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Initial hardware guide.

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Simo Kinnunen 2015-06-24 17:32:06 +09:00
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@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ Nope, we've had many devices running since the initial prototype phase about two
Devices should be allowed to turn their screens off when idle, which is what we are doing. All of our devices report perfect battery health so far.
Note, however, that you may have a problem if your USB hubs are unable to both provide enough power and support the data connection at the same time. This can cause a device to stop charging when being used, resulting in many charging cycles. If this happens you will just need to get a better USB hub.
Note, however, that you may have a problem if your USB hubs are unable to both provide enough power and support the data connection at the same time. This can cause a device to stop charging when being used, resulting in many charging cycles. If this happens you will just need to [get a better USB hub](#recommended-hardware).
## Troubleshooting
@ -155,8 +155,8 @@ There can be various reasons for this behavior. Some especially common reasons a
- [Add it yourself](https://github.com/apkudo/adbusbini) or wait for the new version that removes the stupid whitelisting feature to be deployed.
* Insufficient power supply
- If you're using a USB hub, try a powered hub instead (one that comes with a separate AC adapter).
- Even if you're using a powered hub, there might not actually be enough power for all ports simultaneously. Get a better hub or use fewer ports.
- Your device is too power hungry, can happen with tablets. Get a better hub.
- Even if you're using a powered hub, there might not actually be enough power for all ports simultaneously. [Get a better hub](#recommended-hardware) or use fewer ports.
- Your device is too power hungry, can happen with tablets. [Get a better hub](#recommended-hardware).
* Insufficient USB host controller resources
- On Linux, use `dmesg` to check for this error
- If you've only got 9-12 devices connected and an Intel (Haswell) processor, it's most likely an issue with the processor. If your BIOS has an option to disable USB 3.0, that might help. If not, you're screwed and must get a PCIE extension card with onboard controllers.
@ -190,6 +190,76 @@ Again, there can be various reasons for this behavior as well. Some common reaso
* The USB hub broke
- Happens. Just try a new one.
## Recommended hardware
This is a list of components we are currently using and are proven to work.
### PC components
These components are for the PC where the USB devices are connected. Our operating system of choice is [CoreOS](https://coreos.com/), but any other Linux or BSD distribution should do fine. Be sure to use reasonably recent kernels, though, as they often include improvements for the USB subsystem.
Our currently favorite build is as follows. It will be able to provide 28 devices using powered USB hubs, and about 10 more if you're willing to use the motherboard's USB ports, which is usually not recommended for stability reasons. Note that our component selection is somewhat limited by their availability in Japan, so feel free to experiment with the more common components.
| Component | Recommendation | How many |
|-----------|------|----------|
| PC case | [XIGMATEK Nebula](http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?productid=219) | x1 |
| Motherboard | [ASUS H97I-PLUS](https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/H97IPLUS/) | x1 |
| Processor | [Intel® Core™ i5-4460](http://ark.intel.com/products/80817/Intel-Core-i5-4460-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_40-GHz) | x1 |
| PSU | [Corsair CX Series™ Modular CX430M ATX Power Supply](http://www.corsair.com/en/cx-series-cx430m-modular-atx-power-supply-430-watt-80-plus-bronze-certified-modular-psu) | x1 |
| Memory | Your favorite DDR3 1600 MHz 8GB stick | x1 |
| SSD | [A-DATA Premier Pro SP900 64GB SSD](http://www.adata.com/en/ssd/specification/171) | x1 |
| USB extension card | [StarTech.com 4 Port PCI Express (PCIe) SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter w/ 4 Dedicated 5Gbps Channels - UASP - SATA / LP4 Power](http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/USB-3.0/Cards/PCI-Express-USB-3-Card-4-Dedicated-Channels-4-Port~PEXUSB3S44V) | x1 |
| USB hub | [Plugable USB 2.0 7 Port Hub with 60W Power Adapter](http://plugable.com/products/usb2-hub7bc) | x4 |
| MicroUSB cable | [Monoprice.com 1.5ft USB 2.0 A Male to Micro 5pin Male 28/24AWG Cable w/ Ferrite Core (Gold Plated)](http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=5456&seq=1&format=2) | x28 |
You may also need extension cords for power.
Alternatively, if you find that some of your older devices [do not support the recommended hub](#troubleshooting), you may wish to mix the hub selection as follows:
| Component | Recommendation | How many |
|-----------|------|----------|
| USB hub | [Plugable USB 2.0 7 Port Hub with 60W Power Adapter](http://plugable.com/products/usb2-hub7bc) | x2 |
| USB hub for older devices | [System TALKS USB2-HUB4XA-BK](http://www.system-talks.co.jp/product/sgc-4X.htm) | x2-4 |
You can connect up to two of the older hubs (providing up to 8 devices total) directly to the motherboard without exhausting USB host controller resources.
We also have several "budget builds" with an [MSI AM1I](http://www.msi.com/product/mb/AM1I.html#hero-overview) motherboard and an [AMD Athlon 5350 4-core processor](http://www.amd.com/en-gb/products/processors/desktop/athlon). These builds, while significantly cheaper, sometimes completely lose the USB PCIE extension cards, and even a reboot will not always fix it. This may normally be fixable via BIOS USB settings, but unfortunately the budget motherboard has a complete lack of any useful options. However, the AMD processor does not share Intel's Haswell [USB host control resource problem](#troubleshooting), so you can also just connect your hubs to the motherboard directly if you don't mind sharing the root bus.
