Scroll Essential USB adaptor type

[Trashcooky]

By the way Guys, got my credit refund from Amazon today (thats only 6 Days - well done Amazon) so I've just pre-ordered the Excell (instead of the Essentials I returned with a suspect USB) for the same price as Storage Options site price and with free delivery. Now I know a bit more about this USB problem I will probably try and buy a 90 degree angled mini 5 pin plug from somewhere like Maplins in store and cut the full size USB connector of my wallet keyboard and solder on the new mini plug. I may report back more later.

[Trashcooky]

Maplins used to stock the SOKPAD dont know if they still do

I am sure you can buy this direct from Storage Options as well as Maplins but last time I checked Storage Options had sold out.

[Trashcooky]

http://www.ebuyer.com/294945-scroll-excel-3d-tablet-pc-53715
£129.99 inc free delivery

Thanks Bucky.

At time of writing DABS report 200 Excels in stock for the same price but don't know their delivery terms/costs.

[PopsMcCrill]

I got my original SOKPAD from play.com. Storage Options was out of stock until at least January 11th, I believe, and a lot of other places I looked (Misco, RS, Maplins, Amazon etc.) were either out of stock or "item discontinued"..

Anyway, pleased to say that mine is still working as it should do.

[Trashcooky]

Just an update on my usb keyboard difficulties:

Got my Scroll Excel now which replaced my Essentials that I returned because I thought the usb was faulty.
The Excel came bundled with and OTG adaptor lead.
My cheap 3rd party keyboard works OK with this but not with any of my purchased usb adaptors.

[peeone1959]

Hi.
A newbee who is pulling whats left of his hair out, Purcased a scroll essential for christmas and love the things that i can do with it, I saw on the forum that you can purchase an external keyboard and case, first one i bought was with the standard USB connector. returned this to amazon and purcheased the 2nd one with the correct usb connector that will connect to the scroll.
I have tried many time to get the keyboard to work but nothing happens, the 3 lights dont light when plugged in, but when it is connected it is extremely hard to use the scroll and on screen commands.

Am i doing somethng wrong here or is there an area in the settings area that i need to switch on etc.

I have read all other areas on this forum related to external keyboards but no solution there.

peeone1959

[Fonefixer]

There are no settings as such, its just plug and play. It is likely that the usb plug isnt picking up power from the scroll.
Im talking to SO about this and im waiting for a response from the tech dept. Will post any result.

[Trashcooky]

Hi.
A newbee who is pulling whats left of his hair out, Purcased a scroll essential for christmas and love the things that i can do with it, I saw on the forum that you can purchase an external keyboard and case, first one i bought was with the standard USB connector. returned this to amazon and purcheased the 2nd one with the correct usb connector that will connect to the scroll.
I have tried many time to get the keyboard to work but nothing happens, the 3 lights dont light when plugged in, but when it is connected it is extremely hard to use the scroll and on screen commands.

Am i doing somethng wrong here or is there an area in the settings area that i need to switch on etc.

I have read all other areas on this forum related to external keyboards but no solution there.

peeone1959

I had a similar experience and I contacted Storage Options about it. They suggested I must have a faulty USB feed on the tablet and to return it to the supplier (Amazon) which I did. My Case/keyboard is also the one with full sized USB connector and would not work on my Scroll Essential but worked OK on my desktop PC.
I ordered a Scroll Excel instead of the (returned for refund) "Essential" which came bundled with an OTG adaptor lead. My Case/keyboard works OK on the Excel using this lead (and the lights work).
I have come to the conclusion that there is something uniquely particular about an OTG adaptor which is different to a standard USB adaptor as I bought and tried 2 mini-usb to full-size-USB adaptors and my keyboard won't work on the Scroll with either but it does work with the OTG lead supplied with the Scroll Excel.

Amazon list OTG adaptor leads for just a few pounds - but try them at your own (cost) risk as I don't know if they will solve your problem - but I do seriously suspect that they will. Worst case scenario is that you can prove if the Scroll Essential is faulty by trying one of these special leads/adaptor. Also - can you connect the keyboard to another PC and check if it works on that?

[glenn1966]

The OTG connector is indeed different.

The extra (5th) pin is grounded so that the tablet knows straight away that it needs to go into host mode, which is simple and reliable. A standard adaptor for mini- to full-size USB won't work as the 5th pin won't be connected to anything so you need a specific OTG one.

I bought half-a-dozen mini-USB plugs on eBay for a couple of quid and adapted my case keyboard just as Trashcooky was suggesting and it works fine as long as the 5th pin is tied to ground. I made up another adaptor with a lightweight cable to a full-size USB socket as I didn't like the look of the strain my off-the-shelf OTG adaptor was putting on the tablet's mini USB socket.

I've been able to connect the Scroll Essential to some odd things including an 80GB portable hard drive and an external DVD drive. As long as these are self-powered then they seem to work okay. The Scroll doesn't seem to deliver more than about 250mA out of its USB socket, so a self-powered hub is a good investment.

I would like to have serial-over-USB working someday, but this seems to be turning into a pipe dream along with Bluetooth support

G

[Charlie]

...

I would like to have serial-over-USB working someday, but this seems to be turning into a pipe dream along with Bluetooth support
G

Not sure if this would help or work on Android -> http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-to-serial-9 ... ptor-29968

I use this one (on a PC tho') -> http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-to-printer-cable-98711 and works great for connecting an old plotter. No drivers were need for the cable/adapter - just the plotter.