RATOC Systems, Inc. FAQs

FAQ about CFU2

FAQ about CFU2 itself

Q How much current does the CFU2 supply to USB bus? Q Is the CFU2 compatible with a device which requires USB Bus-Power?

The CFU2 can supply USB Bus power up to 100mA. If the device needs USB Bus power to work, check if the device is a low power USB device which needs less than 100 mA to work.
If it is not a low power USB device, you must use the AC adapter for the device or self powered USB Hub.

Q Does the CFU2 work on Windows Vista/XP/2000/Me/98 with PCMCIA adapter?

As both Microsoft and we don't provide the driver for the USB controller on the CFU2, it does not works on these OS.

Q Does the CFU2 work on Linux?

We have no plan to provide Linux driver by ourselves. The chip in the CFU2 is CYPRESS　CY7C67200. You can find a development kit for this controller on Cypress Web site.

Q About the transfer rate of the CFU2.

Actual transfer rate of USB that we expect on PC is about 1.0 MB/s.
But since the CF slot of PDA cannot do DMA transfer, the transfer rate is slower than that of PC. It depends on each PDA, but according to our test, it is about 250 kB/s.

Following is our test result with USB flash drive(Lexar Geysr Jumpdrive)

Dell Axim x51v (Windows Mobile 5)
Read	254 kB/s
Write	110 kB/s
iPaq 2790 (Windows Mobile 5)
Read	245 kB/s
Write	98 k B/s
iPaq 5555 ( with original driver )
Read	2.4 kB/s
Write	2.8 kB/s
iPaq 5555 ( with customized driver )
Read	19 kB/s
Write	12 kB/s

Some PDAs (ie. iPaq 5000 series) take different way of handling interrupt control. That will let the transfer speed be slower than the other PDAs. We developed the special driver to improve transfer speed, but it is still slow as shown above.

FAQ about devices (for USB storage devices)

Q Is there a Compatible device list for the CFU2?

Refer to "Certified PDA and USB devices" on the product page of the CFU2.

Q Is the CFU2 compatible with USB Hard Disk Drive?

[PocketPC 2003/Windows Mobile]
Both removable and fixed disk are recognized.
*The drive needs to be formatted as FAT.
Refer to "What does the file format of a Hard Disk suit for Pocket PC?
USB Hard Disk Drive must be used with its AC adapter.
Refer to "FAQ About Bus Power".

Q Is the CFU2 compatible with USB thumb drive (USB Flash memory)?

[PocketPC 2003]
Both removable and fixed drive are recognized by Pocket PC 2003/Windows Mobile.

Q How is the USB storage device mounted?

[Pocket PC 2003]
The USB storage device should be mounted as "Mounted Volume" at "My Device" in File Explorer. On the device manager, "Standard Disk Drive (DSKx:)" will be shown under "Disk Drives".
[Windows Mobile 5]
The USB storage device should be mounted as "Hard Disk" at "My Device" in File Explorer. On the device manager, "USB Storage Driver (DSKx:)" will be shown under "Disk Drives".

Q What kind of file format can be used for PocketPC?

The Drive should be formatted as FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32.
NTFS is not recognized by Pocket PC/Windows Mobile.

Q Does the USB Media Reader which has two or more slots work with the CFU1U?

Only one of these media will be mounted on Pocket PC.
It depends on the Media Reader which slot will be mounted.

*Some media need to be formatted at the first connection on PocketPC 2002.
After the format, some of them may not work on the original device (such as a digital camera). Re-format the media with the original device in that case.

Q Does the USB Media Reader which has two or more slots work with the CFU2?

Only one of these media will be mounted on Pocket PC/Windows Mobile. It depends on the Media Reader which slot will be mounted.

Q Although the mouse seems to be recognized, the mouse pointer does not appear on Pocket PC.

Mouse pointer is not included in PocketPC/Windows Mobile. It needs a utility to indicate the mouse pointer, which we don't provide. We have tested with "MPointer".
http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/mpointer.shtml

Q Does the MP3 player work with the CFU2? Q Does the USB camera work with the CFU2?

If it is recognized as a mass storage device such as HDD without installing any driver on Windows OS, the mass storage device driver which comes with the CFU2, will recognize the device.

*Refer to "USB Hard Disk is not recognized by PocketPC?".
*After formatting, some devices (such as MP3 player) might not work properly.

Q Do the ID card reader, magnet stripe reader, bar-code scanner work with the CFU2?

If the device works on Windows OS without additional driver, it works with the HID device driver,which comes with the CFU2.

Refer to the "Certified PDA and USB devices" on the product page of the CFU2.

Q Does the Business card scanner work with the CFU2?

Business Card Reader needs its own driver to work with the CFU2. You need to install the driver on your PDA. Inquire the device vender about the device driver for PocketPC and its installation.

Q Does the fingerprint scanner work with the CFU2?

Fingerprint scanner needs its own driver to work with the CFU2. You need to install the driver in your PDA. Inquire the device vender about the device driver for PocketPC and its installation.

Refer to the "Certified PDA and USB devices" on the product page of the CFU2.

Q Does the Web Camera work with the CFU2?

Web Camera needs the device driver for PocketPC/Windows Mobile. We provide only HID driver and mass storage device driver. Since we don't have the device driver, we have not tested web cameras. If there was the device driver for PocketPC/Windows Mobile, it might work. But we cannot say if it will work or not. Regarding the driver, please ask the maker or the supplier if they provide the driver for PocketPC/Windows Mobile.

Q Does the CFU2 work with cellular phone?

Cellular phone needs the device driver for PocketPC/Windows Mobile. We provide only HID driver and mass storage device driver. Since we don't have the device driver, we have not tested cellular phones. If there was the device driver for PocketPC/Windows Mobile, it might work. But we cannot say if it will work or not. Regarding the driver, please ask the maker or the supplier if they provide the driver for PocketPC/Windows Mobile.

Trouble shooting

Q How to check if the card is recognized by properly or not?

Get the Device manager software for PocketPC, "PHM Device manager". It is not included in PocketPC/Windows Mobile, but you can find it on internet. If you could not find, please let us know.
>>Tech Support mail

On the device manager, the CFU2 is shown as "Other device (HCDx:)".
(x=1,2,3...)
If there is "RATOC-USB_HOST_CFU2+Card-4EB3" at Plug and Play ID, the card is recognized properly.

FAQ about CFU2 itself

FAQ about devices (for USB storage devices)

Trouble shooting

Other Question