Connecting a Pocket PC to the Internet via your PC using the USB cradle, serial cable or IrDa link
The methods shown within this tutorial allow you to access the internet using the following PC linkages:
- USB Connection
- Serial lead connection
- IrDa connection
and then show how to configure Pocket Internet Explorer and InkSpot CE to access the Web and News Servers via your new linkage.
- The stages involved are:
It should be noted that my Internet Service Provider (ISP) has issued me with
a static IP address which will not change. Other ISP' s may issue with a dynamic
IP address which can change each time you connect to the Internet. These
instructions do not contain data as to how you will have to modify the proxy
server settings on the PC for a dynamic IP address - refer to the documentation
provided with the proxy server software.
Obtaining the tools needed
To follow these instructions you will need to obtain:
- Pocket PC - Registry Editor
- Desktop PC - Proxy Server Application
Pocket PC Registry Editor
For this I can recommend the PHM Registry Editor which can be found at
http://www.phm.lu/Products/regedit.asp.
Although this is still being developed it works perfectly and is free of charge.
PC Proxy Server
At least two Proxy Server applications can be recommended; WinGate and
AnalogX Proxy. These instructions have been written using the AnalogX Proxy PC
program which can be obtained from the AnalogX Website at http://www.analogx.com/.
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Modifying the PPC's registry to create a new RAS Connection
| !!!! WARNING !!!! |
| I take no responsibilities as to what you may
do to your device when you change the registry. If the modifications are
made incorrectly you can seriously damage the operation of your PPC. I
recommend you take great care when making the changes. If anything goes
wrong it's on your head not mine. You have been warned. |
Here we go, this is the only really scary part of the operation as if it goes wrong you may have to hard reset your PPC to get it working once more.
So if you are ready away we go with the six steps involved in creating the new RAS Connection:
1) Backup your PPC
Backup the Pocket PC either via serial or USB connection to the PC, or via backup software to the MM card. This gives you a life line just in case something does go wrong.
2) Run the Registry Editor and locate the RAS entries as follows
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Comm\RasBook
You will see a list of the currently available settings
Example:
...
'115200 Default
'19200
Default
'38400 Default
...
'Infrared Port
...
'USB Socket
Default
We're particularly interested in the following:
- 'USB Socket Default' if you wish to link via USB
- '115200 Default' if you wish to link via a serial connection.
- 'Infrared Port' if you wish to link via IrDa.
Our task will be to create a new key into which we will copy this key's data. |
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3) Create the new key
Create the new key with any name you like, as long as it
doesn't have the ` prefix at the beginning or it won't show up in the
list.
It should be noted that when creating the key you should
create it as type 'Binary value'.
You could name the new keys as:
- USB Dial
- Serial Dial
- IrDa Dial
Here the key has been created and entitled 'USB Dial'.
We will call this key the 'YYYY Dial' key - see later. |
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4) Copy the values from the 'xxxxxxxx' key
'xxxxxxxx' = 'USB Socket Default', or '115200 Default', or Infrared Port'
Go to the relevant 'xxxxxxxx' key and copy the 'Entry' data value.
As the PHM Registry Editor does not yet support clipboard
operations (copy and paste) you must use the built in keyboard to copy and
paste the data.
Tap on 'Entry' to view the actual key value - the data
should already be highlighted. Tap on the input selector to bring the
standard keyboard on to screen and then tap the [CTL] and
[C] buttons to copy the data. |
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5) Paste the copied values into your new 'YYYY Dial' key.
Move into your new 'YYYY Dial' key and tap in the 'Value data' box.
Tap on the input selector to bring the standard keyboard
on to screen and then tap the [CTL] and [V] buttons to paste
the data into the key.
Finally modify the 'Value name' to read 'Entry'. |
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6) Soft reset the device
This is the easy part. Ensure you have no applications running on the PPC and
then reset the PPC. Once the PPC has been reset you will be able to use the new
'YYYY Dial' RAS Connection.
NOTE: Do not go into the Connections screen and modify the 'YYYY Dial'
connection in any way - doing so will change the settings and you will have to
go through the copy process once more to recreate the Connection.
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Adjust the PPC so that it will use the new RAS Connection for synchronising with the PC
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Go to 'Settings' - 'Connections' tab and select the 'PC Connections' icon.
Select your new 'YYYY Dial' RAS setting from the drop-down list. Here 'USB Dial' has been selected. |
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Changing the options for Pocket Internet Explorer so the new RAS Connection can be used for web browsing
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Go to the 'Settings' - 'Connections' tab and tap the 'PC Connections' tab.
Select your new 'YYYY Dial' RAS connection from the drop-down list.
Check 'Access remote content automatically'
Check 'Use proxy server'
Type the IP address of your PC** in the 'Address' box and
the port of the Proxy server that should be running on your PC.
** - If your system uses a dynamic IP address, that is one
that changes each time you connect, and you are using the Analog proxy
then the IP address should be set to 192.168.55.100 as this is the IP
address of the Analog proxy server. |
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Setting up the Proxy Server
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Once you have downloaded and installed the AnalogX Proxy
application you should set it up as follows:
- Turn on the services you require. Here I have activated
HTTP for Pocket Internet Explorer and NNTP for the InkSpot
Newsreader.
- Fill in the data for your news server
- Ensure Proxy Binding is left as disabled.
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Browsing the World Wide Web
Before running the Pocket Internet Explorer you must:
- Ensure you have a live connection to the Internet running on your PC, either dialup or via LAN, ADSL, etc.
- Ensure you have the AnalogX Proxy Server software running.
- Ensure the AnalogX Proxy Server icon in the PC's Taskbar is green - indicating all is running without problems.
You can now run the Pocket Internet Explorer and turn on the Address Bar (GO
bar) via 'View / Address Bar'. You can now input the URL data into the address
bar and browse away.
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Accessing Internet News Servers
You will need to configure InkSpot as per your requirements, the only
'special' settings needed for accessing news servers via the YYYY Dial RAS
connection are the 'server' and 'connection' settings.
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During the setting of the InkSpot options you should set
the server to use the IP address** of your PC.
And the connection method should be via the new RAS 'YYYY Dial'
** - If your system uses a dynamic IP address, that is one
that changes each time you connect, and you are using the Analog proxy
then the IP address should be set to 192.168.55.100 as this is the IP
address of the Analog proxy server. |
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Before running the InkSpot Newsreader and bringing in news you must:
- Ensure you have a live connection to the Internet running on your PC,
either dialup or via LAN, ADSL, etc.
- Ensure you have the AnalogX Proxy Server software running.
- Ensure the AnalogX Proxy Server icon in the PC's Taskbar is green -
indicating all is running without problems.
You can now run InkSpot and use the 'connect' option to bring in news:
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