last year, my failure rate has been 50%. You may not need backups, I do. I only mentioned them as the original reason I rooted my devices. You have a different reason, to be able to use USB OTG. If you don't want to root fair enough, that's your choice, but you also said you didn't want to use a paid app. That leaves you with no more choices, but that is also your choice.

I've also had my fair share of hard drive failures, some down to dirty power, one of which failed while writing a review of backup software for LXF. Thanks to all the backups, I didn't have to start again from scratch

[guy]

That leaves you with no more choices

Except Dropbox

Thanks for the heads-up on rooting. Maybe once the warranty has run out....