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View Full Version : Wired Networking without a CF slot


midnight821
08-26-2004, 01:40 AM
I will be taking a few trips in the coming months, which means I will be staying in many different hotels. Most of them have data ports in the rooms, but not wireless. I have a ipaq 4355, which means I do not have a CF slot. Does anyone know of anything for Secure Digital to do a Cat5 connection? Or other means (something to connect to the ipaq for cat5)?

Thanks...

Kati Compton
08-26-2004, 04:17 AM
I'm assuming you are not bringing a laptop? You could bring a small access point... Make sure to configure it before you go.

ADBrown
08-26-2004, 04:47 AM
Kati's right, your only option would be to bring your own WiFi access point. There's no SDIO ethernet cards.

Sven Johannsen
08-26-2004, 05:06 AM
Actually a reasonable solution to this is
http://usa.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-330g/overview.HTM

or

http://usa.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-330/overview.htm

These things have been getting pretty good reviews, and can be had for around $75. The reviews indicate you can pretty muck plug them in and they are ready to go. Don't really need to configure anything if you are doing the 'connect to the hotel wire' thing

The only other option is a BT Access Point, but they still want to much for those.

Radimus
08-26-2004, 04:05 PM
Which is why I love my CF sleeve on my 5455

This is the next item on my shopping list: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000CDERR/102-7888851-0633757?v=glance

CF Slot, extra battery, and screen cover... add a USB port and away we go.

Zero101
08-26-2004, 05:25 PM
I remember seeing a IRDA to Ethernet bridge once, not too long ago. If you absolutely need an ethernet jack, that's a way to get it... but it is probably more expensive than the WAP solution given above.

midnight821
08-26-2004, 05:28 PM
Thanks for your help! I have seen modems for secure digital, but I haven't seen any Cat5 networking cards come out. Maybe in the future...

Sven Johannsen
08-26-2004, 05:56 PM
I have seen modems for secure digital

Where?

Jeff Rutledge
08-26-2004, 06:38 PM
http://usa.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-330/overview.htm


Thanks Sven. I had totally forgotten about these! I haven't checked since I first read about them here, but I was able to find someone in Canada who had them available. Mine should arrive next week.

Sven Johannsen
08-26-2004, 07:25 PM
http://usa.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-330/overview.htm


Thanks Sven. I had totally forgotten about these! I haven't checked since I first read about them here, but I was able to find someone in Canada who had them available. Mine should arrive next week.

We expect a review ;)

I thought they were pretty cool, because, I love my 4155 but have been hit with the wired ethernet at hotels before. I was just about to get one and they released the 802.11g model. I know that doesn't help on the PPC, but I have a laptop with G, so now I'm torn again. The G model looks a little more polished too.

Seriously, midnight821, if you've found an SD modem I'd like to know about it. I know I can get a BT Modem, but it and it's power supply or charger is significantly bigger than I imagine an SD modem would be. The idea is to reduce the bulk when travelling, not require a laptop case worth of support gear for my PPC.

Jeff Rutledge
08-26-2004, 07:56 PM
I was just about to get one and they released the 802.11g model. I know that doesn't help on the PPC, but I have a laptop with G, so now I'm torn again. The G model looks a little more polished too.


I noticed that. I checked and confirmed my suspisions that the 'G' model wasn't available in Canada, then briefly considered waiting for it. Before my mind had made a decision, my fingers had completed my order. :mrgreen:

midnight821
08-26-2004, 11:08 PM
Pretec appears to make 56K modems (SDIO), but I have not been able to find a retailer that sales them. You can find their products here: http://www.pretec.com/Product_image/Product_image.htm

Sven Johannsen
08-27-2004, 03:57 AM
Pretec appears to make 56K modems (SDIO), but I have not been able to find a retailer that sales them. You can find their products here: http://www.pretec.com/Product_image/Product_image.htm

Ah, Yes, I recall that vaporware now. I didn't think they had actually produced any of those. Still don't. I did find it at MobilePlanet actually, listed as being expected today, as a matter of fact. It's in Red though. Don't know what that means.

Jeff Rutledge
09-11-2004, 02:44 AM
We expect a review ;)

I thought they were pretty cool, because, I love my 4155 but have been hit with the wired ethernet at hotels before. I was just about to get one and they released the 802.11g model. I know that doesn't help on the PPC, but I have a laptop with G, so now I'm torn again. The G model looks a little more polished too.


Well, my unit arrived earlier this week. As luck would have it, I'm heading out of town Sunday night for a couple of nights. I've got it set up with a unique channel ID and WEP, etc. (a fairly painless process). I won't do a full blown review or anything, but I'll let you know how it works after I've given it some "real world" time.

Ripper014
09-11-2004, 02:51 AM
Looks like a handy device to own... do you mind me asking the price an where you bought it.

Jeff Rutledge
09-11-2004, 03:29 AM
Looks like a handy device to own... do you mind me asking the price an where you bought it.

It took me a while to find a Canadian re-seller, but I finally found bytewizecomputers.com, which have it for about CA$75.

