How to enable PocketPC WiFi from my desktop PC?

[shaunp]

Hi all,

I have a Siemens SX66 with a cracked LCD/touchscreen. I have a VNC server running on the SX66 so the device is usable but, AFAIK, I need WiFi enabled to login to the VNC server. I figure there's got to be a way to place the SX66 in the USB cradle attached to my PC and enable it's WiFi from my PC somehow. Anyone know how I can do this? Or know how I can access a PocketPC VNC server via the USB cradle? Thanks.

[Darius Wey]

Welcome to Pocket PC Thoughts.

Give SOTI's Pocket Controller Professional (http://www.soti.net/default.asp?Cmd=Products&SubCmd=PCPro) a go. It allows full access to the device via USB.

[isajoo]

link to Free app
http://www.pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=188

pocketcontroller is a great app,but more like an advanced users activesync... the one i linked is just a simple remote display/control. i use it when i want to use my ppc, but it is in the next room charging. activesync will have to be running in the background....so when u connect by usb to the pc it should work.

[shaunp]

Hi guys, thanks very much for the replies. I found a free Microsoft tool called ActiveSync Remote Display which allows me to fully access my PocketPC through my USB+ActiveSync connection. It worked like a charm and now I've got my old PocketPC back! Thanks for the suggestions!

For anyone else reading this, a link to download ActiveSync Remote Display can be found here:
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18401&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

As an aside for other folks with a broken display on PocketPC... After breaking the display (but before finding ActiveSync Remote Display), I installed a freeware VNC server on my old PocketPC (via USB+ActiveSync Add/Remove Programs) and decided to try running VNC clients on my other machines to enable full access to it over WiFi without requiring ActiveSync. I wanted to do this to allow me to access my PocketPC from machines where ActiveSync is unavailable (e.g. Linux, Macintosh, PocketPC, etc.) since VNC clients are available on all OS's I use. If anyone wants to try this software out, the freeware VNC server I'm using for my PocketPC is called PocketVncServ and is available on SourceForge or from a web search. Below are issues and solutions related to setting up a VNC Server on a PocketPC with a broken display:

I found that PocketVncServ automatically starts at boot but the WiFi on my PocketPC isn't always enabled after reset so I used a free program called ozBTWF to automatically enable the WiFi at boot. I couldn't have ran ozBTWF on my PocketPC without a program like ActiveSync Remote Desktop so major kudos to Microsoft for making this available (and free!).

To help me easily connect to PocketPC's VNC Server I configured my home router to assign a fixed IP address to my PocketPC (via it's MAC address) so there's no guesswork about which IP address to use when trying to connect to the VNC server when I'm at home.

Hypothetically, if I was away from home and the PocketPC obtained a dynamic IP address from a WiFi access point, I'd imagine a WiFi Sniffer (such as CommView for WiFi) would allow me to determine the IP address assigned to my PocketPC. Similarly, if I was away from home and no access point was available I could conceivably setup an ad-hoc network and also use a WiFi Sniffer to determine the VNC Server's IP address to access the PocketPC.

I haven't yet tried experimenting with accessing a PocketPC-based VNC Server with a dynamic IP address or within an ad-hoc network yet, but I expect to do so soon and thought I'd mention my ideas here in case anyone is searching for ideas on how to handle these situations. Anyhow, I've got my PocketPC working now!!!! Off to do other things...

Thanks again for the suggestions guys!

Cheers,
Shaun