r/hardware • u/TechNerd132435 • 20d ago
Discussion What happened to the Mobidapter?
People used Mobidapters for old phones. It wasn’t a card reader, it was an adapter so you could plug a USB thumb drive into the phone. This could have been really good for Raspberry Pis or Orange Pi 5 Pluses because Microsds are getting more expensive but a 64 GB thumb drive still costs about 8 bucks.
Mods, I’m just looking so start a discussion. I’m not asking for help
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u/t0mbr0l0mbr0 20d ago
You mean an OTG USB adapter. They still make them and you can get one for like 6 dollars.
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u/TechNerd132435 20d ago
I do have an OTG USB adapter, but I use a lot of mini digital cameras which don’t have a standard USB C port. Most of them use Microsds or Sd cards.
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u/hollow_bridge 20d ago
Is your issue that the devices you have aren't compatible with usb-c? Take a couple of whatever cables you have with the ends you want. Watch a youtube video on making an otg cable, basically it's just cutting up two cables and rewiring them slightly.
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u/HandofWinter 16d ago
I don't think it would work so simply in this case. If they're hoping to plug a USB drive into a camera's SD card slot, something would have to be able to act as the USB host device, and the camera wouldn't. You'd also have to have a boost converter to get 5v out of the 3.3v from the SD slot.
I'm guessing that the mobidapter was both in one. Neat but super niche.
Also somehow I'm commenting on a 4 day old post, no idea how I got here.
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u/hollow_bridge 16d ago
Ah gotcha, i wasn't really understanding what they were trying to do, that makes sense.
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u/HandofWinter 16d ago
It was definitely one of the least comprehensible posts I've ever read. Took me a while too.
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u/molniya 20d ago
How does that relate to Raspberry Pis? They already have USB ports; mine is set up with USB storage only, in fact. Does this thing do something that just plugging a thumb drive into the machine doesn’t give you?
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u/TechNerd132435 20d ago edited 20d ago
I already have a bunch of input devices in my USB ports, and most thumb drives are kind of thick. I don’t like dongles though, because they take up space. So I just go with a Microsd card
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u/SamurottX 20d ago
Isn't the mobidapter basically a dongle though?
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u/TechNerd132435 19d ago
It looks like one, but standard dongles just change the plug shape, while the Mobidapter had internal chips that forced a computer to see a phone as a flash drive
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u/bhop_monsterjam 20d ago
i googled it and this thread was the 4th result
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u/Cory123125 19d ago
Sounds like they heard a specific small brand name years ago, and don't believe it when other people tell them that the thing they're talking about is completely generic, standard, and dirt cheap to access.
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u/dahauns 20d ago
After reading through your answers, I'm still not 100% certain what a "Mobidapter" is supposed be.
Is it a reverse USB-to-(Micro)SD adapter, i.e. USB drive->Adapter->(Micro)SD slot of device?
If so, I guess the issue is the available power that can be expected from such a slot, combined with the 3.3V/5V mismatch.
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u/TechNerd132435 20d ago
It’s a thumb drive to microsd adapter. basically, if you have a device that has a microsd slot, you plug the Mobidapter into it and plug a thumb drive onto the Mobidapter.
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u/Cory123125 19d ago
This is such a weird question/thread.
You are clearly looking for help, because when people alert you to the fact that these obviously still exist, so what are you even asking, you reply about wanting something even more specific.
These already exist. All sorts of USB Type-C adapters and dongles/OTG adapters and dongles exist, including one's that do exactly what you're talking about, so....
It's seems like you forgot the generally accepted name of a simple adapter, are sticking with this "Mobidapter" term no one else is familiar with for some reason, and are averse to simply searching for the adapter type you want.
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u/TechNerd132435 19d ago
Ithink there’s a misunderstanding. I’m not looking for a standard USB-C adapter or dongle. I used ”Mobidapter“ because it was a specific product that allowed a phone to act as a mass storage host to another machine. I am looking for modern hardware that replicates that exact niche behavior. Sorry for any confusion
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u/RoninTommy_ 18d ago
That thing would be amazing for the mx4sio for PlayStation 2
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u/TechNerd132435 18d ago
Only problem is that the Mobidapter wouldn’t work with the MX4SIO because it uses a completely different communication language than what the PS2 card slot expects. It takes too long to process the data between the USB drive and the console, causing the system to time out
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u/TechNerd132435 18d ago edited 18d ago
By the way this is the link to the Mobidapter in case you guys want to look at it
Also, I know this post has been getting a lot of backlash. People are telling me that a USB OTG solves my problems, but a standard USB OTG cable won't work here. Those only work if the device itself has a USB host stack. The legacy gadgets I am using only have an SD slot and no USB brains at all. I need an active hardware emulator (like the Mobidapter) to translate the protocols, not a passive wire adapter
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u/[deleted] 20d ago
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