Sven Johannsen
09-11-2004, 04:03 AM
Actually I purchased one of the Asus APs myself. Does what it says it does. I didn't even bother to do any configuration on it. Took it out of the box, applied power and an ethernet cable from my home network. Popped on the WiFi on my 4155 and used WinC to look for APs. Found an unusual name and connected to it. It was the Asus, and it worked fine.

Just disconnected everything and took it to work the next day. Plugged in power, and the ethernet from my PC. Fired up the 4155 and got right on the net.

Certainly I'll configure it properly before I go anywhere and use it for real, but it seems pretty bulletproof when I could take it out of the box and get it to work on two seperate networks with no problem. That is what i planned to use it for.

Unfortunately, there is another choice now. Netgear has produced a little wireless router about the same size as the Asus AP. Yes I got one, but haven't had the chance to play with it yet. The advantage? It has a DHCP server in it, so you could run multiple users with it. The AP might not do that, depending on how the network is set up that you connect to. The router AP could also conceivable create a little disconnected network fairly easily. So the options just increased 100%.

Kati Compton
09-11-2004, 05:08 AM
OT discussion moved here:
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32162

Please do not continue it here. Thanks!

Sven Johannsen
09-11-2004, 03:21 PM
OT discussion moved here:
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32162

Please do not continue it here. Thanks!

OK, I'm confused. The topic is wired networking without a CF slot. So far we are talking about an SDIO wired modem, and extremely portable routers and APs that can be used when you hit that hotel with only a wired ethernet and you have an SD slot only. What's off topic, and how is linking it to a sean hates CF thread fix it?

Oh, wait, maybe I miss-read the other thread. Did you clip a bunch of posts out of this thread? I guess I'm back on topic then.

Jeff Rutledge
09-11-2004, 05:21 PM
Yeah, the off-topic posts in this case weren't referring to the wireless AP's.

disconnected
09-13-2004, 01:44 AM
I just got the Asus WL-330g from Newegg. I used it last weekend at a Courtyard by Marriott, and it worked right out of the box -- which is a good thing for me, since I wouldn't know what to do with it otherwise.
I have an iPAQ 5500, so up until now I've had to use a sleeve, and a CF ethernet card -- and also about 30 feet of cable if I wanted to sit in bed with the iPAQ instead of sitting at the desk. This thing is a great improvement.

I'm assuming though that it won't help at hotels whose systems don't work with the iPAQ and wired connections. I don't know what the characteristics of those systems are that don't work. So far STSN systems seem to be fine, but I've had trouble with some other systems.

Sven Johannsen
09-13-2004, 03:43 AM
If I understand you right, yes, it won't help if the system the hotel uses couldn't be used with a PPC with a wired ethernet card. It really just extends the Cat5 outlet over the radio. I think it is going to be a useful item if the hotel wired ethernet is free, but if it requires some sort of login, it may be a problem just beacause of the limitations of PIE.

It is a neat little box though. I even turned it around in it's wireless adapter mode today. Hooked it to a laptop (non-wireless) ethernet port and connected to my home wireless network. Just had to enter the WEP key, and surprisingly it generated the correct one from a passphrase. The home network is Linksys, so that just says it is using the same algorithm. Might be standard for all I know, but normally I have to use the hex string since pass-phrase isn't often an option. It comes with a little USB power pigtail so it was pretty self contained. Just the ethernet and USB power cable from the laptop.

frankenbike
09-13-2004, 05:34 AM
I thought they were pretty cool, because, I love my 4155 but have been hit with the wired ethernet at hotels before. I was just about to get one and they released the 802.11g model. I know that doesn't help on the PPC, but I have a laptop with G, so now I'm torn again. The G model looks a little more polished too.

Seriously, midnight821, if you've found an SD modem I'd like to know about it. I know I can get a BT Modem, but it and it's power supply or charger is significantly bigger than I imagine an SD modem would be. The idea is to reduce the bulk when travelling, not require a laptop case worth of support gear for my PPC.

Yeah, I agree. Hard to figure out why there's no SD ethernet cable available yet.

But it was my understanding that the Asus G model would also work with B devices. Am I wrong about that?

And I wouldn't mind carrying a 3.5x2.75 inch device like that if I didn't have to carry yet another freakin' power supply for it.

A friend of mine who has an Ethernet equipped laptop says that the ethernet ports are always located in some part of the room that he really doesn't want to hang out in. He'd rather hang out on the bed and use his laptop. So it seems that even if you got an Ethernet adaptor, you'd either have to locate yourself wherever the port is with a short cable, or carry a spool of cable as big or bigger than one of those devices anyway.

Sven Johannsen
09-13-2004, 04:00 PM
Certainly the G model works with PPCs, as most G APs would. It does cost more and if PPCs are your only requirement, it might not be worth it. I got the G because it just seemed to look nicer, I have uses for it, and the price was not that much more.

It comes with a nice carrying case, about the size of a very fat paperback, that holds the unit, the power supply, the USB power adapter and a short cat 5 cable. It goes in the checked luggage as far as I'm concerned. If you have a non-WiFi laptop there is plenty of room to throw a WiFi PC card in there as well, if you don't want to keep that in the laptop or it's case.

The unit can be used as either an AP to provide WiFi in your hotel room for a wired only service, so you can use your WiFi enabled devices, or it can be used to WiFi enable that non-WiFi laptop for hotels that have WiFi.