Everything you need to know about USB networking in WM5 - all secrets explained!
I’m cross-posting this, just-updated article to here too (originally posted to here) because it sheds light on a LOT of WM5 issues. Please note that the first part of the article was written way before AKU 2.2; I haven’t touched it now that 2.2 is out, just added a brand new, “UPDATE” section.
You will want to read particularly the second section because, as I also point out in there, switching back to the old networking model may be really advantageous in numerous cases and is, therefore, highly recommended for casual users.
The original article follows:
In my previous article on the secrets of ActiveSync-based Pocket PC networking, I've elaborated on the pre-Windows Mobile 5 Internet pass-through capabilities of ActiveSync.
As has been stated there, the ActiveSync Internet pass-through is in no way a full-fledged Internet connection. In no way can you access a Pocket PC through a simple, plain ActiveSync connection as a TCP/IP device.
With Windows Mobile 5 (WM5 for short) devices, the situation has changed a lot. Now, they're recognized as an entirely different, fully-fledged network card by Windows, as can be seen in this screenshot.
Also, if you, with, say, the great, (for individuals) free networking utility, vxUtil, check the IP it got from ActiveSync of your Pocket PC, you will see that it's no longer 192.168.55.101 (the IP ActiveSync gives to pre-WM5 devices) but a "true" local network IP; in this case, 169.254.2.1. The services of this PDA will, therefore, be fully accessible to your desktop computer (in this screenshot, you can see I can directly ping my WM5 PDA from my desktop computer) and, if you configure your desktop computer to forward ports (please read my previous article on the meaning of this!) to the PDA, to the entire outside world.
This means Windows Mobile 5 devices connected to desktop Windows PC's via ActiveSync are, now, fully accessible by TCP/IP-based applications. You don't need to build a(n additional) Bluetooth PAN or ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection between the two devices any more for the Pocket PC to become accessible.
The importance of this can't be stressed enough: a lot of - with pre-WM5 devices totally impossible - tasks become really easy:
you can run applications on your Pocket PC that behave like a server: for example, a lot of peer to peer (non-central server based), TCP/IP-based multiplayer games
chatter/VoIP applications like the very good Microsoft Portrait
IRC clients with fully usable DCC capabilities (without full, unrestricted Internet access, it's not possible to initiate DCC send/chat requests from the PDA)
FTP/Web servers for remote access
remote, TCP/IP-based Pocket PC controllers like SOTI's Pocket Controller, PocketVncServ, dotPocket and Microsoft Windows Mobile Developer PowerToys. Now, if your mate/client has a problem with his/her Pocket PC, you will be able to access it distantly without his explicitly logging in to a, say, unrestricted Wi-Fi network. All he'll need to do is doing some port forwarding with either WinGate or the built-in, free Windows Internet Connection Sharing to connect it to the Internet through his desktop computer.
Sharing the Internet (say, Wi-Fi) connection present on your PDA with the not directly internet-enabled desktop via my Web proxy server running on the Pocket PC as described here
And, the list continues...
Please note that you will still need to configure port forwarding (which is in detail explained in my previous, networking-related article). But now, at least this is allowed and can be done – unlike with previous Windows Mobile operating systems.
Kudos to Microsoft – this is a really-really welcome addition! With this, ActiveSync-based networking has become far-far easier!
Of course, every bean has its black. The new networking model does have its share of problems. For example, many firewall/viruskiller applications will sense the WM5 PDA as an intruder, unlike with previous Windows Mobile / Pocket PC versions. You will, therefore, may end up having to fine-tune/reconfigure your firewall/viruskiller applications (if you have any) to let your WM5 devices work. Still, I think the advantages the new networking approach has (for example, the much easier Pocket PC control capabilities from distant locations) far outweigh these minor annoyances/one-time configuration needs.
