I want to modify a laptop to fit an internal USB flash drive. While there's USB available inside all the ports are used, so I need to insert a two port hub in between one of them so I can break out another connector.
The trouble is space is /extremely/ tight. That means everything will have to be uncased, hardwired in, with no USB connectors. And the amount of area I have to fit in a PCB isn't large (constrained in thickness and in area by various pillars etc)
I've been looking around for a USB hub I can abuse in this way, but the problem is that the type A sockets used are hugely bigger than the chip used so there's no reason for the board layout to be compact. I found something like this:
So I wondered if it was easier to make it myself with a chip I could get data for, rather than wandering around the shops peering through the packaging trying to work out which chipset is used. Only I can't seem to find anyone (I'm in the UK) selling USB 2.0 hub chips. Plenty of 1.1 though. Digikey has some 2.0, but the delivery is very expensive.
I realise layout of a USB 2.0 board is a bit more tricky than 1.1 due to the higher speeds. But I'm only using it for very short distances, and every piece of Chinese tat seems to manage it with the cheapest construction available. And in theory I'd only need a chip with power, ground, 2 crystal pins, 2 USB pins in and N*2 USB pins out, not a TQFP64 or something.
So is there a sensible source of USB 2.0 hub chips in 1-off quantities that won't cost me a fortune? For example, someone like Maxim with a samples programme (Maxim don't make hubs) or someone who ships small orders? Or is my best bet still to wander around the shops looking at translucent hubs until I find one with a suitable chip and desolder it?
Thanks Theo