iPad Apple

Getting Over the Absence of USB port in iPad

Saturday, June 25, 2011 | 

The fact that iPad 2 was sold out in India the day it was launched may have surprised many of you. Now you may surely want to get one as soon as it reaches the stores in the days to come.. I understand that one of the most important things bothering you is how do you transfer files using your USB drive without using iTunes in the absence of a conventional USB port? If you need to carry Laptop also while traveling why should you buy an iPad?. In this post, I try to answer these questions.

People who buy iPad fall into different categories.

1. Status Conscious: These are people who buy iPad to show others their latest possession, which, after the initial euphoria , will be lying somewhere picking dust
2. Me too: These are people with enough disposable income and want to understand why iPad is so compelling device and decide to join the iPad mania.
3. The Gifters: These are folks who can’t figure out what iPad is good for , but are convinced someone close to them will love it. They haven’t ordered it for themselves but instead for a loved one, as a gift showing the depth of their love. They believe their dear ones will figure out how to use it someday and in the process you may also get to learn about it.
4. The informed techie: These are folks who read all the iPad reviews published and time is ripe to get one.
5. iPad Zealot: These are hardcore Apple fanboys who believe Apple WDCs are some sort of religious events and his holiness St Steve directly passed the device from heaven, and anything he brings to this earth is purely magical and is going to transform this World for good. The zealots also believe that those who buy competing products are unworthy like heretics, and need to convert them.

This article is to help the people who fall in to category 2 and 3 and to a limited extend 4 too. It is sad that most iPad owners under utilize it to an extent that they may use it only for browsing and mailing. This is similar to Ferrari owners using their car only for weekend shopping!

To do justice to iPad it is essential that you have access to an Internet connection using Wi-Fi or 3G even while travelling. Without access to Internet connection iPad is a glorified e-book reader, nothing more!

There are many applications in the iTunes app stores which helps in transferring files wirelessly and with ease. Some of them I will discuss here. The most interesting one is GoodReader, others I like to mention are Readdle Docs (http://readdle.com/products/readdledocs_ipad/) and pdf+ (http://fastpdf.eu/) etc..

Good Reader 
(http://www.goodreader.net/)

Good Reader is one of the best pdf file reader with annotations and Acrobat style mark ups. It can read most of the other formats too.

1. MS Office - .doc, .ppt., .xls
2. iWork ’08/’09
3. HTML and Safari webarchives
4. High resolution images
5. Even audio and video

It can transfer files as well as sync files just about everything, namely iDisk, Google Docs, Dropbox, SugarSync, box.net and other WebDAV, FTP and SFTP servers. It can manage almost any types of files and if need arises it can even convert them and allows them to open in any application you choose. We are using these properties of Good Reader to transfer any files wirelessly from any locations in the network and open it in any appls of your choice. For a detailed review please read : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2382542,00.asp

How to transfer any files using GoodReader?

Imagine the situation you have a set of pdf / epub books in your computer which you need to transfer to iPad. You want to do it without using iTunes.

1. Connect your computer and iPad to same Wi-Fi network
2. Open the GoodReader in iPad
3. Press the wireless soft button in the bottom right of Good Reader. It will open up a dialing box shown below.
4. Open the browser in your computer and type the IP address and port number as shown in the previous dialogbox popped up in your iPad. Once your hit return you will be seeing the following dialog box where you can browse and upload any files which is local to your machine.
5. Once you upload the files to your iPad press manage files and open in your favorite apps (ex: epub can open in iBooks)

Similary you can transfer a bunch of files at one go, refer to this link http://www.goodreader.net/gr-man-tr-wifi-vista.html

How to connect USB storage?

There are many ways you can connect USB storage devices to iPad. To start with you need a camera connector which is available at Apple stores. These come in pairs which can be directly connected to the 30Pin dock connector in your iPad. One has an SD card slot and other has a USB connector. Using the SD card reader you can download photos and movies from your SD memory, it includes support for H.264 and Mpeg4 formats. You can use the USB camera connector to hook up your camera directly to iPad / iPhone. Some of the storage devices too can be connected through this USB camera connector. HyperDrive (http://www.hypershop.com/ ) is one example of this.

Hyper Drive is different from the usual portable HDD, it is a multimedia drive with its own battery backup, LCD display and slots for different types of memory cards. Hyper Drive uses 2.5” HDD drive can be bought without HDD and can be fitted with any 2.5” HDD which works out to be cheaper. You may recall that Apple reduced the amount of current which can be sourced through its 30 pin dock connector through a firmware upgrade 4.xx. It is reduced to an extend that normal portable HDD which used to recognize earlier ceases to work. Since Hyper Drive is powered using its own battery there is no such issues and it is a perfect companion if you want to carry lots of media files, photos and movies. Since it has a built in LCD display it can be used without iPad too for a quick review.

So with HyperDrive your need for extra local storage is almost solved, but remember that it can be used only for storing multimedia files, it will not work with any other data files. For a detailed review check the following link http://www.cameratown.com/reviews/sanho/hyperdrive_ipad/ This costs around $500/- for 500GB, so little pricy for the convenience it offers.

From these discussion it is very clear that if you want to travel with iPad and wants to watch movies and photos and read books it is better to buy a 60GB iPad and store all your books in internal HDD and movies in HyperDrive.

