5 ms·

Just curious: This is a computer, so why say it has USB "OTG" (a dumb term anyway)? I would expect any computer with USB to act as a USB host.

horse_dung 3y ago
OTG means the BeagleBoard can act as a device (like a keyboard, pendrive, etc) when connected to something else which is the host.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
  Hm, I usually see this called out as being able to act as an HID. "OTG" is such a gallingly stupid, uninformative term.
  - rcxdude 3y ago
    It's because it was originally developed for smartphones: originally normally trieted as devices, then adding the ability to act as hosts, therefore you have a USB host "on the go". The more modern version and terminology is USB-C dual-role support, which is the same basic thing but using the USB-PD protocol to negotiate instead of a special marker cable (which the product page does also use).
- IshKebab 3y ago
  No it means it can act as a host, when it would normally be a device.
phendrenad2 3y ago
Probably a case of infectious terminology. Microchip has sold microcontrollers that could act as both a USB device or a USB host, and lacking a better term they used (misappropriated?) the term "USB OTG". Probably this FPGA is reusing the silicon block from those microcontrollers, so the term was copy-pasted also.
syntaxing 3y ago
Someone mentioned this already but it means the beaglebone can act as a peripheral. Only RPi 4 and above has this feature so its not necessarily mainstream until maybe the past 5 years.
- fanf2 3y ago
  No, the Raspberry Pi models A and Zero can also do USB OTG because they do not have a USB hub chip in the way like the models B.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
joezydeco 3y ago
Beagle can use USB OTG for cheap networking over RNDIS/CDC-ECM, or mount the device as a simulated thumb drive.
dragontamer 3y ago
> I would expect any computer with USB to act as a USB host. Do you expect your Keyboard to act as a USB Host? If your Keyboard were USB OTG, then it would be a keyboard when plugged into a computer, but a mouse could plug into the keyboard and then the keyboard would be the USB Host. This bi-directional feature would be useful for maybe a modern Commodore 64 like device or something (I dunno, just making stuff up). Traditionally, USB OTG was for phones. They want to be a device when plugged into a computer, but the phones also want to accept a mouse/keyboard/USB Mass Storage.
- ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
  That question is nonsensical. A keyboard is not a computer; it's CONNECTED to a computer. This device IS a computer, and you would typically connect a keyboard to IT. "OTG" is inherently meaningless. Kind of like a "red flag warning" (for any CA readers).
  - stonogo 3y ago
    "Inherently meaningless" is fine for a name. Anyway this one has an externally-applied meaning in the form of an actual specification, which defines OTG explicitly: On-The-Go: An OTG product is a portable device that uses a single Micro-AB receptacle (and no other USB receptacles) to operate at times as a USB Targeted Host and at times as a USB peripheral. OTG devices shall always operate as a standard peripheral when connected to a standard USB host. You can get the rest of the details from the specification itself: https://www.usb.org/document-library/go-and-embedded-host-supplement-usb-revision-30-specification-revision-11 https://www.usb.org/document-library/go-and-embedded-host-su...
    - ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
      Thanks for the reference. As to "meaningless is fine..." no. And doubly no to the abbreviation of a meaningless name. "Dual-mode" or "dual-role" USB would make at least some sense and convey some information.
  - IshKebab 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
michaelt 3y ago
Smartphones have the capability that: 1. You can plug them into your PC and they act as a device (e.g. mass storage device for downloading your photos, drawing power to charge) 2. You can plug devices into them, and they'll act as a host (e.g. you can plug in a mouse if your touchscreen is broken, download the photos from your non-smartphone camera onto your smartphone, supply power to charge something else) 3. They'll do all this through a single port. Hardly any normal people use these capabilities, as the cables are somewhat rare and the software support is somewhat patchy. But if you're buying a development board ready to make your own product, you can read this as "can be a usb host or device, whichever your product needs"
- rcxdude 3y ago
  It's a lot more common with USB-C, since you don't need special cables
johnwalkr 3y ago
This is actually a killer feature of beagleboards. You can use usb to connect it to a PC to flash the eMMC easily, or (at least on some of them) use usb to provide power and also provide a network connection from your PC to the beagleboard. So with one cable you get power, can ssh in, and have network connectivity to install python packages etc.