Below is an incomplete list of some of the components we have tried so far, including unsuitable ones.
#### Tested equipment
##### USB extension cards
| Name | Score | Quick reasoning |
|------|-------|--------|
| [StarTech.com 4 Port PCI Express (PCIe) SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter w/ 4 Dedicated 5Gbps Channels - UASP - SATA / LP4 Power](http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/USB-3.0/Cards/PCI-Express-USB-3-Card-4-Dedicated-Channels-4-Port~PEXUSB3S44V) | 9/10 | Reliable, well supported chipset and good power connections |
| [StarTech.com 4 Independent Port PCI Express USB 2.0 Adapter Card](http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/USB-2/Card/4-Independent-Port-PCI-Express-USB-Card~PEXUSB400) | 8/10 | Reliable |
| [玄人志向 USB3.0RX4-P4-PCIE](http://www.kuroutoshikou.com/product/interface/usb/usb3_0rx4-p4-pcie/) | 4/10 | Well supported chipset but breaks VERY easily |
Our current recommendation is [StarTech.com's PEXUSB3S44V](http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/USB-3.0/Cards/PCI-Express-USB-3-Card-4-Dedicated-Channels-4-Port~PEXUSB3S44V). It provides an independent Renesas (allegedly Linux-friendliest) µPD720202 host controller for each port. Another option from the same maker is [PEXUSB400](http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/USB-2/Card/4-Independent-Port-PCI-Express-USB-Card~PEXUSB400), which also works great but may offer slightly less future proofing.
Our [玄人志向 USB3.0RX4-P4-PCIE](http://www.kuroutoshikou.com/product/interface/usb/usb3_0rx4-p4-pcie/) cards have been nothing but trouble and we've mostly phased them out by now. Chipset-wise it's pretty much the same thing as StarTech's offering, but the SATA power connector is awfully flimsy and can actually physically break off. The card is also incredibly sensitive to static electricity and will permanently brick itself, which happened on numerous occasions.
##### USB hubs
| Name | Score | Quick reasoning |
|------|-------|--------|
| [Plugable USB 2.0 7 Port Hub with 60W Power Adapter](http://plugable.com/products/usb2-hub7bc) | 8/10 | High power output, high reliability |
| [Plugable USB 3.0 7-port Charging Hub with 60W Power Adapter](http://plugable.com/products/usb3-hub7bc) | 5/10 | High power output, low reliability |
| [System TALKS USB2-HUB4XA-BK USB 2.0 hub with power adapter](http://www.system-talks.co.jp/product/sgc-4X.htm) | 7/10 | High power output on two ports which complicates device positioning, low port count |
| [Anker USB 3.0 9-Port Hub + 5V 2.1A Charging Port](http://www.ianker.com/product/68ANHUB-B10A) | 2/10 | High port count, insufficient power |
| [ORICO P10-U2 External ABS 10 Port 2.0 USB HUB for Laptop/Desktop-BLACK](http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Orico-p10-u2-computer-usb-hub-usb-splitter-10-usb-hub-interface/105327_1571541943.html) | 3/10 | High port count, insufficient power |
| [ORICO BH4-U3-BK ABS 4 Port USB3.0 BC1.2 Charging HUB with 12V3A Power Adapter-BLACK](http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/ORICO-BH4-U3-BK-ABS-4-Port-USB3-0-BC1-2-Charging-HUB-with-12V3A-Power/105327_2035899542.html) | 5/10 | High power output, low reliability |
The best hub we've found so far is Plugable's [USB 2.0 7 Port Hub with 60W Power Adapter](http://plugable.com/products/usb2-hub7bc). It's able to provide 1.5A per port for Battery Charging spec compliant devices, which is enough to both charge and sync even tablets (although charging will not occur at maximum speed, but that's irrelevant to us). Note that even devices that are not compliant will usually charge and sync just fine, albeit slower. The more recent USB 3.0 version has proven unreliable with the rest of our components, causing the whole hub to disconnect at times. Annoyingly the ports face the opposite direction, too. Note that ORICO also provides hubs that are identical to Plugable's offerings, the latter of which seem to be rebrands.
Unfortunately Plugable's USB 2.0 hub is not perfect either, at least for our purposes. It includes a physical on/off switch which can be especially annoying if your devices are in a regular office with occasional scheduled power outages. This will shut down the PC too, of course, but the problem is that once power comes back online, the hubs will be unable to switch themselves on and the devices won't charge, leading you to find a bunch of dead devices the next Monday.
The System TALKS USB 2.0 hub is very reliable, but has a few annoying drawbacks. First, the power adapter only provides power to two of its four ports, while the other two are powered by the host PC. The problem with this approach is that you must figure out which devices are power hungry yourself and put them on the higher power ports. This complicates device setup/positioning quite a bit. Another drawback is that if the host PC is turned off, only the powered ports will keep charging the connected devices. However, the hub is amazingly compatible with pretty much anything, making it the top choice for older devices that do not support the Battery Charging hubs.
Most powered USB 3.0 hubs we've tested have had a serious problem: the whole hub occasionally disconnects. This may be a problem with the specific combination of our components and OS, but we've been unable to sort it out as of yet.
## Testing
See [TESTING.md](TESTING.md).