                                         Electronic Wolrds
Electronics is the branch of science and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits. The nonlinear behaviour of these components and their ability to control electron flows makes amplification of weak signals possible, and is usually applied to information and signal processing. Electronics is distinct from electrical and electro-mechanical science and technology, which deals with the generation, distribution, switching, storage and conversion of electrical energy to and from other energy forms using wires, motors, generators, batteries, switches, relays, transformers, resistors and other passive components. This distinction started around 1906 with the invention by Lee De Forest of the triode, which made electrical amplification of weak radio signals and audio signals possible with a non-mechanical device. Until 1950 this field was called "radio technology" because its principal application was the design and theory of radio transmitters, receivers and vacuum tubes.
Today, most electronic devices use semiconductor components to perform electron control. The study of semiconductor devices and related technology is considered a branch of solid state physics, whereas the design and construction of electronic circuits to solve practical problems come under electronics engineering. This article focuses on engineering aspects of electronics.
                                                    

Electronic devices and components

An electronic component is any physical entity in an electronic system used to affect the electrons or their associated fields in a desired manner consistent with the intended function of the electronic system. Components are generally intended to be connected together, usually by being soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB), to create an electronic circuit with a particular function (for example an amplifier, radio receiver, or oscillator). Components may be packaged singly or in more complex groups as integrated circuits. Some common electronic components are capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes, transistors, etc. Components are often categorized as active (e.g. transistors and thyristors) or passive (e.g. resistors and capacitors).

 Types of circuits

Circuits and components can be divided into two groups: analog and digital. A particular device may consist of circuitry that has one or the other or a mix of the two types.

 Analog circuits

Hitachi J100 adjustable frequency drive chassis.

Most analog electronic appliances, such as radio receivers, are constructed from combinations of a few types of basic circuits. Analog circuits use a continuous range of voltage as opposed to discrete levels as in digital circuits.
The number of different analog circuits so far devised is huge, especially because a 'circuit' can be defined as anything from a single component, to systems containing thousands of components.
Analog circuits are sometimes called linear circuits although many non-linear effects are used in analog circuits such as mixers, modulators, etc. Good examples of analog circuits include vacuum tube and transistor amplifiers, operational amplifiers and oscillators.
One rarely finds modern circuits that are entirely analog. These days analog circuitry may use digital or even microprocessor techniques to improve performance. This type of circuit is usually called "mixed signal" rather than analog or digital.
Sometimes it may be difficult to differentiate between analog and digital circuits as they have elements of both linear and non-linear operation. An example is the comparator which takes in a continuous range of voltage but only outputs one of two levels as in a digital circuit. Similarly, an overdriven transistor amplifier can take on the characteristics of a controlled switch having essentially two levels of output.

Digital circuits

Main article: Digital electronics

Digital circuits are electric circuits based on a number of discrete voltage levels. Digital circuits are the most common physical representation of Boolean algebra and are the basis of all digital computers. To most engineers, the terms "digital circuit", "digital system" and "logic" are interchangeable in the context of digital circuits. Most digital circuits use a binary system with two voltage levels labeled "0" and "1". Often logic "0" will be a lower voltage and referred to as "Low" while logic "1" is referred to as "High". However, some systems use the reverse definition ("0" is "High") or are current based. Ternary (with three states) logic has been studied, and some prototype computers made. Computers, electronic clocks, and programmable logic controllers (used to control industrial processes) are constructed of digital circuits. Digital Signal Processors are another example.
                                            

Electronics theory

Main article: Mathematical methods in electronics

Mathematical methods are integral to the study of electronics. To become proficient in electronics it is also necessary to become proficient in the mathematics of circuit analysis.
Circuit analysis is the study of methods of solving generally linear systems for unknown variables such as the voltage at a certain node or the current through a certain branch of a network. A common analytical tool for this is the SPICE circuit simulator.
Also important to electronics is the study and understanding of electromagnetic field theory.

Electronics lab

Due to the empirical nature of electronics theory, laboratory experimentation is an important part of the study of electronics. These experiments are used to prove, verify, and reinforce laws and theorems such as Ohm's law, Kirchhoff's laws, etc. Historically, electronics labs have consisted of electronics devices and equipment located in a physical space, although in more recent years the trend has been towards electronics lab simulation software, such as CircuitLogix, Multisim, and PSpice.

Computer aided design (CAD)

Today's electronics engineers have the ability to design circuits using premanufactured building blocks such as power supplies, semiconductors (such as transistors), and integrated circuits. Electronic design automation software programs include schematic capture programs and printed circuit board design programs. Popular names in the EDA software world are NI Multisim, Cadence (ORCAD), Eagle PCB and Schematic, Mentor (PADS PCB and LOGIC Schematic), Altium (Protel), LabCentre Electronics (Proteus), gEDA, KiCad and many others.

Construction methods

Many different methods of connecting components have been used over the years. For instance, early electronics often used point to point wiring with components attached to wooden breadboards to construct circuits. Cordwood construction and wire wraps were other methods used. Most modern day electronics now use printed circuit boards made of materials such as FR4, or the cheaper (and less hard-wearing) Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper (SRBP, also known as Paxoline/Paxolin (trade marks) and FR2) - characterised by its light yellow-to-brown colour. Health and environmental concerns associated with electronics assembly have gained increased attention in recent years, especially for products destined to the European Union, with its Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), which went into force in July 2006