UPDATE (09/15/2006): Old networking model reintroduced in a later WM5 upgrade
If you have a WM5 device that has AKU (please read this article on what AKU's are) 2.2 or later, then, you have the capability of using the "old" networking model if you just deactivate (screenshot here) the, by default, enabled "Enable advanced network functionality" checkbox in the newly added Start / Settings / Connections / USB to PC applet (x51v screenshot here, HTC Wizard here).
The list of WM5 devices already having AKU 2.2(+) includes for example the HTC Wizard, HTC Universal and Dell Axim x51v - these are the WM5 devices I could test in this respect. Note that, as the 2.01 WM5 upgrade for the iPAQ hx4700 is still AKU1.1 only (screenshot of this here), it has no USB to PC applet and, tehrefore, you can't switch back to using the old networking model using this device (a screenshot showing the Connections tab is here; as can be seen, there is indeed no applet there).
In real life, unless you really need the advantages of the WM5 USB networking model outlined in the above article, it's preferable to disable this checkbox. The reasons for this are very simple: as no additional local networks are created when you connect a WM5 device to your PC, 1. there won't be firewall problems 2. the ActiveSync connection will be active (that is, the device becomes visible to the desktop) far earlier than in the other case (again, because no additional network-creating, IP assigning etc. handshake is needed).
As can be seen in thix vxUtil screenshot (compare it to the new model - that is, this one), the IP of the device will be the old, well-known "192.168.55.101". That is, everything I've ever published about the networking model of pre-WM5 devices' USB connections will be topical with AKU2.2+ WM5 devices with disabled WM5-type USB networking.
Related
Anyone having read my past, remote controlling-related articles knows there already are some remote control solutions to remotely access a Windows Mobile device from under desktop Windows (or, for that matter, with VNC, any other platform, even including another Windows Mobile device).
Solutions allowing this include SOTI's excellent and, if you don't mind the price tag, by far the most recommended Pocket Controller (review HERE). Other, not that good solutions include the abandoned, not recommended PDA Controller, dotPocket, the, so far, only app to support over-the-firewall solution, MS PowerToys and the Windows Mobile version of the free VNC server, PocketVncServ. (See the review & comparison of all these titles HERE).
Now, LogMeIn, which has an already excellent and highly recommended "control the desktop from the PDA" solution thoroughly reviewed in the Desktop Access Bible, also started to offer something similar.
The new solution, as opposed to all of the existing ones (except for that of MS PowerToys , which also allows for avoiding having to have a direct, non-firewalled Internet address), offers a Web-based interface to control (even) remote Windows Mobile devices. Make sure you sign up for the beta if you'd like to grant remote access to any Windows Mobile device you or your company needs to remotely control / administer and the current, above-listed solutions aren't sufficient.
I want to share a folder on my PPC, which i could access on my PC through WiFi, with the simple windows sharing protocol - SMB/CIFS.
i.e: i want to be able to browse my PPC with the address: \\HTCUniversal\Storage Card\Music ....
I'm wondering, how could it be that there is no app/service that will provide this???
It seems like a really basic and simple request, but yet i've found no solution to this.
I found "Mocha FTP Server", but it doesn't quite do the job, because i have to run it manually everytime i want to browse my ppc, so its not that comfortable.
If only i could run such an app as a small service - it would be perfect.
Any ideas?
There are many free SMB implementations on the net under GNU/GPL license, maybe someone could port it to a windows mobile platform?
smb is known simply as "Microsoft Windows Network".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Message_Block
smb and it's server samba is just what linux work call what windows world call
"microsoft network"
use total commander to connect to shared drives you may have to add
the pda as a valid user on the shares though
thanx for your reply, but you must have misunderstood my question.
in a nutshell - I want a samba/SMB/ms windows network server on my ppc (NOT a client).
i want to access folders on my ppc, through my pc, using Wifi.
not the other way around...
