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Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 11:15 pm
by greenols
I am building a GBZ and my PCB doesn't have a usb hub. What are the uses for one? Would it work without one?

Thanks,
~Greenols

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 12:00 am
by VeteranGamer
greenols wrote:
Sat May 20, 2017 11:15 pm
I am building a GBZ and my PCB doesn't have a usb hub. What are the uses for one? Would it work without one?

Thanks,
~Greenols
you only have one usb port on the pi zero/zero w...

if you use a teensy, leonardo or any other controller that will use up that port leaving you nothing to connect a keyboard or a wifi dongle if you dont have a zero w... you gonna need additional usb ports (you will need wifi and a keyboard at some point)

if you wire your pcb up to the gpio, this leaves the port on the pi free to be used


if your using pi 3 then ignore the above info (it has more than enough usb ports on it)

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:05 am
by brigghius
greenols wrote:
Sat May 20, 2017 11:15 pm
I am building a GBZ and my PCB doesn't have a usb hub. What are the uses for one? Would it work without one?

Thanks,
~Greenols
The raspberry pi zero has just one usb input.
If u want to connect an external usb and an audio usb controller, u can't do this. if u use also an arduino pcb for the controller, is impossible.

i do this: gpio for the controller and monitor power supply, on the hub audio usb controller, external usb, power supply for Pi zero, power supply for audio amplifer.
my hub has 4 port

everything is clear? sorry for my bad English

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 8:33 am
by greenols
VeteranGamer wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 12:00 am
greenols wrote:
Sat May 20, 2017 11:15 pm
I am building a GBZ and my PCB doesn't have a usb hub. What are the uses for one? Would it work without one?

Thanks,
~Greenols
you only have one usb port on the pi zero/zero w...

if you use a teensy, leonardo or any other controller that will use up that port leaving you nothing to connect a keyboard or a wifi dongle if you dont have a zero w... you gonna need additional usb ports (you will need wifi and a keyboard at some point)

if you wire your pcb up to the gpio, this leaves the port on the pi free to be used


if your using pi 3 then ignore the above info (it has more than enough usb ports on it)

I have a zero w, and my pcb has everything but a USB hub. So should I do it?

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 8:40 am
by VeteranGamer
greenols wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 8:33 am
VeteranGamer wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 12:00 am
greenols wrote:
Sat May 20, 2017 11:15 pm
I am building a GBZ and my PCB doesn't have a usb hub. What are the uses for one? Would it work without one?

Thanks,
~Greenols
you only have one usb port on the pi zero/zero w...

if you use a teensy, leonardo or any other controller that will use up that port leaving you nothing to connect a keyboard or a wifi dongle if you dont have a zero w... you gonna need additional usb ports (you will need wifi and a keyboard at some point)

if you wire your pcb up to the gpio, this leaves the port on the pi free to be used


if your using pi 3 then ignore the above info (it has more than enough usb ports on it)

I have a zero w, and my pcb has everything but a USB hub. So should I do it?

what do you mean by everything (a pic would help)

if you have everything on the pcb then just wire it up to the pi zero w usb usb test point, then you may not need a usb hub

you also really dont need a external access usb port for the GBZ build when using a pi zero w, but then you will need a computer to ssh into it

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 9:38 am
by greenols
VeteranGamer wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 8:40 am
greenols wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 8:33 am
VeteranGamer wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 12:00 am


you only have one usb port on the pi zero/zero w...

if you use a teensy, leonardo or any other controller that will use up that port leaving you nothing to connect a keyboard or a wifi dongle if you dont have a zero w... you gonna need additional usb ports (you will need wifi and a keyboard at some point)

if you wire your pcb up to the gpio, this leaves the port on the pi free to be used


if your using pi 3 then ignore the above info (it has more than enough usb ports on it)

I have a zero w, and my pcb has everything but a USB hub. So should I do it?

what do you mean by everything (a pic would help)

if you have everything on the pcb then just wire it up to the pi zero w usb usb test point, then you may not need a usb hub

you also really dont need a external access usb port for the GBZ build when using a pi zero w, but then you will need a computer to ssh into it
Here is the photo. It is similar to the board used in Wermy's custom part tutorial. It justn doesn't have a usb hub. Also, What does ssh mean.

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 10:05 am
by VeteranGamer
greenols wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 9:38 am
VeteranGamer wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 8:40 am
greenols wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 8:33 am



I have a zero w, and my pcb has everything but a USB hub. So should I do it?

what do you mean by everything (a pic would help)

if you have everything on the pcb then just wire it up to the pi zero w usb usb test point, then you may not need a usb hub

you also really dont need a external access usb port for the GBZ build when using a pi zero w, but then you will need a computer to ssh into it
Here is the photo. It is similar to the board used in Wermy's custom part tutorial. It justn doesn't have a usb hub. Also, What does ssh mean.
Ok, not a bad board...

You can get away without needing a USB hub, you only really might need one extra USB port (and that might only be once in a blue moon)

But as you are you will need to ssh into the build when you hook up your board/pcb as you'll not have the ability to hook up a keyboard

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/SSH

I would suggest that you setup your pi zero w and retropie before you hook up the board/pcb...

Meaning sort your config out, move over your roms, setup your wifi and enable ssh via raspi-config... That way when you hook up the board/pcb only a minimal amount may be needed via ssh

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 10:15 am
by ICMF
Taking a step back, USB is used for:
Arduino button control
Audio
WiFi
Bluetooth
External access

The ZeroW already has bluetooth and wifi, so you don't need USB for those. The AIO board has audio and your controls, so you don't need USB for those, either. So the only use for a USB hub would be if you want to connect other input devices (controllers, keyboards, etc.)

It's a custom device, so what you need depends on what you want to do with your build.

As for SSH... it's a way of remotely accessing your Pi's operating system, so you can tweak the Pi's settings from your PC. The benefit being, you don't have to remove the SD card from your GBZ, or hook up a keyboard/mouse/monitor to your Pi.

https://raspberrypi4dummies.wordpress.c ... ssh-putty/

You will need to adjust settings and the Config file on your SD card. If the SD card is buried inside your GBZ, it's a lot more convenient. If the SD card is easy to access (mounted in the cartridge, for instance), it's less important - you can pop it out and mount it in another (loose) Pi Zero (it's good to have a backup for troubleshooting), or plug it into your PC to edit.

Again, it just depends what you want from your custom build.

Re: Is the USB hub necessary?

Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 5:41 pm
by marketus
so everything you need to edit and configure in your pi (software stuff let's say), to do that it's just simple as insert the microSD in your PC?
To set the GPIO sound output you need to have powered on the pi or only need to edit the config file in the microsd?