Only one USB port?

[Stefanmz7]

Hello! So I just goty Pi Zero but the USB OTG CA or that came with it has only one USB port? How do I plug in a keyboard and mouse with only one USB port???Do I need a USB hub?

[Ernst]

Hello! So I just goty Pi Zero but the USB OTG CA or that came with it has only one USB port? How do I plug in a keyboard and mouse with only one USB port???Do I need a USB hub?

Yes

[Stefanmz7]

Ok. So if I plug in the USB OTG cable in the Raspberry Pi and then plug in a USB hub in the OTG cable and then plug the keyboard and mouse into the hub will it work. I mean will any random USB hub work with the Raspberry Pi? Because I won't be able to test it when I am buying it.

[LTolledo]

Ok. So if I plug in the USB OTG cable in the Raspberry Pi and then plug in a USB hub in the OTG cable and then plug the keyboard and mouse into the hub will it work. I mean will any random USB hub work with the Raspberry Pi?

Yes it will work! But better choose USB2.0 type hubs... for better compatibility

[Stefanmz7]

Ok thanks!

[Stefanmz7]

Hi! So I setupy raspberry pi zero. I installed Raspbian on an SD card. I conneccted a mouse only(because I have no usb keyboard yet) I also plugged in an 1.8A power adapter I connected it to my monitor via HDMI to DVI cable and when I turned on the power the green ACT LED light started flashing green then it went solid green but didn't boot up. I mean it just stayed solid green and there was nothing on my monitor. What can be the problem? Is it that I haven't connected a keyboard to it or is it something else?

[hippy]

So if I plug in the USB OTG cable in the Raspberry Pi and then plug in a USB hub in the OTG cable and then plug the keyboard and mouse into the hub will it work. I mean will any random USB hub work with the Raspberry Pi?

Not necessarily. You may need a powered hub.

I tried numerous bus-powered hubs with my Pi Zero W and none worked for me. Those all work fine with my PC. I don't recall anyone explaining exactly what the issue is.

[alphanumeric]

It doesn't have to be a powered hub, I use this on mine with no issues, https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/thre ... connector I have a keyboard and mouse connected and sometimes a USB thumb drive. Plug it in before you boot up or your Pi Zero will reboot on you when you plug it in.
How did you create your SD card? I use Etcher and find it very reliable for writing images to my Micro SD cards. Also, are you using the latest image from here, https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

[Stefanmz7]

I created my SD card with an android app that installs NOOBS Raspbian on your SD card. I don't have an SD card reader. Do you think it's that or it's the HDMI cable?

[alphanumeric]

Raspbian should boot up even with no monitor connected. You could try that cable and monitor on another device to rule it out as being an issue. I have no experience with NOOBS though, maybe its waiting for keyboard input or something? Any reason you went with NOOBS instead of Raspbian?

[Stefanmz7]

Isn't it the same? I mean isn't NOOBS just a easy install manager for Raspbian? I don't know just the app I used said NOOBS Raspbian. So I installed that.

[alphanumeric]

Yes its an easy install manager. It sets up and installs differently than just plain Raspbian though. There is extra bits installed. Extra steps the first time its run also I believe.

[FTrevorGowen]

Isn't it the same? I mean isn't NOOBS just a easy install manager for Raspbian?

Sort of, but mainly for Windows users (who can't/are allowed to "non-standard" Windows tools to write "disk image files"). Did you turn on and select the DVI input on your display before powering up the Pi0? (IIRC, NOOBS will require keyboard input to select the display type/mode if it fails to detect the monitor's requirements). Are you sure that the card slot on the android device you used (via the app, which app?) to format the uSDHC card and copy the NOOBS files to it is fully SDHC compatible? In an earlier post you referred to a "1.8A power adapter" - if that's a 'phone charger and not a power supply it (and/or its connecting cable) may not be "good enough".
Trev.

[Stefanmz7]

Yeah ok the problem was kinda silly I just didn't jam in the HDMI cable all the way. Now it works properly.

[alphanumeric]

lol, that stuff happens from time to time. Even to those of use that think we know what we're doing. Good to hear you figured it out. Enjoy your Pi. =)

[FTrevorGowen]

Yeah ok the problem was kinda silly I just didn't jam in the HDMI cable all the way. Now it works properly.

Not that silly - once had a similar problem with one of my (old) "big" Pi's in a case with "thick" walls and a cable with a slightly shorter plug - it only worked if I made certain that the pcb was pushed up hard against the offending wall when plugging the cable in. Another cable worked every time!
Trev.

[Stefanmz7]

Well thank you guys for the support! Now I am gonna use my Pi!

