Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

After a failed Nitdroid adventure and after having purchased another mobile phone, I did not do anything with my N900 for nearly a year. I now dusted off my N900, flashed it and am trying to to give it good use.

Question:
Does anyone know if it is possible to use the N900 as a wireless HDD without Internet, just as the Seagate Goflex Satellite can be used?

When I have Internet, I use TinySmb to access my N900, but on Internet-free spots (beach, lake) it would be great to access files on my N900 from my non-3G tablet by setting up a wifi connection between the 2 devices.

Info: http://www.seagate.com/external-hard...ate-satellite/

If possible, I think it would be a nice way to use the N900.

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

Just use ad-hoc wireless network - unlike androids, Maemo doesn't have any problems with them (except for ad-hoc being power-hog, but that's not problem of Maemo, but specification of ad-hoc itself).

Unless you're using any recent android version for that 2nd device - in such case, you're screwed, as google in its eternal wisdom decided, that users won't be able to do ad-hoc in android, "because". Then, using such poorly designed and written OS, you're doomed to utilize it only over infrastructure wifi - no matter, if you want to access N900, wireless HD, or whatever.

/Estel

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

So we have no ways to use n900 as a media server for android ??
Why infrastructre mode is impossible in 900?
I always wanted the avove mentioned functionablity ...btw thanx for the thread and that segate thingy:D

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

@Estel, thanks, in my case my 2nd device is not Android, but a Blackberry Playbook.

@Nokiabot, the Seagate looks indeed very nice, but since there is no app for the BB Playbook, I think it it more interesting to use it with an Android tablet or iPad.

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

Who needs an app @ mike?? Web browser is the ideal solution:) or cli:? Btw the damm thing saying only 50meters thats enough to push me back i need at least 300 meters .:(

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

I agree that the browser is a good solution, but I could only find on YouTube a demo with IE on a laptop; would like to see a demo with a mobile browser, preferably with the BB Playbook.

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

So, what is it that you're looking for? A solution to use the N900 as a wireless harddisk or as a media device (which, for me, would be mainly music)?

For music / media, MusicPlayerDaemon would be a perfect solution. In my house, all the mobile devices are hooked up to the desktop machine running MPD, and on the N900 that I use daily, MPD runs as well so I can share music on the fly when I am with friends.

Note that MPD is only a daemon to play music. In order to interact with it, you'll need a client. I believe MPC is in the repo's as well as a Qt remake of it.

For sharing things like video, have a look at Knots2.

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

Thanks for the reply Anthonie.

I am looking for a solution to use the N900 as a wireless harddisk for my Blackberry Playbook without Internet, similar to the Seagate solution.

"
Your GoFlex Satellite device has its own wireless network. When you connect to it, it establishes a dedicated link with GoFlex Satellite over Wi-Fi.

Connecting to the GoFlex Satellite Network from a Smartphone
You can connect to the GoFlex Satellite device from any Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone that has a browser.
1. Go to your phone’s Wi-Fi settings.
2. Select GoFlex Satellite from the list of wireless networks.
3. Launch your phone’s Web browser.
4. Go to any URL to be automatically redirected to the GoFlex Satellite main page
"

Source: http://www.seagate.com/files/support...uide-en-us.pdf


The ad-hoc wireless network mentioned by Estel was a nice idea, but after some googling, it seems that this does not work with Blackberry Playbook. Oh well....

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

If you want true infrastructure mode on N900 I would research USB host mode whilst using a USB wifi adapter that is compatible with Linux host-ap.

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

if you really want to take the time i would request a hi range adapter to be comptiable:)
thanx

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

not totally accurate - there is a mod that can be installed that allows for ad hoc connection, and there is also a workaround - overwriting "wpa_supplicant" module.

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

I was wondering could I use Tinysmb or some commandline magick to share the contents of a folder in N900 to my Ipad (disclaimer: got it as a gift) throug bluetooth interface. I have currently set up the system, so that when I enable bluetooth connection from Ipad to my N900 it automatically opens gprs connection and shares the internet access to the Ipad. As default the Tinysmb uses wifi interface, but could it be hacked to use BT or is there any other ways to "easily and reliably" to do this?

Re: Use the N900 as a wireless HDD
 

Actually it was quite easy. I found that somebody had compiled the real smb to the repos, so I downloaded and installed it with apt-get, and enabled the smb.conf.min profile and started it. Immediately after I got the bluetooth connection from Ipad, I could read and write to the contents of MyDocs. Mission accomplished. The speed was acceptable for small sized powerpoints and excel sheet.

I think the smb is by default enabled for all interfaces (I didn't specify it to the pan-interface), so effectively I knocked down the whole wall, when I actually needed only a door, so I just now have to build the wall back around the required door and specify the smb to serve only the bluetooth-pan interface and in special circumstances (in my home and office network) to the Wlan.