Airpanel 100 question

I think these things are making a come back because of ebay. Maybe we should collect all info drivers and what not for these things.

Currently I am unable to connect to activesync in windows vista. I am going to try using a friends computer with xp and a straight usb cable.

Does anyone think they could rent me their cradle for the airpanel 100? Instead of me buying one, I will only use once for 40 bucks.

and I would give a deposit

I am in Columbus Ohio

Anyone know how to get a PM to actually send on the forum? I tried to PM hdokes to find out more about the cisco drivers and utility but the message is just sitting in my Outbox vs. Sent items.

That's normal I believe. I've noticed it does sit there for awhile after you send the message. The message does go through though.

Messages stay there until getting read.

OK. I thought I'd put a message up for anyone contemplating and searching on a Viewsonic Airpanel V100 for a remote desktop touch screen like me. Just some notes to consider...

1. I picked mine up on Ebay for $99 plus tax New in the Box.
2. The auction called out that it did not come with wireless peripherals needed to connect to a wireless network.
3. New in the box it DID NOT come with any sync peripherals - no cradle and no cable at all to sync to your PC.
4. I purchased a Cisco Aeronet 350 wireless PCMCIA card which in one review stated that it came with the V100 and worked out of the box.
5. I have a linksys Wireless router that supports B, G and N, I set it to BG mixed and lowered the transfer settings (I tried different setting troubleshooting the connection to no avail)
6. I purchased a Cisco Aeronet 350 wireless PCMCIA adapter
7. I plugged in the Aeronet and the Airpanel picked it up fine
8. I went into Start\Settings\Control Panel\Network and Dial-Up Connections and CISCO1 was listed.
9. I double clicked on CISCO1 and the Setting for it came up with three tabs, IP Address, Name Servers, and Wireless Networks
10. I clicked on Wireless Networks
11. Nothing showed under Available Networks
12. Clicking on Refresh, nothing still showed under Available Networks
13. Clicking on Add under Preferred networks and entering my wireless network info did not work
14. I then tried manually setting the IP address, GW and DNS to see if I could ping myself and my XP box
15. ipconfig showed an IP address of 0.0.0.0. but the DNS did show what I set it too. Not sure why, but the static IP would not take
16. I went off search for Cisco driver updates on my XP box and found some but...
18. I copied the drivers and util to a USB drive and copied them over to the V100
19. When I attempted to run them on the V100 I received an error message stating that the exe was not a valid CE executable
20. I did more research and was left with the impression that you can actually install apps directly on the V100, but you have to run them on your XP system and then sync them to your V100
21. Problem is the V100 does NOT come with the sync software or hardware out of the box necessary to do this.
22. I tried installing Active Sync on XP and connecting the V100 to my XP box via USB
23. XP did not see anything connecting the V100 - nothing in Active Sync and nothing in the typical pop-up windows you get when attaching a USB device. Nothing - not even a flicker.
27. I tried clicking on Connecting to PC on the V100, still nothing.
28. I gave up and figured well... maybe I can install some CE programs on it and give it to my daughter as a toy with no Internet access.
29. I found a game, copied over the exe and tried to run it. I get the same not a valid CE message. I'm guessing you need to run these on XP and THEN sync them to the V100. Problem is I can't sync.
30. The programs on the V100 are extremely limited. Just some Office viewers and IE that needs wireless

So.... If you are researching a V100 after seeing it on Ebay and thinking it might be a great wireless remote touch screen display for your PC, or a nice wireless tablet for browsing the internet, DO NOT BUY IT!!! The only way I can see it worth it is if you have a docking station or if you already have one working and just need a second one. I'm pretty blown away by Viewsonic selling these new in the box with zero capability of either connecting to a wireless network or syncing to a PC. I can get saving costs by not including wireless, but not including the ability to sync? I don't get it. Hands down it has to be the worst conceived pc product ever. At the time they went for $1000, comparable to a laptop. I don't get it. I tried checking the Viewsonic site for support and get this, they have an image of the V100, but nothing but small handheld devices under it! The V100 lived a short live, and I think I know why, and... considering this I'm not happy with Viewsonic and think they did a poor job with the V100. I won't be buying Viewsonic again. They get my award for worst product ever.

BTW, if anyone needs a second one, I have one brand new in the box (the one I've been trying to get going). It's yours for $50. Half what I paid for it. The battery is brand new and it seems to be running fine although I can't seem to connect!

Until it sells, if I ever get it to work on a wireless network I will post back with exactly how I managed to do it. Even if I do, it was not worth the time I put into it. I should have just gotten a cheap tablet PC.

Edited by v100hell 2009-02-06 11:08 PM

I will agree its been a pain, thats why i was hoping someone was willing to rent their cradle so most of us could get our wireless cards up and running.

If anyone wanting to send it to me for testing let me know and I will see what I can do.

I think I still have my 350 card rebranded for DELL.



S/F<
CEYA!

Wouldn't it be easier to get another WiFi card? I've tried my Agere ORiNOCO Classic card on it and it works fine. There are tons of Agere/Lucent cards on eBay for about 10 USD.

CE Geek, I'm not sure I want to take the risk as the Cisco Aeronet is what Viewsonic sent with review units: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/reviews/article.php/1468361. I do notice I have the Cisco Aeronet 350 and there was a Cisco Aeronet 340 as well. Maybe the 340 works that the 350 doesn't? I have no idea but I don't really want to put more money into it to find out. I'm going to see if I can hunt a card down from a friend and test it. I'll also try it on some other networks. I'll be sure to post back what I find out for others. It could also be my router.

Currently I have a Cisco Aeronet 350 that is picked up by the Air Panel V100 as CISCO1. It doesn't find my Linksys Wireless B/G/N router configured with B/G mixed and transfer rates of 1 or 2Mbps and burst off and some other settings for N off. I just tried an old Microsoft wireless router and it didn't see it as well.

Edited by v100hell 2009-02-07 8:23 PM

Hmm... This thread implies you can't scan SSIDs with the Cisco 340 and 350 without some sort of update:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.handheldpc/browse_thread/thread/341ada6812fe016?q=cisco+aeronet+340+vs+350#ab1f5f716e74c3c8

It sounds like it could just be the HP Jornada not having a client app to scan SSIDs though. The Airpanel does from what I can tell, so this might be completely unrelated. I just found this thread doing a search on the differences between the 340 and 350. I'll be testing out some other wifi cards at a friend's house this coming Thursday. I'll post back which ones I tried and whether they worked.

Here's a thread on the difference between the 340 and 350:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dcom.sys.cisco/browse_thread/thread/781656616eb01ffc?q=aeronet+350+vs.+340#fe8bbdb0ebc00be8

in short: "The main difference between the cards is that the 350 has a 100mw radio, vs the 340 which has a 30mw radio. Also, the 350 has better receiver sensitivity."

BTW, here's a totally different question. Can you run Ubuntu on the V100? I figured if I couldn't get wireless working with Windows CE and I can't manage to sell it I might want to try installing Ubuntu. Not sure how to even get to the bios on the V100 and if you can even boot off of the USB or Compact flash drive.

Dunno if anyone's tried any versions of Linux on the Airpanel, but I'd guess there's a good chance it'd work. Maybe one of our Linux devotees will pipe in here.

I can let you hold you my Fujitsu PenCentra 200-HPC 2000 model, you can send me your V100,V100Hell.

Only if your in the US.

S/F<
CEYA!

CE Geek ... did the ORiNOCO card work with the drivers that are preinstalled on the Airpanel 100? I am struggling with the Aironet 350 as well and wouldn't mind putting a little more money into this if it will work out.

Thanks.