Connecting RPi to a smartphone

[gluni]

would it be possible to connect the Rpi to a smartphone using the usb port, but having the Rpi be the device?
Goal: use the Pi as a better docking station to pass HDMI, USB... to the smartphone.

how can i "tell" the Pi its only a device, not the usb host?

thx

[bluetape66]

I was also wanting to try this. unfortunently I have a iphone which cannot do anything open source.
I bought a surface pro and used a plugables docking station to connect it via usb3 to hdmi for an external monitor. It also open up 4 other usb slots for periferals.


please mind my spelling

[bluetape66]

I was also wanting to try this. unfortunently I have a iphone which cannot do anything open source.
I bought a surface pro and used a plugables docking station to connect it via usb3 to hdmi for an external monitor. It also open up 4 other usb slots for periferals.

If i'm hearing this correctly you are trying to use your phone as an external monitor. I don't know if this is true with phones or not but my laptop only has an hdmi out not it.

[ghans]

I'm not sure how the Pi could aid with USB ? Surely some cables , plugs and a Hub might solve this problem
easier ?



ghans

[gluni]

ok, thx so far for the input. i feel i have to clarify my idea alittle:

i have a smartphone (Galaxy note 2 actually) which i want to connect to Rpi via USB. Then i want to connect say a 23inch LCD to the HDMI port of the raspberry and on the 23inch screen i wanne see what my smartphone projects (not the Rpi). i also wanne connect usb devices to my Rpi, say a mouse and a keyboard to have inputs into my smartphone, not Rpi, and so on.

to do this i suppose i have to make the Rpi the USB slave/device/peripheral, and not host/master.

my question: how can i do this (if its at all possible)?

thx

[ghans]

Doesn't your smartphone come with a HDMI port ?
Else , search for "Android Transporter" on the Frontpage.

ghans

[Cloudcentric]

http://esrlabs.com/android-transporter- ... spberry-pi

[gluni]

thx for the input about Android Transporter. i hadnt found that in my search before.

However, as far as i understand this, its only transporting the screen from smartphone to external monitor

would i be able to plug a keyboard or mouse device into my raspberry and use it on my smartphone?

(and no, my smartphone doesnt have a native hdmi plug).

[Cloudcentric]

Is this the sort of idea you were wanting to achieve ?

http://liliputing.com/2013/01/j5-create ... phone.html

http://www.j5create.com/our-products/an ... uc600.html

[gluni]

thx, didnt know those gadgets, but J5 requires a full windows computer. cant use Rpi.

but its pretty close indeed.

[Cloudcentric]

thx, didnt know those gadgets, but J5 requires a full windows computer. cant use Rpi.

but its pretty close indeed.

If one can find the Chipset / Protocol it uses then it should be feasible to write a Linux Software Package !

[SirLagz]

Is the Android phone rooted ?
If it is then you could use a vnc server on the phone itself and use a vnc viewer on the Pi.

[gluni]

writing a linux package is beyond my abilities.

vnc is a pretty good idea. the phone is indeed rooted.
but shouldnt the vnc server i this case run on the Pi? Not to sure right now, but since the smarphone will only be client/device, the Pi will project the screen of the phone to the HDMI port. so actually the phone is the client in this scenario?

[SirLagz]

So let me get this straight -
You want to see what is on the screen of the phone, on the Pi, output on the HDMI port ?

[gluni]

i want to connect the smartphone to the PI via USB.

i want to have all my peripherals connected to the pi as well: mouse keyboard, usb storage, u name it.

also i want to project the image of the phone via hdmi to a big screen.

in short: i wanne use the Pi the same way i would use a docking station (like the one samsung sells (EDD-S20E).

[SirLagz]

Mouse and Keyboard is easy enough, can be done via VNC
Storage is a bit more difficult, but you could potentially remote mount that on the phone via nfs or something similar I guess.
There's no way to do it easily though...

[ghans]

If you don't own the Pi or any of its peripherials ,
it might come cheaper to buy "official" adpators or
the docking station though.


ghans

[SirLagz]

I'm remote controlling my rooted HTC Desire via my Pi now
Mouse and keyboard works fine.
Haven't tried storage yet though...

[pjc123]

As was mentioned, you could install a VNCserver on your rooted smartphone and it would allow you to do what you require. I know it sounds a little counter-intuitive at first, but to display the smartphone screen on the pi's monitor, the VNC server goes on the smartphone and the VNC client goes on the pi. In fact this is what I will be trying next, as soon as I root my new Nexus 4 phone, but I will be doing it wirelessly. There is even a non-rooted app version, but I have not read the limitations.

Yesterday I was able to get this to work in the reverse direction; display my pi's screen on my smartphone wirelessly. I used the Android FreebVNC app on my smartphone to accomplish this. What is really nice about the app is that it does SSH tunneling for you (no extra steps) and has a couple of other secure methods of communication as well. Granted, kind of ridiculous on a tiny smartphone screen, but I was able to start and run applications and such from the gui. Pretty cool. To be honest, I really just wanted command line access from my smartphone to my pi; for that I installed ConnectBot. It sets up a ssh connection from the smartphone to the pi and has some great features, like you can increase the size of the text to make it very readable.

[SirLagz]

As was mentioned, you could install a VNCserver on your rooted smartphone.

That's what I did to remote control my Desire.
Trying to get it to launch vncviewer automatically now

[efflandt]

Simplest would be to use MHL adapter (HDMI out) or Samsung AllShare Cast (to HDMI) and Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse. I have done that with Samsung SIII using Logitech di Novo Edge BT keyboard/mousepad. Although, SIII (or Note2) has more pins on its microUSB and needed 11 to 5 pin adapter for MHL (AllShare Cast uses WiFi instead).

I have done ssh from phone to RPI (ConnectBot) and from RPI to phone (SSH Server), and sftp both ways (AndFTP on phone). But I have not looked into an X server for the phone or have not tried VNC on the phone yet.

[gluni]

Thx folks for all the good ideas!

Really appreciate it.

[victagayun]

Hello Gluni,

In case you havent been to SirLagz's website, here is the topic he is mentioning on how to connect to your droid fone via vnc:

http://sirlagz.net/2013/03/02/quickie-t ... tc-desire/

Victor