doh! my bad
sure it's possible but preciously few of such server services have been implemented on wm that i know off
not sure if it's because lack of demand
lack of mem and cpu juice(i mean an arm 400Mhz cant hold any kind of cantle to an old 400Mhz p4 or amd cpu)
or if it's the fact that batt power and stablity and lack of a device which make everybody else time out due to power saving settings
maybe the people who would be poking at that bear are busy making linux useable on these pdas
1. After publishing my review of VirtualCE 4 (Cross-posts: AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, BrightHand, HowardForums, MoDaCo, PocketGamer.org, PPCT, SPT), there have been some changes:
a new MyMobiler version has been released, implementing, for example, manual screen rotation and the ability to hide the Today screen icon
some of the bugs of VirtualCE 4 have been fixed (for example, BMP24 crashing). Hope the developer also finds a way to completely (even from the bottom taskbar) hide the main selector / controller screen as is asked in the above-linked HowardForums thread
Pocket Controller 6 has turned out to support LAN discovery and hiding the connection “bubble” upon TCP/IP connection (as opposed to the ActiveSync one).
2. I, after more than a week’s waiting (see my previous post HERE), still haven’t received any feedback from the Strategy Analytics Inc. folks regarding the lack of Opera Mini in their 5-Star Safari Leads Mobile Browsing Experience, which, in many Windows Mobile users’ (including me) opinion, is the most useful / quickest Web browser for the Windows Mobile platform. And, for other mobile platforms too – on my Symbian Nokia N95 and BlackBerry 8800, I almost exclusively use this browser to access the Web. Not including it in the test makes the entire report pretty hard to depend on – it’s like completely ignoring, for example, Ferrari (a top-performing car) when evaluating the cars of Formula-1.
And, of course, I’ve already elaborated on the bad ranking of Nokia Web (running on Symbian S60 3rd edition devices – that is, NOT on Windows Mobile) and, particularly, Opera Mobile (running on all major mobile platforms). Again and again, if you do learn the dialpad shortcuts and/or, with Opera Mobile running on a dialpad-less Pocket PC, use a third-party tool to assign its key functionalities (accessing favorites, current tabs, back etc.) to Pocket PC hardware buttons, they both become quicker and easier to operate than Internet Explorer. It’s clearly at this point (in addition to the lack of Opera Mini) that Strategy Analytics Inc.’s report severely lacks – it’s evident the test folks didn’t really make an attempt at learning the dialpad shortcuts / configure Opera Mobile for easy and much quicker access / use.
3. Still as far as Windows Mobile and Symbian are concerned, a brand-new Web browser, Skyfire has been released. See some of the related threads HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE (a preview) and HERE. I, as I’m located in Europe, still haven’t had the choice to test it (it's, currently, only available for US residents).
Based on the first reports, it’s based on a similar architecture than Microsoft’s, for the time being, discontinued DeepFish (RIP!) and Thunderhawk’s Java applet emulation. That is, it, in practice, generates an image of the page on the server and transfers this to the client – there isn’t local HTML (?) / Flash parsing / execution on the client side at all. This has both pros and cons, as has already been explained in my Web Browsing Bible.
I REALLY hope Skyfire is WAY better implemented than DeepFish (or Thunderhawk's applet emulation). DeepFish was really slow – not only because its beta servers were, generally, really overloaded, but also because it was implemented using the slowish Compact Framework, as opposed to the much faster Win32 API. Unfortunately, Thunderhawk’s (remote, image transfer-based) Java applet emulation isn’t really capable of emulating running it on the local mobile either. Therefore, I seriously doubt you’ll be able to, say, play fast Flash action games under Skyfire – you’ll still need a local Flash interpreter (only available Opera Mobile or Internet Explorer - and, also, NetFront, but the latter has a pretty buggy and definitely less compatible Flash engine) for that.
I’ll meet the Skyfire folks at Barcelona; hope I’ll be able to play with their browser a bit so that I can quickly test its usability, small screen-friendliness (for example, does it have the same, excellent text boundary recognition engine than that of Opera Mini in full layout mode) and Web standards compliance.
