USB to Ethernet adaptor? Is what i want to do possible?

Does anyone here know anything about USB to Ethernet adaptors? i.e. something that would allow me to add a USB HDD to a network?

I am planning to by a Topfield 58000 PVR, which has a USB port only for moving files on/off it. When you connect it to a PC, you can view the files/folders in Mass Storage Device mode - but i don't want to keep dragging it upstairs to my PC. I want to add it to my network using my Squeezebox3 as a wireless bridge.

What i plan is this;

PC -> Ethernet cable -> Wireless access point -> WiFi -> Squeezebox 3 -> Ethernet cable -> Ethernet to USB adaptor -> Topfield PVR.

It should work, right?

Thing is i has never used an Ethernet-USB adaptor, has anyone got/used one or have any link to suitable products?

I would say no, it wont work.

This is principally because most USB devices need drivers to tell the computer (or in this case, your PVR) what to do with them. It's very unlikely that the PVR manufacturer will have thought about including these drivers for you.

However, not knowing what OS (be it proprietary or based on some semblance of linux) you may have some success using it.

Dave

Your nearly there.

My solution is:-

Topfield --> Slug --> wireless Squeezebox as bridge --> wireless network --> PC

The slug is a Linksys NSLU2 network adaptor that supports external hard discs and can be connected to the topfield.

http://www.toppy.org.uk would be a better place to ask this sort of question.

Either way the bridge part of the squeezebox is slow slow slow. Don't expect to be able to pull programs off the topfield at anything like a sensible rate (my daily radio times update for the telly guide takes almost 5 minutes to run).

However the topfield is miles better than anything else on the market.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dave87

This is principally because most USB devices need drivers to tell the computer (or in this case, your PVR) what to do with them. It's very unlikely that the PVR manufacturer will have thought about including these drivers for you.

However, not knowing what OS (be it proprietary or based on some semblance of linux) you may have some success using it.

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As far as i can tell from reading various sites and forums, the Topfield does not require any specific drivers as it connects to a PC in the same way as any normal external USB HDD does - in Mass Storage Device Mode - so it's essentially Plug & Play.

And it's an XP Home OS machine i use.

What about something like these...

http://www.digi.com/products/usb/any...mpaign=PPC_USB

There is also something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F5D5050.../dp/B000062R4P

Many customers have said they used it to successfully network their TiVo's.

You have to remember that USB is not a true bus, it has 2 ends that are not the same. Sounds like the topfield looks like a big pendrive, whereas eg a TiVo looks like a PC.

Sounds like you need something like this bit f kit.

Sadly they all seem rather steep in price, I think I would rather build up a small linux PC to do the conversion, possibly using a mini-ITX board but then I am happy doing that sort of thing!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by autopilot

As far as i can tell from reading various sites and forums, the Topfield does not require any specific drivers as it connects to a PC in the same way as any normal external USB HDD does - in Mass Storage Device Mode - so it's essentially Plug & Play.

And it's an XP Home OS machine i use.

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Dave pretty much as it bang on. A USB network adaptor is literally just a network socket with a controller chip on it. Most of the processing is done on the CPU, hence drivers are needed by the OS.
The chances that the squeeze natively supporting it is small to none.

edited - read it wrong, but i still dont belive it will work. Even if it just shows as a mass storage device, it will still need to use drivers of some sort. If it runs a Linux based OS, you may be able to play about with it.

autopilot,

head over to a site where people know the topfield and see what they say. You could spend weeks looking at all manor of devices and you'll find that the mightly strange usb stack within the topfield will confuse you totally.