With no wi-fi at home, I'd like to make dial-up on my WinXP PC available to the N800 for internet access. I'd like to know if this is possible, and, if so, the cheapest way to accomplish it. I've gotten USB networking to function on my N800, and the Connection Manager shows "Internet Connection: WIRED & Status: Connected", but I can't figure out how to get the N800 included as part of my home network so it can access dial-up. I'd appreciate any help with this so my N800 can get to the net from home rather than the nearest wi-fi hot spot. Thanks for any suggestions.

Can I probe into if you actually got USB networking working for XP? I thought that feature was broken for the tablets? Does it show up active on XP network connections? If so, how'd you do it?

You can use the Internet Sharing Wizard to share a dial-up connection across any other network device. Does your WinXP have a wireless card at all?? That would be the easiest.. can setup an Ad-Hoc.

Otherwise a USB-Ethernet dongle or USB networking which you've already done would be the only options I see.

I got USB Networking for the N800 functioning so that I can use appropriate adapters (listed below) to connect the Nokia to an RJ45 wall jack at my neighborhood library and can access the internet via that connection. Of course the library has high-speed internet which I can also use for access via wi-fi on the N800. At my home I connect through the USB Networking adapters to my home network hub. The Nokia’s Connection Manager indicates a valid connection. The appropriate LEDs on the the network hub and the USB-to-Ethernet adapter are illuminated. However, when I attempt to access dial-up internet from the N800, the effort fails. I expect that I need to get the WinXP network to recognize the N800 and allow it access to dial-up, but I don’t know how to accomplish this final step.

Stskeeps: To set up USB Networking, I worked through the appropriate information on the Maemo Wiki in User Documentation. Here is a link to an important page: http://wiki.maemo.org/USB_networking. I’m not sure if I’ve answered your questions. Let me know if you have more.

Fatalsaint: Do you know that someone has actually used a wireless network card with dial-up on a WinXP PC and a Nokia N800? If it works, this sounds like a relatively inexpensive option. Of course I’d want to avoid any security risk. Thanks for your response.


USB to Ethernet Viewcon VE091 (RTL8150L chip)……….Amazon (about $15.00 delivered)
N800-USB-360-OTG USB-F to USB-5pin-mini-male-B Adapter…….Electronic Products Online (about $16.00 delivered)

You keep going on about dial-up, but that's really a non-issue -- it'll be the same whether the NT box is connected via dial-up, DSL, cable, anything.

The important thing is that the NT box is connected to the internet, and is also connected to the N800 -- it seems you have this. Then you need to set the NT system to serve as a router (and probably a NAT) to get traffic between the N800 and the internet. Windows Internet Connection Sharing should do that, and should handle it the same whether you're connecting via ad-hoc WLAN or ethernet.

I would point out that ad-hoc takes substantially more power to maintain a connection than infrastructure, so if you go with WiFi, it's probably worth 20 bucks (estimated) to pick up an 802.11b AP.

Benson

Your comments are appreciated. I assume the "AP" in "802.11b AP" means Access Point. Is there a specific brand/model you would recomment? Thanks for your reply.

so wait, how do any of the other PC's access the internet?

It sounds like all you need to do on the XP machine, is share the LAN with the dial-up using internet connection sharing.

cause you already have the ethernet to USB adapter, and that works as you said at the library, and you have a hub at home (i'll assume you said that on purpose, and it's not a router)

so, the XP machine will become a NAT/DHCP server (a router) when you turn on internet connection sharing, and then anything plugged into the hub alogn with the XP machine will be able to access the dial-ip (assuming the dial up is already connected)

OK, you might want to try this. Buy a Wireless Router (802.11n routers can be gotten for 20 bucks, .11g for $15, and .11b for $10), and then set this up to use the XP machine for internet. so

Tablet < -- WiFi -->Router<------->Windows PC<---dial-up--->

I think there are tutorials on how to do this, because it is not tablet specific.

Edit: About the price... I'm talking about a good sale, not normal waltz into a store price. For example my router died, and my dad got a nice deal (no rebate or nothing!) on a new draft .11n router when they were new for under $30. So you have to look around, or risk getting ripped off.

No specific recommendations, except maybe stay away from Zyxel, as some of them have broken power-saving support...

And apparently I shot high on price. Thanks, Sand Lord.

Yesterday, I decided to follow Benson’s advice about trying a wireless access point. I bought the only one to be found in any local store, and I have a few days to test it before returning it for a full refund, if it doesn’t work. So far, success has been elusive, and I could obviously use help to figure out what to change to make this configuration work. Thanks for everyone’s time in reviewing the information below and making any helpful recommendations.

The computer I’m using has Win XP and dial-up internet. The PC and a Linksys WAP54G are both connected via cat-5 cables to a Netgear DS108 hub. All the appropriate LEDs on the PC, the hub and the WAP are illuminated as expected. Following are details about the computer’s configuration:

Network setup wizard [The following option was chosen.]
This computer connects directly to the internet. The other computers on my network connect to the internet through this computer.

ipconfig on the PC lists the following Ethernet adapter Network Bridge:
Connection-specific DNS suffix…..:
IP Address………………………………...…: 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask………………………………..: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway…………………………..: 192.168.1.1

Below is the setup information for the Linksys WAP54G Wireless Access Point:
Basic Settings:
Device1 name…………........……..... Linksys WAP54G
Password………………….........………… *****
Network…………………….……........…. Static IP
IP Address………………………........... 192.168.1.254
Subnet Mask………………..........…... 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway……………........….. 192.168.1.1
Wireless Settings:
SSID………………………………............ TestWAP
Channel………..……………........……… 6
Network Mode..……………........……. B-only
Security Settings:
Home…………………………….............. WPA/WPA2 Personal
Configure Wireless Security Settings:
Security…………..……………............. WPA Personal
Encription…………………….........…... TKIP
Passphrase…..………………........…... *********

When attempting to access www.maemo.org on the Nokia N800 via the WAP, all indications look promising, but the attempt ultimately times out after about 3 minutes.

During an attempt, the Connection Manager displays the following:
Internet connection: TestWAP
Connection Type: WLAN
Signal: [100%]
Status: Connected or Data being transferred
Received: [Increasing Value]
Sent: [Increasing Value]
Duration: [Increasing Time]

The attempt ends with the following error:
Network timeout
Site did not respond
• Site may be busy or unavailable
• If internet connection is protected by proxy, ensure it is enabled and the proxy addresses are correct via Control panel > Connectivity
• Proxy server may be busy or unavailable
• Contact network administrator or internet provider for proxy assistance