HP iPaq 4705

[jhenderson010759]

Hi -

I am unable to configure the iPaq 4705 to communicate with XLobby. In the past, I used Terminal Services to remote access my den PC via the PDA.

The XLobby server seems fully functional and can be operated via the server GUI. Foobar is fully operational from within the server GUI.

But the PDA will not connect to the XLobby server. The server is at 192.168.1.104. My .txt file has been edited on the PDA to contain 192.168.1.104:ppcmenu.

When I installed Compact .NET on the PPC via the Microsoft .msi file, the PDA displayed a dialog inidicating that this version of .NET was written for a "different version of Windows", so it may not display correctly. I don't know whether this is really my problem, or whether something else on the PDA is simply misconfigured.

Anyone have any ideas?

[hjackson]

Do you have any other client PCs hooked up to the Xlobby server?

hjackson

[gamejester]

Sounds like you need to upgrade the version on Pocket Windows you are running on your iPaq. If you had the latest version it would already have the required .net components built in.

Compaq release the OS as a Rompaq upgrade, go to the Compaq web site and see if there is an update available for your model.

[jhenderson010759]

I don't have any other clients attempting to connect to XLobby.

The iPaq 4705 is running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition 4.21.1088 (Build 14132). As far as I can tell, this is the latest version.

Has anyone used this edition of Windows with XLobby? I don't understand how this SW could be seriously out of date, since this unit was just released about two months ago.

Clearly, I seem to have an incompatibility, but I am wondering if the .NET release is incompatible with 2003?

jim

[gamejester]

OK, I should have read your model number before jumping in, just read the incompatibility comment.
WOW, that is a nice iPaq, latest model.
As it comes with 2003 SE, this will already have the .net compact framework installed, no need to add it yourself.

I doubt you could have stuffed it up, the MSI for the framework install probably stopped at the 'wrong OS' message anyway.

Have you started the xlobby server?
From memory if you go to setup (Hit F2) on the misc TAB select server mode, set the IP and click the boxes to start server now and start in server mode.

[jhenderson010759]

I have started the server application and clicked the Start Server button. But, I should go to another machine on the network to insure that it is actually serving up files and data to a properly-configured client.

The problem with my iQue seems a little more pervasive. I can't actually connect to my router via the Pocket IE browser either (error 404). So, I must have the network configuration honked-up somehow. Strange, how I can configure the PDA to do terminal services to talk to the DenPC, but can't talk to the router directly.

I don't think the PDA had a copy of .NET pre-installed. After installing the latest Compact .NET, it shows up in the programs list. But nothing like that was shown prior to the install

[gamejester]

Have you managed to get it working yet?
I have been looking to replace my iPaq 2210 and am interested in getting a hx4705 as well.

Does sound like you need to sort out your general wifi network issues first though. Your den PC is probably on the same sub-net as your PDA so that is why you can see it, now to get the internet to work with pocket IE you need to both be able to resolve DNS and route packet to other subnets, so check your default gateway and DNS server address on your PDA.

[jhenderson010759]

No, I don't have this working yet. I think the PDA is WIFIing fine, though, because I can use IE to access the net and I can Terminal service into the den PC without problems.

To my mind, any networking issues could be resolved eventually. But, the apparent incompatibility of the .NET libraries seems unsolvable to me. I wrote HP about this incompatibility, and they of course told me to take it up with Microsoft. I didn't even bother to email MS, I already know what their response will be.

Jim

[gamejester]

OK, I've done a bit of research for you.
It looks like the 4705 has the compact .net framework built in + I just checked my 2210 which has an older version of pocketPC and that has .net built in, so you should not have installed the downloaded compact .net framework.

Also, there may be a problem with c# .net code on the 4705
http://www.ipaqhq.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10339
this guy has written a program to test it.

I suggest backing up any data you have on the iPaq then do a hard reset to wipe it back to factory default, that will get rid of any incompatible .net files you have added. Then run the test prog from the link, if this works add xlobby and re-configure your wifi and it should work.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[jhenderson010759]

GameJester -

You are a Hero of the Revolution. I will apply the patch mentioned in your link, attempt to use XLobby and report results.

Jim

[jhenderson010759]

GameJester -

I downloaded the test application and patch from the link you supplied. I installed the patch and ran the test program. My PDA reports that it is capable of running .NET applications.

But, the failure mode when attempting to connect to XLobby is unchanged. The client cursor flashes briefly, then nothing runs.

So, I went to another machine on my home network and attempted to run the client there. Same error. I verified the .NET Framework 1.1 is installed on the PC client and know from the test application above that .NET Compact Framework is viable on the PDA.

This is starting to look like a server problem. Yet, the XLobby server starts and initializes fine and I'm able to control Foobar (music) from within the server application. The XNET tab indicates that the server is running on 192.168.1.100 and this is the IP used in each of the client server.txt files.

Any ideas?

TIA

[tsjdesign]

You may already be doing this, but what you are describing is exactly what I experienced until I read through this:

http://www.xlobby.com/Documentation/ClientServer

I used the example configurations at the bottom of the page instead of the example configuration in the readme.txt file that came with the download (and didn't work) - started right up!

-Todd

[jhenderson010759]

That was it!

Thank you all for your help. Now, if I can just get the music screen to be readable on the PDA....

[gamejester]

Does it work full screen at 640x480 on the ipaq?
Have you tried creating any custom screens for the ipaq at 640 x 480 as all the current ones will be a qif res so will have to be scaled up, which is not as efficient + you can fit more detail on you nice high res screen.

[jhenderson010759]

If I run the iPaq in native 640x480 VGA resolution and modify the XLobby servers.txt file to select VGA resolution, the screens are faithfully reproduced on the iPaq.

But there's a catch. These hi-res screens are simply unreadable, because of the small physical screen dimensions. Even when running in non-native resolution, none of the the skins that I have downloaded (Jowaldo, Heavy Metal, Colby) work acceptably with the iPaq. All of them were designed for lower res screens (320x240?) - so their menus do not paint the entire iPaq screen.

More importantly, these skins were not really designed for use with a small PPC screen in mind. They all put WAY too much tiny text information on the screen, none of which is readable. They also all seem to assume that cover art will be available for each album, to allow you to select an album by its glyph. For my music (classical), I don't have any cover art nor is it readily available.

I contacted Jowaldo about modifying his skin for the iPaq. He replied and is willing to do some work. But, I'd need to mail my iPaq to him so that he can use it as a development machine.

In summary, though I was able to get XLobby to operate and communicate with my iPaq (with your help!), I am not able to use it unless I design a new skin. However, since Windows Terminal Services provides access to foobar directly without having to design an XLobby skin, I'll just keep using TS for now.