RATOC Systems, Inc. FAQs

FAQ about CFU1U

FAQ about CFU1U itself

Q How much current can the CFU1U supply? Q Is the CFU1U compatible with a device which requires Bus-Power?

The CFU1U 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 CFU1U work on Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP with PCMCIA adapter?

As both Microsoft and we don't provide the driver for the USB controller on the CFU1U, it does not works on these OS.

Q Does the CFU1U work on Linux? Q Can I get the information to develop the drivers for Linux?

So far, we have no plan to provide Linux driver by ourselves and support it.
But actually, the Linux driver of the chip implemented in the CFU1U is available on Cypress Web site.
http://www.cypress.com
The chip in the CFU1U is cypress SL811HS.
http://www.cypress.com/products/detasheet.cfm?partnum=SL811HS
If the code is added for PCMCIA function, you can use the CFU1U on Linux.

*These are the only information that we can provide.

IO base address + 0 : SL811 address
IO base address + 1 : SL811 register
IO base address + 2 : SL811 register
IO base address + 3 : SL811 register
IO base address + 4-7 : SL811 not used

One of our customer seems to have made the driver as follows.
Please take a look at Mr.Humorum's Page.
* If you have any questions or need any help, please ask the web site. We can not answer anything.
http://paipai.org/~humorum/english/zaurus/cfu1-driver.html

Q About the transfer rate of the CFU1U.

Actual transfer rate of USB that we expect on PC is about 1.0 MB/s (8 Mbps).
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 0.2 MB/s (1.6 Mbps).

Since the iPaq 5000 series take different way of handling interrupt control, the transfer rate will be much lower than other PDAs. We made a special driver to improve it, but the transfer rate is still low.

Followings are the test result.

iPaq 3635
Read	0.24 MB/s
Write	0.17 MB/s
iPaq 2210
Read	0.108 MB/s
Write	0.092 MB/s
iPaq 5555 ( with original driver )
Read	0.0024 MB/s
Write	0.0028 MB/s
iPaq 5555 ( with customized driver )
Read	0.019 MB/s
Write	0.012 MB/s

FAQ about devices (for USB storage devices)

Q Is there a Compatible device list for the CFU1U?

Refer to "Certified PDA and USB devices" on the product page of the CFU1U.

Q Is the CFU1U compatible with USB Hard Disk Drive?

[PocketPC 2002]
You can not use fixed disks. Use removable disks.
Some drives need to be formatted at the first connection to the PDA.
If the device already has some data, make the backup data before connecting the device to the PDA.
*After formatting the drive, some devices such as MP3 player or so might not work properly.
[PocketPC 2003]
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 CFU1U compatible with USB thumb drive (USB Flash memory)?

[PocketPC 2002]
Almost all the USB thumb drives are removable disks, but there are a few exceptions. If the USB thumb drive is a "fixed disk", it does not work on PPC2002.

Some drives need to be formatted at the first connection to the PDA. If it already has some data, make the backup data before connecting.
*After formatting the drive, some devices such as MP3 player might not work properly.

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

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.

[Pocket PC 2002]
The USB storage device should be mounted as "USB Disk" at "My Device" in File Explorer.

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.

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

PocketPC 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 CFU1U? Q Does the USB camera work with the CFU1U?

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 CFU1U, will recognize the device.

*Refer to "USB Hard Disk is not recognized by PocketPC?".
*Some devices need to be formatted at the first connection on Pocket PC 2002.
*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 CFU1U?

If the device works on Windows OS without additional driver, it works with the HID device driver,which comes with the CFU1U.

Refer to the "Certified PDA and USB devices" on the product page of the CFU1U.

Q Does the Business card scanner work with the CFU1U?

Business Card Reader needs its own driver to work with the CFU1U.
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 CFU1U?

Fingerprint scanner needs its own driver to work with the CFU1U.
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 CFU1U.

Q Does the Web Camera work with the CFU1U?

Web Camera needs the device driver for PocketPC.
Inquire the Camera's vender about the driver and its installation.

*The CFU1U does not work with the Web Camera using isochronous transfer.

Q Does the CFU1U work with cellular phone?

Cellular phone needs the device driver for PocketPC.
Inquire the cellular phone vender about the driver and its installation.

Trouble shooting

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

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

On the device manager, the CFU1U is shown as "Other device (HCDx:)".
(x=1,2,3...)
Device driver ("rshcd.dll") is shown under "Driver files".
If there is "RATOC-USB_HOST_CF+Card-57DD" at Plug and Play ID, the card is recognized properly.

FAQ about CFU1U itself

FAQ about devices (for USB storage devices)

Trouble shooting

Other Question