[W. H. Heydt]

So if I plug in the USB OTG cable in the Raspberry Pi and then plug in a USB hub in the OTG cable and then plug the keyboard and mouse into the hub will it work. I mean will any random USB hub work with the Raspberry Pi?

Not necessarily. You may need a powered hub.

I tried numerous bus-powered hubs with my Pi Zero W and none worked for me. Those all work fine with my PC. I don't recall anyone explaining exactly what the issue is.

With Pi0/Pi0W, I use this https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=10065 hub. It can be powered, but it will try to back power. With a 1.8A PSU (as stated by OP), no power for the hub should be needed.

When I do a full set up of a Pi0/Pi0W, I have mouse, keyboard, WiFi dongle (Pi0 only) and USB to Ethernet adapter connected. it will all run fine with a 1.0A PSU.

[HawaiianPi]

I run most of My Pi Zero computers headless (no keyboard, mouse or monitor), and control them using SSH or USB Gadget mode (SSH over USB). I really feel that if you want a keyboard, mouse and screen connected to a Pi, you should be using a Pi3B(+). The issue you experienced was neither silly nor uncommon, due to all the extra adapters needed to connect a Pi Zero to various accessories. Don't get me wrong, I own several Pi Zero computers and they're great for embedded projects. I just don't think they are all that great, or even convenient to use as any kind of "normal" computer.

NOOBS is an OS installer, rather than a full OS. So basically you download and install NOOBS just so NOOBS can download and install Raspbian, which is kind of redundant. The advantage is that it offers a recovery mode which will let you rebuild the card without having to flash the card all over again (you can reinstall Raspbian from the Pi itself). The drawback is that it uses up a sizable chunk of your SD card (about 20% of an 8GB card). The other limitations are that NOOBS is harder to upgrade, and you can't do a headless install.

With the Raspbian images, you can prepare a card that will automatically boot, enable SSH, and connect you your wireless network. It does require a few extra steps after writing the image, but you can do it all before the card is even booted in the Pi. So you can put it into a Pi with no keyboard, mouse or monitor, boot it up, and then connect to it and control it from another computer. I have one such headless Pi3B running a Minecraft multiplayer server for our family (another is a torrent server, etc.).

Anyway, welcome, and I'm glad you figured out how to fix your problem.

[DougieLawson]

The other limitations are that NOOBS ... and you can't do a headless install.

You can do a headless NOOBS install but it is still 100% pointless and wastes 1.5GB of SDCard space for no real benefits. If you insist on needing NOOBS use PINN.

https://github.com/raspberrypi/noobs#ho ... tall-an-os

[Stefanmz7]

Hello again! So the Pi works but my USB 2.0 hub that I got today doesn't. Can I make it work somehow? I even tried another one it also doesn't work. I saw on the raspberry pi website that I can do some updates to the kernel and fix it that way but do you think that will work? Or can I install some drivers I don't know. I need to make this thing work. If I plug in something in the OTG cable it works but if I plug the hub in the OTG cable and then something in the hub it does not.

[PiGraham]

Hello again! So the Pi works but my USB 2.0 hub that I got today doesn't. Can I make it work somehow? I even tried another one it also doesn't work. I saw on the raspberry pi website that I can do some updates to the kernel and fix it that way but do you think that will work? Or can I install some drivers I don't know. I need to make this thing work. If I plug in something in the OTG cable it works but if I plug the hub in the OTG cable and then something in the hub it does not.

It seems unlikely that the hub is faulty. What hub did you get? If it's a powered hub have you connected power to it? A few powered hubs have on/off switches. Check for that. Does the hub light up?

I have a micro OTG hub that has a charge/OTG switch on it. If yours has that make sure it's set to OTG.

If you have the Pi0W with WiFI you could set it up using the keyboard only and make it connect to your WiFi then access it using VNC and/or SSH from another device.

You can configure a Pi0(W) to run in gadget mode so that it looks like an Ethernet adaptor. You can set all the configs from another machine by editing the text config files on the SD card. You could then use the Pi0 via VNC / SSH.

[Stefanmz7]

Nope it's not a powered hub. And no I have the Pi Zero not Pi Zero W so no WiFi. Can I do anything about it? If not can I use my keyboard instead of the mouse? I read somewhere that I can enable"mouse keys" on keyboard with commands...

[hippy]

If I plug in something in the OTG cable it works but if I plug the hub in the OTG cable and then something in the hub it does not.

Exactly the experience I had which I warned about earlier. You will either have to use a hub which someone says does work for them, find a powered hub which works, or keep trying different hubs in the hope of finding one which works.

[Stefanmz7]

Yeah or just use my keyboard as a mouse. Can't you use the numpad as the mouse keys? Can I enable that somehow on the Pi I read somewhere it was possible.