UPDATE: (March 27 2004) Newnex Technology Corp. now makes a low-profile, angled USB 2.0 extension cable. This page is pretty long already, so I made a second page with my notes and photos about using this cable with the Dell Inspiron 8600 and APR.
Here's how I constructed a near-right-angle USB plug to solve a rather annoying -- and fairly widespread, judging by forum posts -- problem. Pictures below.
Proud owner of a ordered-first-day-they're-out Palm Tungsten T3 has just received a new top-of-the-line Dell notebook (Inspiron 8600) plus its docking station (D/Port Advanced Port Replicator). But it turns out that this APR doesn't actually replicate the notebook's USB ports... it provides a "Generic USB Hub" instead. And judging by traffic on Dell's forums, it's picky about what devices it will talk to.
The T3 works fine hooked directly to the I8600 and through any hub except the one in the APR. Other devices work through the hub in the APR, including an older Palm (m505). Palm says they won't support anything other than "the ports on the back of the notebook." (Never mind all the notebooks that have USB ports on the side... they mean to exclude PC Card USB adapters and the like.) But the APR blocks those ports -- which on this notebook are only on the back. Dell figures if anything works through the hub, I should replace the device that is failing to work through the hub (never mind that it works fine anywhere except with their hub).
So, my choices seem to be to return the APR, return the whole system, spend $30-$60 on an unsupported-but-likely-to-work PC Card or... accept the minor inconvenience of plugging in a USB cable before docking and find a way to make a USB connector fit the space between the notebook and the APR. There is about 14mm clearance (just over half an inch). I did try looking online and found one tilting/swiveling adapter available. But its hinges come after what appears to be a standard length plug (around 36mm; 1 and 3/8 inches), so it won't work here. No flush-mount right-angle adapters, which is what I really wanted.
I was surprised that I wound up not having to do any soldering.
(Step zero: make sure you're working on the end of the cable that goes into your notebook)
(Step -1: make sure your device works with the extension cable and notebook port before you waste your time with this)
You should be able to see some faint lines where the halves of the jacket went together. Carefully slice through one side where it's flat until you get through to the metal. I'd suggest working from the cable side up the strain relief to meet that first slice. I admit that I turned the blade upside-down to make sure I didn't cut into the cable. This is inherently more dangeous, so if you do it that way, be extra careful not to cut yourself. You should be able to peel the jacket off of the cable and plug with just one side sliced (but I didn't realize this at first and sliced both sides open).
Sorry I didn't take pictures of the plug shield. The most important thing will be to ensure that you do not deform the part that goes into the computer. You can tell from the outside that it's basically an open-ended metal box. But one side of the part inside is separate from the rest, almost like a half-lid on this box. (Well, actually, it's on the bottom the way the I8600's ports are set up.) I removed it by bending out its ears and those of the larger piece. I did not try to use that piece of shield in the final cable.
Lastly, loosen the crimp that goes around the cable.In my plug, it's part of the long piece that goes into the computer. I had to pretty much flatten it to get the cable free on mine. Freed of the metal shield pieces, the plug looks like this (sorry about the bad focus):
My plug was constructed with a rigid black plastic piece that joined the rigid white plastic (styrene?) plug end to the flexible thermoplastic (beige). In the picture above, I've already removed some little "ears" that helped hold it in place: With this part out of the way, the cable will flex:
You can see how the beige thermoplastic made some little channels during injection (?) into the white plastic. These appear to be surrounding the wires. I made very slight gentle slices -- barely more than scratches -- into this side of them to help them stretch without pulling on the wires.Have no idea if that was necessary.
I realized that the metal shield piece I'm retaining would now be on the bottom instead of the top. There are two little metal bumps in it that help make sure the styrene doesn't slide too far forward. But they're now in the way. I tried to flatten them with the pliers without success. So instead, using the knife, I beveled the edges of the non-connector side of the styrene plug to clear the bumps. (Try to stop where the white plastic gets thickest on the other side. I cut a little too far and the white plastic wants to stick out a bit beyond the shield.) Between these two pictures, you should be able to see what I mean:
(The thing that looks like a Shadow vessel sitting on the back of the plug it is the meatal that crimps around the cable.)
Of course, if your plug -- or notebook -- is set up differently, you might be able to skip this step. Just see if you can put the plug back together the way you need it to go.
Re-insert the white plastic plug into the metal shield so that the metal shield will best support the bend you need to make.
I used the Dremel tool to remove bits of the metal shield just behind the white plastic plug so that it would bend easily. You might well be able to just bend it. I wanted to make very sure that I didn't deform the plug end. A hacksaw might also work.
It turned out that for this application, I needed only about a 60- to 75-degree bend, not full 90.
When you've got it bent where you want, re-crimp the cable jacket, making sure to capture and connect with the piece of shield braid.
I taped the jacket back onto the part of the cable where it would still fit. I suppose I could wrap some aluminum foil inside to help replace the missing shielding, but so far the T3 is happy:
Note that this cable is missing a bit of shielding and so probably makes the entire system no longer FCC class B certified. You should probably do at least the aluminum foil wrapping idea if you think you might have any issues with RF. I haven't checked to see whether this cable has any effect on the built-in bluetooth or 802.11/b/g radios.
Best of luck. You might want to use a ohmmeter to check for shorts and breaks before hooking it up to your computer powered on. I'd hate for you to fry something.
Isn't it ironic that visible in that picutre is the cover plate where the Inspiron 8600's sister model, the Latitude D800 has a functioning USB port? If they'd retained that in this model, I would have saved about a week of pointless troubleshooting. Oh, well... life with computers.
Copyright (C) 2003, David H. Brown. Don't steal my stuff; I won't steal yours. But I'd probably be really happy to share.
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