I have setup my own home network over the weekend with some success after seeing what Diem & others have done. Summary below, more detailed information attached which is an ASCI verson of Jotter file, as I could not get the forum to accept a 400k attachment nor jotter file format.
Decided to go for the Avaya gateway package as it was a discontinued model so was cheaper & had more chance of being the old Orinoco Silver card, which it was. The package said Avaya RG-1 with a sticker added saying RG-1000. Also I have no plans to have ADSL Internet access so the built in modem was important.
Used the portables to test each stage prior to trying the Psion netbook, so I could be reasonably sure that any problem was only related to the Psion.
Dell Inspiron tested with the TrueMobile 1150 only, Toshiba Libretto only tested with the Avaya Silver card.
All Psion Netbook functions tested & working with the Avaya Silver & Dell TueMobile 1150 with the same settings. Setup without WEP encription as I could not get this working on the Psion.
All devices including the Psion (FiFinger) could ping each other.
Tried to find NetstaRF on my Netbook CD & the Internet, failed, love to know where Diem realy got it from.
Getting modem to dial up the Internet could only be acheived via the Dell & Toshiba PCs, as the PC software had an option to initaite this.
The PC menu options to disconnect from the Internet must be initiated from the PC starting the connection & you must not pull the card out, inactivity timeout did not work, also gateway would reconnect if it was re-booted. Had to unplug telephone line to disconnect.
Psion could surf the internet once dial-up connection established, gateway said that Freeserve connection was 115k which was a surprise, it did appear faster than usual, especially on the Psion, never seen Opera perform so well.
Configured Dell PC with VNC server, established a connection from Psion & Toshiba using VNC client, everything worked but very slow.
All PCs could share files using standard Windows function that can't be used by non Windows PCs. Dell has Windows 2000 Toshiba has Windows 98SE.
Setup an IIS server on Dell PC, made contact from the Toshiba with a page not found error message, as I don't know enough about setting up a web/FTP server.
Used same settings (http://dmelec) to contact from Psion, Opera decided that I wanted to connect to http://www.dmelec.com which it found on the Internet! Need to figure out how to stop Opera doing this!
Tried to use FreeBase software to configure gateway, corrupted telephone number & stopped dial-up facility from working. Re-configured via Orinoco software. Dell gateway would not accept the password when using the Dell gateway software, but it would show more information than was available using the Orinoco software.
Note: No resets and I did not take any special precautions when swapping cards between the Psion and PCs, e.g. switching off.
I have the original Jotter file but have no way of distributing it, text version without the pictures is attached.
diem
11-18-2002, 03:54 AM
Nice one Mike - lotsa good info!
To answer your question, NetStatRF comes as an installed application in the most recent UK OS release for netBook. It had to be removed from some other languages, since the language files are bigger and they ran out of room :(
Are you using a UK OS? If so, I'd guess you've not got the latest one...
Regarding ftp and domain naming, I too do not know how to tell the Psion to look lcoally for a name before hitting the wider internet. On Windows, there is a file called hosts in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc in which you can make entries mapping a domain name (e.g. 'dmelec') to an IP address (the address of the machine serving the website on your LAN).
I would however be very wary of setting up a webserver or FTP server using IIS, unless the Avaya RG-1 contains a firewall. If it does not, then your network is somewhat visible to the internet, and you might get unwanted intrusions. That said, I would guess the RG-1 is a DHCP server yes? i.e. it supplies all your local machines with IP address? If this is the case, you have at least some protection, but I'd still take it one step at a time.
In order to test each local machine's visibility, try visiting www.grc.com from each machine in turn. There (amongst a bunch of very useful security utilities, you will find the Shield's Up! service. Follow the prompts, and it will tell you whether the machine is visible to the internet.
Hope you find this useful; I know the community here will find your posting useful :)
MikeW
11-18-2002, 04:22 AM
Diem
I thought that I had the latest OS, which I needed for the rLAN testing, I have Software Version 1.95 (370) & it’s the UK English language. I will see if there is a later version to download, just hope everything continues to work.
I know someone who has setup web sites with file sharing facilities, I plan to get his help as soon as I return from holiday, as I am away next week & may forget what to do.
The Orinoco RG-1000 uses DHCP & NAT, also I am using Internet dial-up so I should be pretty safe.