4. There are new builds of both Jbed and Jblend (two excellent MIDlet Managers – see the Java MIDlet Bible for more info). Due to lack of time, I haven’t tested them. Both has been done by Da_G (his projects’ homepage is HERE) and are accessible HERE. Note that you MUST register yourself (it’s free and is done quickly) in order to access the page above (along with the download).
I hope I’ll be able to test them some time – along with the default Blackberry MIDlet manager. (I might wait with testing the latter until version 4.5 of BB OS is released, though.)
5. the new, in addition to the venerable and no-longer-developed Pocket Humanity, Civilization-clone, Revival (see the links to (p)reviews HERE), has been released! It’s a bit pricey for Pocket PC’s (and Palm OS 5 models): $24.95. Fortunately, if you have a non-touchscreen MS Smartphone, you only end up having to pay $15.95 - just like with Symbian S60v3 and UIQ3 devices. Finally, if you have an old Symbian S60 or UIQ device, you’ll only need to shell out $9.95 for the game. Definitely worth a try! Also note that, in addition to the previews linked above, there’s a brand new JAMM one HERE well worth checking out.
Menneisyys said:
I’ll meet the Skyfire folks at Barcelona; hope I’ll be able to play with their browser a bit so that I can quickly test its usability, small screen-friendliness (for example, does it have the same, excellent text boundary recognition engine than that of Opera Mini in full layout mode) and Web standards compliance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look forward to your thoughts on this eagerly anticipated web browser...hope its not a let down
PS:try to bluejack a copy if you can j/ks
Does anyone knows if BlackBerry Connect can be use on Treo 750?
My Treo 750 going with Windows Mobile 6.0
Cheers,
I'd love to know this too.
I'm with you on that. I've got a Treo Pro and would really like to know if there's any type of Blackberry Connect software built specifically for Palm's Windows Mobile Devices.
Here's some things I've been looking into as an alternative:
1.) Lotus Notes Traveler: In Lotus / Domino 8.0.1 there's an application available for Windows Mobile Clients called, "Lotus Traveler"; the only catch is that your organization must be on the latest version (which in my case isn't the case), in addition to having the server software enabled.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/notes/traveler.html
2.) Common Time - mSuite software: IBM Lotus Notes delivered to Smartphones and PDAs; works with push e-mail, calendar synch, everything you'd want from Blackberry Connect (I believe). However, the only catch (from what I understand) is that you must have a machine (desktop, server, etc.) within the organization LAN running a small service that you will connect with from the outside which acts as a go-between (over HTTP) and does all the synching. This also requires that you will first setup your device to work with the software on your machine (key/pair matching creating trust between the computer and your PDA). This didn't sound practical to me either.
3.) Blackberry Emulators for Windows Mobile: a developer at work was discussing this and I'm not too sure if there is even anything out there like this--I'm guessing that's sort of what Blackberry Connect is--a small subsystem that emulates RIM.
Any other feedback I get I'll post. You're the only person I've found who's looking to do the same thing as me. Would love to hear about anything you've found, or dead-ends you've encountered.
Any hunches and/or leads anyone has on this would be fantastic. I'm trying not to believe that this may be a dead end but for now I'll try doing some more research and see what I can come up with.
Thanks,
Matt
Here's that link for Common Time mSuite (et. al.)
http://www.commontime.com/
Also looked into:
- Pylon Anywhere: Sybase synch solution--I believe you may have to have the device craddled to the computer in order to make this happen. I don't believe this offers push e-mail, although I may be wrong about that. http://www.sybase.com/products/allproductsa-z/pylon
- Intellisync (intellisync.com)
- Lotus EasySync Pro (http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product4.nsf/wdocs/easysyncprohome).
- Odyssey Client 4.0 (found nothing compelling, not too sure what this does).