horse_dung 3y ago

OTG means the BeagleBoard can act as a device (like a keyboard, pendrive, etc) when connected to something else which is the host.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
Hm, I usually see this called out as being able to act as an HID. "OTG" is such a gallingly stupid, uninformative term.
- rcxdude 3y ago
  It's because it was originally developed for smartphones: originally normally trieted as devices, then adding the ability to act as hosts, therefore you have a USB host "on the go". The more modern version and terminology is USB-C dual-role support, which is the same basic thing but using the USB-PD protocol to negotiate instead of a special marker cable (which the product page does also use).
IshKebab 3y ago
No it means it can act as a host, when it would normally be a device.

phendrenad2 3y ago

Probably a case of infectious terminology. Microchip has sold microcontrollers that could act as both a USB device or a USB host, and lacking a better term they used (misappropriated?) the term "USB OTG". Probably this FPGA is reusing the silicon block from those microcontrollers, so the term was copy-pasted also.

syntaxing 3y ago

Someone mentioned this already but it means the beaglebone can act as a peripheral. Only RPi 4 and above has this feature so its not necessarily mainstream until maybe the past 5 years.

fanf2 3y ago
No, the Raspberry Pi models A and Zero can also do USB OTG because they do not have a USB hub chip in the way like the models B.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

joezydeco 3y ago

Beagle can use USB OTG for cheap networking over RNDIS/CDC-ECM, or mount the device as a simulated thumb drive.

dragontamer 3y ago

> I would expect any computer with USB to act as a USB host. Do you expect your Keyboard to act as a USB Host? If your Keyboard were USB OTG, then it would be a keyboard when plugged into a computer, but a mouse could plug into the keyboard and then the keyboard would be the USB Host. This bi-directional feature would be useful for maybe a modern Commodore 64 like device or something (I dunno, just making stuff up). Traditionally, USB OTG was for phones. They want to be a device when plugged into a computer, but the phones also want to accept a mouse/keyboard/USB Mass Storage.

ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
That question is nonsensical. A keyboard is not a computer; it's CONNECTED to a computer. This device IS a computer, and you would typically connect a keyboard to IT. "OTG" is inherently meaningless. Kind of like a "red flag warning" (for any CA readers).
- stonogo 3y ago
  "Inherently meaningless" is fine for a name. Anyway this one has an externally-applied meaning in the form of an actual specification, which defines OTG explicitly: On-The-Go: An OTG product is a portable device that uses a single Micro-AB receptacle (and no other USB receptacles) to operate at times as a USB Targeted Host and at times as a USB peripheral. OTG devices shall always operate as a standard peripheral when connected to a standard USB host. You can get the rest of the details from the specification itself: https://www.usb.org/document-library/go-and-embedded-host-supplement-usb-revision-30-specification-revision-11 https://www.usb.org/document-library/go-and-embedded-host-su...
  - ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
    Thanks for the reference. As to "meaningless is fine..." no. And doubly no to the abbreviation of a meaningless name. "Dual-mode" or "dual-role" USB would make at least some sense and convey some information.
- IshKebab 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

michaelt 3y ago

Smartphones have the capability that: 1. You can plug them into your PC and they act as a device (e.g. mass storage device for downloading your photos, drawing power to charge) 2. You can plug devices into them, and they'll act as a host (e.g. you can plug in a mouse if your touchscreen is broken, download the photos from your non-smartphone camera onto your smartphone, supply power to charge something else) 3. They'll do all this through a single port. Hardly any normal people use these capabilities, as the cables are somewhat rare and the software support is somewhat patchy. But if you're buying a development board ready to make your own product, you can read this as "can be a usb host or device, whichever your product needs"

rcxdude 3y ago
It's a lot more common with USB-C, since you don't need special cables

johnwalkr 3y ago

This is actually a killer feature of beagleboards. You can use usb to connect it to a PC to flash the eMMC easily, or (at least on some of them) use usb to provide power and also provide a network connection from your PC to the beagleboard. So with one cable you get power, can ssh in, and have network connectivity to install python packages etc.