USB Ports

[Brian Copsey]

Help please: what are the two usb ports on the B2 pc board for?

[Daniel Taylor]

Although you specifically said the two ports on the PC board, I suspect you really meant the two USB ports (A and C) on the back of the unit.

Either port can be used for connecting any of the following:

1) an external CD drive for ripping CDs to the internal hard disk, which is faster than using the internal CD mechanism;

2) a USB disk for Importing or Exporting music;

3) WiFi dongle

3) Bluetooth dongle

When connecting an external drive (either CD or disk), USB port A provides somewhat more power for a device that needs it and may not function well on port C.

Now if you're really talking about the internal PC board, I have not looked at it.  But I do know that USB port B is used internally for the hard disk.  That's why there is no USB port B on the back of the unit.  (Or, on older units, that's why it can't be used.)

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Please note, that if you are connecting  a USB disk for Importing or Exporting music to a B2, the device MUST be formatted as FAT32. 

It is BEST to get the B2 to format it to FAT32 for you - (there are menu options for doing this).

Also it may help you to read what the B2's menu system can do - see 

https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/Menus

as you can see there are sections relating to use of the USB ports.

Fred

[Brian Copsey]

thank you for your reply, I do mean the USB ports on the pc board

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Brian,

I believe that the two USB ports are each used by the internal HDD and the CD drive, so that they are in use already.  The early B2 model had a third USB port on the back panel called USB B which was usually blanked off with a plastic plug.  We've had one or two instances where the user removed the blanking plug and plugged in a USB device.  This caused the HDD to become corrupted because USB B is used by the HDD.

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

Somewhere in the forum, there has been a pretty thorough discussion of the internal USB ports and how they are connected and used.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to locate it.  In addition to USB B being used for the internal hard disk, I think the other port is connected to a daughter board that accepts both USB C and USB A from the back panel, although I admit I'm foggy on that.

[JFBUK]

Hi Daniel,

is this the one you meant ?

https://groups.google.com/g/brennanb2/c/wqR4mBfgHiY/m/hXzzldIiBwAJ

John

[Daniel Taylor]

Thanks John.  That post has some good information about the hardware.  But I'm not sure if we've answered Brian's original question to his satisfaction.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

OK lets have a go.

The heart of a B2 or BB1 is a little single board computer called a Raspberry Pi - see this link.  The B2 and to some extent the BB1 Raspberry Pi boards are fitted with standard USB ports that can be accessed by the Linux Operating system software

that the boards (and the Brennan units) run. The USB ports at the board level are the same as those to be found on any desktop computer.

Brennan units are built round these "off the shelf" Raspberry Pi's and do not modify anything ON the boards. However the Brennan Units add additional extra circuitry that plugs into the connectors that the Pi's provide. Some of this extra circuitry uses 

the Pi USB ports to connect up the CD drive and the HDD/SSD disks inside the Brennan units. The circuitry also extends the USB ports to be available for use at the rear of the Brennan unit.

Fred

[Daniel Taylor]

Brian,

Please tell us if the information provide so far has satisfied your curiousity.  Or, if you still have questions, please elucidate.

[Brian Copsey]

Thank you for the replies, there appears to be no clear understanding of the 2 USB ports use other than it may corrupt the HD so will not experiment, many thanks