- PDASync: http://www.laplink.com/products/PDAsync/overview.asp
- XNotes: http://www.tntsoft.com/index.php?xnintro
- XTNDConnectPC: (non push e-mail) http://www.extendedsystems.com/web/content.aspx?key=87479B0C67EF93379DB1AD4D6FA06319
- Heresay Blog Post / Yahoo News Article (news article doesn't seem to exist anymore): http://thinkabdul.com/2007/04/23/blackberry-emulator-for-windows-mobile-60-connect-synchronize-e-mailcalendarcontacts-to-blackberry-server/
Blackberry / RIM Virtual Emulator for Windows Mobile
Apparently there is some truth to the Blackberry Emulator for Windows Mobile.
*WindowsForDevices.com article: http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS3720446400.html
*PCMag.com article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2121074,00.asp
Official Blackberry Connect Message Board regarding Palm Devices
Palm Blackberry Connect (stuff about support on Treo 750, etc. right at the top)
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?searchString=Palm&cmd=search
Windows Mobile Blackberry Connect page (very vague info on this--looks like they leave it up to manuf's to support on a per device basis):
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/enabled/os.jsp#tab_tab_windows
***Looks like good news for Palm Treo 750
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB10593&sliceId=SAL_Public&dialogID=210080962&stateId=1%200%20210078421
That's all I got for now.
I was wondering if there was any software for either, home automation or remote desktop connection. I've searched for home automation and can't seem to find a definitive answer. As far as remote pc goes... I want to be able to see and access all the files on my laptop, from my phone.
you could host a ftp server on your laptop
^ would that allow me to access all .doc and .jpeg files... oh and also music files as well... those are the only extentions i'm really interested in accessing.
sorry for the poor post quality, i'm posting from workon my raphael
absolutly, I am using guildFTPd(freeware) to host. However I can't use TotalCommander to see the dir/file structure, I have to use FTPview. There are other free ftp servers as well (FTPShell Server). Just make sure you use strong security, I do get occasional people/bots trying to getting in the server.
There are also applications like RemoteAdmin, PCAnywhere, VNC viewer to take control of your remote machine ... but if all you want is to access files the FTP approach is better performance wise.
is there some sort of LogMeIn hamachi client for WinMo? I know for PC's it puts two computers on the "same network". that might work, if there is...
You could also try running Orb (free) on your laptop if you want to be able to access files remotely. Allows for all media files specifically but also has a built in file browser.
Also allows for streaming video etc (can be great if you've got a TV capture card on your laptop at home and you want to watch TV from a remote location)
dont know anything about home automation, but
take a look here:
http://www.z2software.com/Remote2PC.htm
allows you to control your pc remotely from your phone.
Also, there exists a mobile version of remote desktop connection. Don't know how to get it, though, as it was already cooked into the rom i'm using (PROven ROM 2.4 21018 UNPROTECTED by qsqa) .
You can both remotely control a PC and access file shares with features built into Windows Mobile.
To control a PC
I have successfully used Remote Desktop Mobile on my Fuze (standard ROM) to control my home PC. My home PC is Windows XP Professional (XP Home does not include the RD server). It works great considering the screen size. This solution is much simpler than installing 3rd-party software on both the phone and the PC.
To access files on a PC
I have used File Explorer Menu | Go To | Open Path | New Path to access file shares. I haven't done this a lot but it seems to work fine. Configuring a share is much simpler than installing and configuing an FTP server. BTW, Windows XP Professional includes an FTP server.
To use either of these features you must have an appropriate network path from your phone to the PC. The easiest way is to use your home wireless network. Then you only need to worry about the software firewall on your PC.
If you use the provider's network, you must properly configure all firewalls to allow appropriate ports, and configure your router to port-forward appropriate ports to the PC. You must also either (1) have a static IP for your home network interface, (2) track your dynamic IP address as it changes, or (3) use a service that maps a host name to your dynamic IP and automatically tracks changes. It might be easier just to store files on a web site, then you don't need to even keep the PC turned on.