First priority is getting WEP working as this is the greatest weakness.
Mike
dukibean
11-18-2002, 05:21 AM
There is an option within Opera to look for a local network machine:
prefs - connection prefs - name comepletion
Does this work for you?
Regards
diem
11-18-2002, 05:29 AM
Latest UK OS is build 450 - available from Teklogix Partner Program as ever. Check my FAQ for the list of bug-fixes and new features :)
Regarding WEP, both the PC Card you have use the Lucent Hermes chipset, which is the one to have - it looks as though the Intersil Prism II chipset (used in many many cards), whilst based on the Hermes, works but will not do WEP.
I suggest trying 40 (64) bit first, using HEX keys, and use key number 1.
Further to dukibean's post, you could try turning off the 'try name completion using'. That way it will look on the local network, and then onto the internet if not satisfied locally, but it won't bung the www and com bits on.
MikeW
11-18-2002, 06:59 AM
Thanks for the information
Have downloaded & upgraded the OS and adjusted the Opera preferences.
Hope to test if everything still works tonight, if it does I will try WEP & FTP again.
Expect to test SMC rLAN card & Belkin USB rLAN facility at the end of the week as soon as Ebay suppliers deliver them.
Mike
MikeW
11-19-2002, 02:33 AM
Downloaded & installed the latest OS on UK & US Netbooks, rLAN still working on both, see attached screenshot of NetStatRF running on the US machine.
Changed Opera to see if it would find web/FTP site running on another PC but failed, managed to connect by entering the IP address e.g. http://10.0.1.2
Need to sort out web/HTTP server so it says more than 'Site under construction'.
Could not connect to the gateway to test encryption, says I don't have the right password. Hope to reset the password & test encryption tonight.
Expect delivery of SMC rLAN card today so I should be able to test it tonight.
Tried to instal the Java version of the rLAN tools to control the gateway, failed, wish I understood Java!
Mike
MikeW
11-20-2002, 02:24 AM
Managed to test the Netgear MS401 card, appears to be 1 of the cheapest cards around & it does not block the stylus hole. Worked with the same settings as the Avaya & Dell cards although the signal strength & therefore performance seemed slower.
Updated the Orinoco/Avaya drivers & managed to get WEP encryption working using the same alpha code as the PC, rather than entering hex.
Running out of things to test, just need to get the FTP facility & the Belkin USB rLAN unit ng. Also need to see if I can improve the range as I want to extend coverage from the whole house to neighbouring houses.
Mike
MikeW
11-21-2002, 02:59 AM
Managed to setup FTP server on my Windows PC, after enabling anonymous
access on the PC.
Unable to connect using URL from within Opera, worked using IP address providing you did not use the 'FTP' prefix, as it would search for a site called FTP. (Enter 10.0.1.2 rather than FTP://10.0.2.1) I think I have tried just about every combination in the Opera preferences to stop this.
Connected using nFTP, display shows Netbook files on left & FTP server files on right. Very easy to transfer files to & from the server, just highlight the file(s)/folder(s) & select the transfer file option.
JPG file attached with nFTP screenshot, have 1 for Opera bet went over the forum file size limit.
nFTP started transferring files at 35Kbytes (about 350Kbits) per second but this gradually slowed to about 18kBytes with large files or large groups of files. This is a long way from the 11Mbits claimed for these cards.
The FTP server can lock up when transferring large files especially if it is busy doing other things. 15 megabytes of files would transfer OK if the PC was not in use for other things such as Word etc. (There appears to be performance issue when running FTP server alongside general PC applications, which is mentioned on the Microsoft knowledge base)
Typical transfer speed is about 1 floppy disk worth of information every minute.
Still unable to stop the Netbook initiating a dial-up internet connection whenever I enter a URL, as it insists on looking at the Internet for local URLs. At least it can automatically establish its own Internet connection, although it’s not so keen to drop the connection.
I can't think of anything else to test other than a USB rLAN adapter, which I should receive on Friday, unless anyone can think of something.
Mike
diem
11-21-2002, 09:31 AM
Originally posted by MikeW
nFTP started transferring files at 35Kbytes (about 350Kbits) per second but this gradually slowed to about 18kBytes with large files or large groups of files. This is a long way from the 11Mbits claimed for these cards.
