Can the 770 access files stored on LAN/NAS?
 

My 770 successfully connects to my home WLAN and I am able to access the Internet. I would also like to be able to access files (photos and MP3s) stored on a NAS.

Is the 770 able to connect to the NAS? If so, how?

And if so, should I then be able to use the 770's native Image application to view photos stored on the NAS?

How about Rhythmbox? Will it be able to access the MP3 files stored on the NAS?

Thanks,
David

If you can mount the NAS with NFS, then that's a possibility for accessing the NAS, and one advantage to this is that it acts transparently like any other part of the file system, so any tools that work with the file system (like the Images application) should be able to work fine.

I've had a few complications with mounting over NFS, though - firstly, you need root access to try anything at all, and loss of the wireless connection tends to uglify things (I've had trouble unmounting when the connection is not there, for example). Also, I've had issues playing large MP3 files (>200 kbps) over NFS, e.g. occasional audible clicks in playback.

I'd love to try and get automount working so that I don't have to remount every time I want to access an NFS directory, but I haven't even experimented with it; I don't even know if the necessary tools are available.

Thanks for your response. Personally, I don't know a thing about NFS, root access, or anything else of that ilk. While skilled in the MS world, I know zippy about Linux and was hopeful to avoid having to dig too deeply to accomplish this. While I am willing to experiment, I'm fearful that my ignorance will end up hosing the device, or my network, entirely.

That said, I think I'll be patient until the interface provides the ability to browse network resources.

Ah, we're having fun? :D

Of course. By the looks of the tail, relief may be in sight.

OK, the short answer to the thread is YES.

...Wow, that tail is horrible. Sorry about that.

The long answer is: "You can mount a NAS directory but it's a little tricky." I'm sure there's an even longer answer, but I don't think anyone has written it here yet. (And no, I'm not the one to do it -- although I am interested.)

The 770 offers users a lot of opportunity to learn about driving their new device from the command line. ...Alternately, the 770 offers developers a lot of opportunity to create really good front end interfaces.

Considering the limited storage space on the 770 itself, the idea of being able to connect the device to a NAS directory sounds great. Having a GUI to manage this (for instance, something similar to the items that appear in the task status area) would be ideal.

Can the NFS shares be mounted soft? That would do away with the hangs when they are no longer accessible.

Also, since someone said it can access Windows shares, I assume the N 770 has a working SMB client. Doing a GUI for these (or porting one) like Gnomba isn't difficult and should be available soon - someone could suggest this at maemo-devs list. But it would be heaps more intuitive if it was integrated in the file browser - it could search for shares (on demand please! ;) ) and also navigate by url, Konqueror style.

That said, mounting shares is not a particular daunting task, even when done by the CLI. Windows-savvy people could take this opportunity to gain some knowledge; sometimes doing thing using a command prompt is way more efficient then using a GUI.

Here is an article on using external storage (USB and NFS) with the 770:
http://linux.seindal.dk/item91.html

The 770 has a working SMB client?