USB Mass Storage

[Error 454]

This topic is for discussion of USB Mass Storage mode for the Pre/Pixi. Questions and requests regarding the Xbox 360 patch will be entertained.

For the Xbox 360 specifically, there are some quirks with the photo mode. When the Xbox 360 scans a media device it looks for the existence of the DCIM directory. This directory is a common standard for storing photos on digital cameras. If the Xbox finds this directory, it will mark the device as a digital camera - meaning that it will only show you photos that are contained in this directory tree.

If you move the DCIM directory to a different name, the Xbox will detect the device as a generic mass storage device and will show you all of the photos contained on the device.

Video Sharing and Music Sharing don't have these issues.

[ludaphi215]

i want to use my pre as a usb for my Xbox but because the screen is broken i cant access preware to install the uberkernal. Is it possible to install it any other way? like via quick install?

[Error 454]

Preware has various install guides on the front page. How would you enter USB Storage mode if the screen is broken?

[ludaphi215]

orange+sym+u=usb if screen doesn't work. I guess I should just start my own topic because what I'm trying to figure out is how can i install uberkernel not preware.

[Error 454]

Sorry, can't help much there. If you can get an ssh server installed through meta-doctor it seems like that would be ideal.

[skipy]

How does one go about using the Palm Pre as a media device with the xbox 360 so they can play music from the pre on the xbox ?

[Error 454]

Originally Posted by skipy

How does one go about using the Palm Pre as a media device with the xbox 360 so they can play music from the pre on the xbox ?

All you need to do is install the latest Uberkernel. After that you just plug your Pre into the 360 and tell the Pre to enter storage mode.

Uberkernal can be found in Preware. If you aren't sure how to install Preware you should check out their page at preware.org.

[Greyfish7]

somehow I missed this when it update, but I just learned of it in the uberkernel and tried it out on my xbox 360 and have 2 questions.

First, is it safe to just start writing stuff to the pre from the xbox or should I use the xbox dashboard to "configure" a certain amount of space for xbox dedicated storage first?

and Second, once in usb mode and connected to the xbox, how do I eject the phone? I'm not aware of a way to press a button on the device to do it, and I can't find an eject command on the memory menu on the xbox360 dashboard. not sure if there was one there before the november xbox system update that has since been removed or if I should just yank the usb cord out and not worry about it.

thanks!

g

[Error 454]

Originally Posted by Greyfish7

First, is it safe to just start writing stuff to the pre from the xbox or should I use the xbox dashboard to "configure" a certain amount of space for xbox dedicated storage first?

As far as writing stuff to the pre from the Xbox, there are 2 situations to consider.

1. Writing generic multimedia to the Pre (audio/video). You can write generic multimedia to the Pre safely, without any configuration on the xbox or the Pre. This would include any music or videos that you want to listen/view on the Xbox.
2. Using the Pre to store save-game files and data. To do this you must "configure" the device using the xbox dashboard. However, I would strongly advise against this right now because this will wipe all of the apps/photos on your Pre!

I actually blogged a little about this here. If you are command-line savvy, you can create your own USB image and present it to the USB storage driver yourself - I kind of hint at this in the blog article but didn't spell it out for those that don't speak linux.

I was working on a solution as you can see in the article (a simple app) that does just this - but it got put on hold pending more kernel hacking and the impending release of WebOS 2.0.

Originally Posted by Greyfish7

and Second, once in usb mode and connected to the xbox, how do I eject the phone? I'm not aware of a way to press a button on the device to do it, and I can't find an eject command on the memory menu on the xbox360 dashboard. not sure if there was one there before the november xbox system update that has since been removed or if I should just yank the usb cord out and not worry about it.

You didn't miss anything, the Pre doesn't have a way of ejecting (that I know of). I just yank the usb cord out of the Xbox. I don't think this is as big of a problem on a console - on Windows/Mac, when you write data to the device, it is buffered quite aggressively which creates the chance of pulling out the stick before data has been fully written to the device. On a console, I believe the I/O is more of a direct write to the device, without so much buffering.

My feeling is that as long as the Xbox doesn't say "Do not remove the storage device!" go ahead and yank it out. I have been doing this for years without issue.

Happy Holidays!

[oil]

Originally Posted by Error 454

Using the Pre to store save-game files and data. To do this you must "configure" the device using the xbox dashboard. However, I would strongly advise against this right now because this will wipe all of the apps/photos on your Pre!

No, you can choose to only have it take a small amount of space. It won't wipe the usb partition.

[Error 454]

Originally Posted by oil

No, you can choose to only have it take a small amount of space. It won't wipe the usb partition.

Have you actually tried this? In my personal testing, the end result was always a repartitioning of /media/internal/. If your results were different maybe you can give us more details on your device and the size of /media/internal (it varies based on doctor options).

I believe the minimum size for an Xbox storage device is 2 GB. I may have been testing on my original Pre and maybe didn't have more than 2GB dedicated to /media/internal/.

Regards

[oil]

Yes, I have personally used it.

There is a "custom" option, then select 512mb, which becomes a total of a 1gb file on your media partition. It doesn't "repartition" anything. It's just a file.

I've used it a number of times to move my profile back and forth to a friends xbox, while preserving all the media on my usb partition.

Edit, directions:
My Xbox > System Settings > Memory > USB Storage Device > Customize.
Use the left analog to change Reserved Storage to lower setting like 256MB or 512MB. It will take 512MB for "system use" on top of whatever you select. (so selecting 256BMB will need 768MB space.)
Press A to configure it. It will say something about it not being fast enough or something, select OK.
Done.

[Greyfish7]

thanks for the replies!

when I yanked the cord the first time the pre rebooted then it had a message about data being damaged but recovered, so I got scared and asked

I too have used the "configure" option on the xbox, made a 2gig xbox partition on my pre plus. haven't looked at the file structure of the phone or anything like that to see if there's been some other change, but all my apps and puppy photos are still there

[oil]

Originally Posted by Greyfish7

I too have used the "configure" option on the xbox, made a 2gig xbox partition on my pre plus.

By default, it will want to take all the free space on the device, you have to tell it to be smaller. And its not a new "partition" its just a "Xbox360" folder containing "Data####" files.