iPad Camera adaptor> USB drive> iFile = what file types?

[bluedog3401]

Symbolic links will work if the app is looking at the file structure directly when selecting their files to open. It appears Docs2Go only recognizes the files it can open (and NOT the symbolic link).

Alternatively, if you have GoodReader and make your link to the external media /var/mnt/mount1 in my case, you can open the file in Docs2Go when selecting it and Open With... Not quite as convenient but it would get the doc in for editing. I tried this, and GoodReader also does not see the symbolic link.

Getting a file with changes back out again is the problem as you won't be able to save out to the media from Docs2Go. Right now, that seems to be the weakest link along with printing when using an iPad for editing/creating documents.

As for video playback, OPlayer and yxplayer (from the app store) both can work with the symbolic link to the external media. But both seem to suffer when playing back some formats/files. From what I've heard, the video playback for MP4 files using their built-in Video Player uses the onboard chip's ability to decode and therefore offloads the playback from the regular processes. The API to do this is probably locked up, and it wouldn't support the AVI and other formats or codecs anyhow.

So my guess is, for non-MP4 files we may be limited to the software decoding that is resulting in poor performance.

 

[iThinman]

Symbolic links will work if the app is looking at the file structure directly when selecting their files to open. It appears Docs2Go only recognizes the files it can open (and NOT the symbolic link).

Alternatively, if you have GoodReader and make your link to the external media /var/mnt/mount1 in my case, you can open the file in Docs2Go when selecting it and Open With... Not quite as convenient but it would get the doc in for editing. I tried this, and GoodReader also does not see the symbolic link.

Getting a file with changes back out again is the problem as you won't be able to save out to the media from Docs2Go. Right now, that seems to be the weakest link along with printing when using an iPad for editing/creating documents.

The above is what I experienced as well and I agree that the real problem is getting the docs back out of the app. Not so bad for the occasional file, but becomes a nightmare quickly.

The best I can come up with so far is the following: (master (nested) folder structure is on a work share)

- Sync share to SDHC card (pc, RichCopy works great for this)
- Work directly from SDHC using iFile, or, copy sync folder structure into GoodReader, dependent on need
- Read files from either source for read-only work
- Open-In, from either source, in DocsToGo for editing needs
- Store only files which have been edited and are pending sync in the DocsToGo local files folder
- Use iFile to pull edited docs from DocsToGo back to SDHC, or pull them out with iTunes, or script something through SSH
- Sync SDHC to share

errrrrr, thanks Steve. (mumble mumble mumble)

Anyway, not too bad i suppose. It really just depends on the volume of edited files of course.

 

[lokerd]

The above is what I experienced as well and I agree that the real problem is getting the docs back out of the app. Not so bad for the occasional file, but becomes a nightmare quickly.

Ok, I was just about to ask about this. I have a CCK, but have not tried putting files from a jump drive on to the iPad (I do have iFile). But lets say I put a photo on it, process the file, I can't get it back out to the jump drive?

Thanks!

 

[iThinman]

Errrr, so close and so far.

So it appears that you can actually place a functional symbolic link with in the Goodreader or Docstogo folders. It works great in each case to point back to the photos folder (\var\mobile\Media\DCIM).

However, neither work using the same procedure to link back to a folder on the SDHC card and in each case, the folder is not displayed at all.

Also, a link within Docstogo pointing to the GoodReader folder fails to show as well.

I'm not sure about the how the SDHC is handled being external device, but it seems like some sort of a permissions issue to me. ***cough*** need smart people help please ***cough***

Getting these links working somehow would solve a ton of my file management gripes. To be able to file manage with GoodReader and edit with DocsToGo without having to shuttle files back and fourth....lol....backflips serious backflips I will do.

 

[TangoDown]

Well, in the interest of updating the thread with my own findings.. I picked up a camera connection kit today now I'm back from my holiday. Thrown a bunch of XviDs, MP4s, JPEGs and docs together and all seem to work well from a thumb drive. Oplayer HD plays XviDs well via copy into folder (though some avi's need the skip frame setting on to stay in sync - bit of a let down but hopefully something the devs might be able to work on) and the native video player plays my already converted MP4s from the drive using the ipad's QT. This is pretty much perfect for me. Happy daze.

 

[ecapdeville]

Does this thing only work this way with JB iPads?

What can you do with no JB iPad?

greetings

 

[Chillviper]

Using a 3.2.1 JB iPad, iFile and the Camera Connector, I can mount an SD card and xfer a file. However, once I close iFile and go back to it, it no longer show the files on the mounted SD card I can eject, respring etc and nothing short or a reboot allows me to see the SD card again. Thoughts?

 

[m147]

I've tried a few methods including the one with making links on ifile to Vic or cinexplayer. which is good method. us for me doesn't quite cut it, as I like to watch anime and neither cinexplayer nor vlc would load subtitle files. (then again I haven't tried with .mp4 or .avi + .sub. but most of my anime is .mkv and I'm not going to recode/redownload).

anyway here's what I did:
- got oplayer hd
- created a 'video' folder on the sd card
- created a link in 'var/mobile/applications/oplayer hd/' to the 'video' folder on the sd card

this way I can just add new files to this folder load up the sd card w/ the camera connection kit and load any file I want from within that folder using the link. no need to create individual links each time for each movie file.

[update] for those who have a Mac, format your sd card with Mac os extended NOT mac os extended (journaled). this way you can load files onto the card larger than 4gb. the trade off is you won't be able to use it on a windows machine (say at a friend's house) to load media.

 

[vega07]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Can camera connection kits currently be used to read USB thumb drives?