Only one USB port?

[PiGraham]

This one works for me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

[Stefanmz7]

Wow that's a big hub! But are you sure it's gonna work with the Pi Zero in particular? Also it's powered as I can see? Won't that cause issues since the Pi already has power?

[PiGraham]

Wow that's a big hub! But are you sure it's gonna work with the Pi Zero in particular? Also it's powered as I can see? Won't that cause issues since the Pi already has power?

It is tiny, and cheap.

It does work with the Zero.

It can use external power but it also runs well with bus power from the Zero. It will be fine with a mouse and keyboard.

[Stefanmz7]

Well all right thank you! If I can find it locally I will get it if not I will just order it online. But first I will try and find it here since it will be cheaper without shipping cost.

[W. H. Heydt]

Wow that's a big hub! But are you sure it's gonna work with the Pi Zero in particular? Also it's powered as I can see? Won't that cause issues since the Pi already has power?

Powered hubs will only cause issues if they try to "backpower" the Pi. If they're made correctly, they won't try to send power back on their uplink connection. That's why I put the warning about the small Monoprice hubs I use. If powered, they will try to back power. Therefore, I only use that particular model of hub unpowered.

MCM used to have a really nice 4-port powered USB hub with a good 2.5A PSU and no back power issues. Unfortunately, when Newark/Element14 absorbed MCM, they dropped that hub and I can't get them anymore.

[HawaiianPi]

With Pi0/Pi0W, I use this https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=10065 hub.

I have a couple of those hubs, and I have a micro to mini USB cable to directly connect it to the Pi0 without an additional OTG adapter.

One problem with the Pi Zero is the extra adapters needed, which can introduce losses or connectivity issues. When using a hub with some OTG adapters and a keyboard, mouse and WiFi dongle, I would have power issues. A different OTG adapter, or the mini to micro USB cable resolved the problem.

Powering the hub also worked, which may lead someone to believe they needed a powered hub, when it was really the OTG adapter or interconnecting cable that was at fault.

[FTrevorGowen]

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.

FWIW, I've found these two mini-keyboards with trackball/trackpad useful with my A, A+, & Pi Zero's from time to time (but, perhaps, avoid the bluetooth variants):
http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi ... yBall.html
http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi ... eyPad.html
(You may also spot an unusual hub in some of the pictures in these links:
http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi ... A_Input.29
http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi ... iZero.html
http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi ... Audio.html
)
Trev.

[HawaiianPi]

FWIW, I've found these two mini-keyboards with trackball/trackpad useful with my A, A+, & Pi Zero's from time to time...

If you want something less mini, Logitech makes the K400 series keyboards which work well for me on the Pi computers. I have a couple of the K400r models, but the newer model is the K400 Plus. It has standard size keys (mostly) and a trackpad.

wireless-touch-keyboard-k400-plus.jpg (27.41 KiB) Viewed 884 times

[HawaiianPi]

As I mentioned earlier, you also have the option of using your Pi Zero without a keyboard mouse or screen by controlling it from another computer. You can control it over your network or through a USB cable, and you can use SSH for command line or RealVNC for remote desktop.

To control it over a USB cable you would use USB Gadget mode, which a Windows, Mac or Linux PC will detect as a USB Ethernet adapter. All you need is a standard micro USB data cable and a specially prepared Raspbian SD card. Then you can just plug it into your main computer's USB port (you don't even need a power supply, because it's powered by the USB port).

This is probably the best guide to setting up USB Gadget mode.
https://blog.gbaman.info/?p=791

[W. H. Heydt]

As I mentioned earlier, you also have the option of using your Pi Zero without a keyboard mouse or screen by controlling it from another computer. You can control it over your network or through a USB cable, and you can use SSH for command line or RealVNC for remote desktop.

To control it over a USB cable you would use USB Gadget mode, which a Windows, Mac or Linux PC will detect as a USB Ethernet adapter. All you need is a standard micro USB data cable and a specially prepared Raspbian SD card. Then you can just plug it into your main computer's USB port (you don't even need a power supply, because it's powered by the USB port).

This is probably the best guide to setting up USB Gadget mode.
https://blog.gbaman.info/?p=791

I have a Pi0W on which I went one step further. It is programmed to be it's own "hotspot" so you can take another machine (such as a Pi) that has WiFi and connect to it as if it were an AP or router and then log in. It makes it independent of any other WiFi signals in the area.