Noobie trying to network

[lottathought]

I hope that I am not double posting this question but I have been looking for hours for a question directly to point and I have not found it.

Ok..I am the proud new owner of an Ipaq 2215.
I also purchased the Sandisk 128MB/WIFI combo.

My house computers are connected to the internet through Road Runner.
To be more exact.....
My cable modem plugs into my router.
I have a Linksys wireless router that also has the 4 ports in the back.

From the router, I have 2 desktop computers that are connected to the router via Cat5 cables from ports in the back of the router to the PC LAN cards.

I also have a laptop that I connect to the router via a wireless LAN card (802.11b)

My desktop computers and my laptop are already networked.
I have the files on each set to share and I can access any file on each computer...from each computer.

I have also already been able to access the internet via the wireless connection from my Sandisk WIFI card on the Ipaq...which is wirelessly interfacing with the Linksys router like the laptop.

What I can not do is access the files on the 3 computers from the Ipaq or access the files on the Ipaq from the computers...(other than syncing in the cradle....but that does not help me)

My desire is to be able to play video files on the Ipaq that are stored on the hard drives of the other computers.

I am also hoping that I will get a much faster download speed via the WIFI connection when I am trying to download a video or other large file from the PC to the Ipaq. The cradle can take 10 min or longer for 60MB.

In other words, I want to Network the Ipaq like I have the other computers networked.

How do I do this?
Is it possible with what I already have or do I need other software?
And I would prefer a free program to one that I have to buy if I do need another program.

Also..
On a side note.
I have no idea where to start on good software.
I have already found the DIVX converter program and I am running the Beta player to view theses videos on the Ipaq.
I am not a gamer and I have not installed anything else past the WIFI card.
I have access to news stories on PC's at work and at home already.
For somebody like me, what other good programs would you recommend to try?

And lastly, what free software will allow me to turn my screen from portrait to landscape when surfing the internet on the Ipaq?

Thanks in advance

[Xymus]

I set my own wireless network to work with my h2210 and cf wifi card to do the same thing as you this week, so I hope I can help.

I've tried, and liked, 2 programs to access the files on my network:

The first one is Resco Explorer, which is a great file explorer and allows to access network folders and ftp servers.
http://www.resco-net.com/explorer.asp

There is also PocketLan by z2, it allows to set networks folders as a memory card for the PPC. It's useful if you like to play a lot of files in a row (mp3s probably).
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=2825

I have to say that I'm very satisfied when playing mp3s from my computer on my iPaq, but the bitrate of my movies appear to be a little too high for the network.

I'm sorry but I also believe that there is none or not many freeware that can do what you are looking for. However, you should take a look at the Terminal Services Client, it's a remote desktop connection, and it works really well on a wifi network.

hope this helps.

[Sven Johannsen]

Let me fill in what you should expect.

Having internet access from the PPC is 90% of the battle. To work in your local network, you may need to set your connection to WORK and then go to the proxy tab and set that the work network connects to the internet, so you don't loose that capability.

The built in File Explorer will let you get to shared folders on your other PCs. There is a shared folder icon at the bottom, but you will need to key in the share name, such as \\MyLaptop\My Documents. This will let you get to the files and copy them to your PPC but will not let you run them from the network, which is what you are wanting to do.

The products above, Resco and the other, will let you execute from the network. That works fairly well, but to do media you really want to stream the media from a streaming server, to a streaming client. Pocket Media Player is one of the latter. Fortunately Windows Media Encoder is a free streaming server. There are also many remote media solutions for PPCs if you look for them on Handango and such,

You will not ever get file access to your PPC from your PCs, other than ActiveSync. There is no facility to share PPC files or folders, which of course would need to happen before you could see them. (not ever might be a bit strong, because you can get ftp server software for the PPC, but that's not really what you are looking for)

[troyjam]

I seem to be losing 90% of the wireless battle. I can connect to my wireless network & even activesync via wifi but can not access the internet w/HP 6315. Any suggestions or tips for ipaq wireless settings? Thanks

[Sven Johannsen]

Pretty much the same as above. Find the page that has you set up connections as work or internet, set them to Work, and edit the work setup so that the network connects to the internet. That's on the proxy page.

Not sure how to get there on a 6315, on my slightly older ipaqs its Settings/Connections Tab/Connections Icon/Advanced Tab/select Networks. That page used to be only about three clicks deep before we got Zero Cofiguration Wizards, or whatever that thing is called. You can select Work in both dropdowns and then edit to set that connects to internet thing.

I'm not sure you have to leave it set to Work as I think the Zero config figures that out. When you are on a Wifi connection it thinks you are on a private (or work) network. But it needs to know that network has internet access.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll luck into a configuration that does everything for you.

[troyjam]

Thanks for the help. However when I get to the proxy settings it asks for the name of the proxy server, port etc. Any idea on these settings? Thanks

[Sven Johannsen]

Is there not a checkbox that says, this network connects to the internet. That's the only thing you need to check. Don't fill in proxy stuff if you aren't using one.

[troyjam]

Yes there is a checkbox for this network connects to the internet but when I check the box it's not sticking for some reason. Looks like I'm heading towards a hard reset.

[Sven Johannsen]

That seems to be a common problem. I'm sorry to say I haven't memorized the solution, if there is one, short of starting over. You might want to search for some similar problems, or really dig through http://www.cewindows.net/faqs/connectionmanager.htm and the other pages on networking. Chris has done a great job of compiling the disjointed knowledge that exists.

[lottathought]

Thanks for all of the help guys.
I got Resco and I am now totally networked with the PPC.
And I am even watching videos from files on the Desktop. :)