This is normal (if understandably disappointing!). Check this thread for details:
Still unable to stop the Netbook initiating a dial-up internet connection whenever I enter a URL, as it insists on looking at the Internet for local URLs. At least it can automatically establish its own Internet connection, although it’s not so keen to drop the connection.
The 'Connect to Internet' dialog is misleadingly named. This dialog pops up whenever any application attempts to access any kind of network resource (if no network connection is currently open, of course) and therefore you will see this dialog no matter where the URL is located. It really ought to be titled 'Connect to Network'.
The connection is dropped after an inactivity timeout. For ethernet connections this value is set in the Ethernet control panel, for dialup connections it is in the Internet control panel.
MikeW
11-21-2002, 10:15 AM
Yan
I was using nFTP rather than Opera when I noticed the slowdown, so maybe its an EPOC problem, or perhaps an FTP server problem.
The Netbook did iniate an Internet connection via the rLAN modem, modem status changed to green on other PCs on the rLAN, & modem noises could be heard when picking up the telephone handset.
The rLAN modem is set to disconnect after 10 minutes of inactivity but has never timed out, even when every computer is switched off.
Mike
diem
11-22-2002, 04:37 AM
The download slowdown is OS-related, not just with Opera. The thread I quoted goes into quite a lot of depth on this in the later postings.
As regards the modem question, my apologies. I misunderstood, thinking that the modem you were referring to was plugged directly into the netBook, rather than the other side of your ethernet hub!
Regarding the modem's failure to time out; if all computers that connect to it (presumably via the RG-1 gateway?) are turned off, then obviously a fault, or misconfiguration, with the gateway device is suggested (I'm now making the assumption that this is still switched on). Perhaps its DHCP lease is set way too short, meaning that it goes out onto the internet to your ISP too often to refresh its IP address?
ktkawabe
11-22-2002, 10:54 AM
Hi Mike and Yan,
Yan wrote:
On Windows, there is a file called hosts in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc in which you can make entries mapping a domain name (e.g. 'dmelec') to an IP address (the address of the machine serving the website on your LAN).
Yan, that was a good suggestion! Hosts file for EPOC is C:\System\data\hosts.
Mike, the use of hosts file is almost universal, and EPOC is no exception. I cannot assure that it works for you, but would you please try the following? It's not too complicated, and I think it's worth trying.
1. Copy C:\System\Data\hosts to somewhere else, say C:\hosts. (If you cannot find the file, just create a file called C:\hosts.) You'll work on this file instead of working directly on the "real thing" to avoid messing up the system during the procedure. Just as an additional insurance, please make another copy for backup (e.g. D:\hosts.bkup).
2. Open C:\hosts by using your favorite text editor. If you prefer to use Word (a word processor rather than a text editor), you have to first import this file as a text.
3. The hosts file would look like this:
"127.0.0.1 localhost"
(without quotation symbols). There might be some other entries, but anyway that doesn't matter.
4. Add your entries at the end of file, like
"192.168.0.10 myweb.my.domain"
(again without the quotations) i.e. IP and domain name separated by spaces. Please take care to make a new line for each entry.
5. Save it. If you're using Word you have to export as text.
6. Return to the system screen and go to the folder where you have saved your work (C:\). Copy the file (Ctrl+c) in the system screen, go to the C:\System\Data directory, and paste (Ctrl+V, overwriting the original file with the new one). Your hosts file is updated.
7. That's all, you don't have to do soft reset or anything of that sort. Now please try to connect to your web server. If your netBook is already connected to the net, probably it's better to disconnect now and connect again. If everything works as it should, netBook would first show you the normal "connect to internet" dialog, and then silently looks up your updated hosts file and connects locally without consulting an external DNS server.
8. If something goes wrong you still have the backup copy of the original file and you can overwrite the updated hosts file with the backup.
I have to admit that I've never tried this on my netBook (I use this technique on my Series5/5mx to reduce the DNS lookup time when contacting my POP/SMTP server via dialup connection), but I believe the lookup behavior of netBook is the same with 5mx (or with any other machines/OSes for that matter).
I really hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Keita
ktkawabe
11-22-2002, 02:31 PM
Hi Mike,
after returning home I experimented a bit, and in my environment "hosts" file worked also for netBook.
====
1. Experimental apparatus
I used a desktop PC running windows2000 with USB wireless adaptor and a 56k modem to act as a router. This means that Windows provided a DHCP service for wlan, and anything that cannot be resolved locally was forwarded to the outside world via dialup. This is a rough approximation of your router plus your web server. Let's call this myserver.my.domain.
On netBook I used Orinoco Silber.
The router (PC) and the netBook was talking to each other Peer-To-Peer. WEP (64bit) was enabled.
The wireless adaptor of the router (PC) was assigned a fixed local IP address of 192.168.0.1, while the IP of netBook was dynamically allocated.
At first my netBook didn't have c:\system\data\hosts file.
====
2. The first try without hosts file
I used FlFinger to ping to
myserver.my.domain
without having a hosts file. As was expected, since myserver.my.domain was not resolved locally, router (PC) immediately dialed up to connect to the outside world, and after a while ping failed (because myserver.my.domain is a false name that I have just made up and the domain name server in the outside world couldn't look it up).
====
3. The second try with hosts file
Since there was no C:\System\Data\hosts file available, I simply created a new file c:\hosts.
In this file I have written the following two lines:
I saved the file, then copied the file to C:\System\Data folder.
Again I used FlFinger to ping to myserver.my.domain. A "connect to internet" appeared, I pressed OK, and then shortly after that the ping succeeded with the following messages:
ping myserver.my.domain at 21:02
CSocket.opx version 109
CDescriptor.opx version 100
ping sending 64 bytes to 192.168.0.1
1 [ 0 ] OK 124984ms
2 [ 0 ] OK <20ms
(and so on)
Apparently the OS looked up the hosts file and decided not to consult with DNS. ping was sent to the correct IP address (192.168.0.1). No dialup was initiated, 56k modem didn't show any activity.:)
Best regards,
Keita
MikeW
12-02-2002, 04:33 AM
Hi Yan & Kieta
Just returned from a weeks holiday to continue work on my radio LAN, including some of the suggestions in your earlier posts. I will also try to get my Belkin USB rLAN working with the Residential Gateway, it already works peer to peer with my Dell & Avanya cards.
Hope to include an update sometime on Tuesday
Mike
MikeW
12-03-2002, 05:31 AM
Hi
Tried to complete the remaining tasks but managed to screw up the RG-1000 residential gateway, it does not want to comunicate with its built in Orinoco silver card & reset facility fails with a suggestion to try again, which also fails.
Think I will have to go back to square 1 & remove & re-install all client software in the hope that this will allow me to reset the residential gateway.
Mike
MikeW
12-16-2002, 08:53 AM
Hi
Finally managed to sort out the RG-1000 gateway, very easy to do once I connected to it via an Ethernet card using a cross over cable.
Windows 2000 PC able to act as a fileserver for my Netbook, Toshiba Libretto & Dell portables, all over the rLAN, from anywhere in the house.
nFTP over the rLAN works at the same speed as Ethernet it even slows down in the same way when transferring large files, but still manages about a floppy disks worth every minute. Occasional locking up, not clear if this is a client or server problem, which is sorted by selecting the interupt transfer & trying again.
Had difficulty transferring files using FTP from within a web browser, similar problems when using IE from the Libretto, it was very slow & frequent failures.
I have not achieved all my objectives but I am well on my way:-
1) Hold shared files on the main PC with a 120 GByte drive & access them from any other device as & when required. This not only saved space on the portables but also meant I did not have to organise multiple copies of the same files.
2) Share a common dial-up Internet connection which works but does not clear down the call as quickly as I would like, so I will leave this until I sign up to a Freeserve Anytime account. Yes the Psion can use the shared modem built into the RG-1000.
3) Sharing a printer appears to be a problem based on other posts to the forum, may need to revisit this as I am not sure that the other posts have identified the issues or perhaps I am looking at it in a too simplistic way. As I understand it we are trying to emulate what happens on a PC when it prints to a networked printer.
A) Create a formated print file on the local disk.
B) Output the file to the printer over raw TCP/IP, that is the PC has to send each packet after receiving acknowledgement that the previous pack has been received, so it does not overload the print server or printer.
The Netbook has always been able to do item A but not item B, so we should be looking for help from people with communications software skills particularly TCP/IP, such as developers of terminal emulation. FlyTerm does have the option to send a file, not sure if it will work in raw TCP/IP mode.
Mike
PDA Street
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