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I am a Flasher, how about you?

joval Page Icon Posted 2020-03-21 3:38 PM
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ok, after another all nighter...well at least 1:30 am...I have the flashair working on the jornada 720 in AP mode...which means you have to log onto its SSID (in this case "FlashNet" ) to upload or down load files on what is a mapped drive...one that actually works on Windows10.

The cards are quite cheap online...I purchased a couple of Toshiba FlashAir 64 GB wifi SC cards for around 45 dollars each.

Part of the problem was the need to update the flashAIR software to the newest version... ? seems toshiba is no longer supporting the FA, but a different company has maybe taken over; Kioxa corporation...which put out a new release Jan 2020 update tool...just search for flashair update tool Kioxa and it should show up, there being a windows and MacOs version. Run the update ( after backup of sdcard files).

First thing to do is to make a backup of all the files on the sc card... onto your laptop or desktop. Reason being the cards are shipped with exFat formatting...not recognized by WinCE...so after you back up the files, use disk manager or mini-tool partition manager, etc to make 1 or 2 partitions of 32 GB and format them as Fat32 or NTFS. Then copy your backed up files onto the newly formatted flashair sdcard. Next you need to change the configuration file adding the wifi password you want for logging on, change the ssid name to your liking as well from Flashair (FlashNet in my case here), if you prefer. The config file is very customizable and changes need to be made:

I had to add the webdav=2 for read write privileges and upload=1 PLACED before updir=/WEB (presently copying as I SPEAK a gazillion wikipedia files I peruse often at bed time using AIReader).These are changes you write into the config file located in the SC_wlan folder...using a simple text editor and save as config only not config.txt, or rename it to remove the .txt suffix.

Just add or change the following to the "Config" file contents found on the sdcard in the SC_WLAN folder with the following:

APPMODE=4
APPNETWORKKEY=your_password_here
APPSSID=FlashNET

WEBDAV=2
UPLOAD=1
UPDIR=/WEB

This setup works, put the flashair card into your HPC, using a 12 dollar pcmcia to sdcard caddy, or a cf card to sdcard adapter. Make sure to click yes to power up the cards from their hpc slots. You have to log on within 3 minutes or it turns wifi off (you can customize this option later).Log onto your laptop and choose wifi ssid of FLashnet or flashair(default name). the default ip address is 192.168.0.1...to map the drive right click This pc in explorer and chooses map network drive and add http://192.168.0.1 to folder option and save. This works reliably in AP mode.

These cards were originally designed to be used with sd card cameras as an easy way to send files one way only to a pc...but obviously can be used for hpc's if you want faster transfers two ways...
(I have yet to think of all the ramifications of that...one could for instance update any program running off the browser such as my various editions of date time clocks...so long as you use a refresh frequently enough...you could send messages in html to different locations...even remotely if you rdp into a windows machine or a NAS drive on a router either wired or with wep...nothing mission critical...but still useful perhaps) but I digress.

my next attempt will be to try station mode wherein it FA appears as a device or network drive on your main wifi SSID network..so far I haven't been able to get it working in station mode...so the struggle continues.

I think the flashair is a cheap easy way to get wireless connectivity to your hpc and it doesn't bog down the processor like what happens when you use the regular WEP wifi cards like agere, etc, which require a wep router as well. The Flashair is secure with WPA encryption and speed of 150 mbs (in theory...hpc's speed may be less) compared to not secure WEP and 11mbs using standard hpc wifi cards. Also, if you have several hpc's you can easily move the flashair from one to another without configuring anything...it just appears as storage card. Tres simplement!

I guess this serves as a review of sorts. Enjoy
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joval Page Icon Posted 2020-03-21 4:55 PM
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I forgot to mention that you have to add the upload folder to the sdcard....in this case add a WEB folder to the root directory of the FA card, or alternatively just change /web in the config file to UPDIR=/ to upload to the root directory, or change it to UPDIR=/ANYTHINGYOULIKEFOLDER, to upload to a ANYTHINGYOULIKEFOLDER ...hopefully you get the idea.
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joval Page Icon Posted 2020-03-21 11:36 PM
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A bit of a ghost town here today, eh? Anyway, I now have the station mode working in which the flashair is on the same network as your SSID and can be accessed as network drive or mapped drive. I will post that in a new thread shortly. Later I will experiment with having the Flashair and an Agere wifi card on the same hpc ( 2 differnt network cards on the same hpc )and see how file transfers go...just mixing things up a bit.
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roychanyl Page Icon Posted 2020-03-22 1:14 AM
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After reading your post… my interest in FlashAir is confirmed. Just asking… if this thing works on a Sigmarion 3?
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CE Geek Page Icon Posted 2020-03-22 1:18 AM
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Actually, ExFAT is recognized by Windows CE, but only starting with Windows Embedded CE 6.0.
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roychanyl Page Icon Posted 2020-03-22 3:07 AM
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CE Geek - 2020-03-22 9:18 AM

Actually, ExFAT is recognized by Windows CE, but only starting with Windows Embedded CE 6.0.



Out of luck,
anyway. thanks for the clarification? CE Geek.

Roy
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joval Page Icon Posted 2020-03-22 11:11 AM
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roychanyl.... if your hpc has a compact flash card slot, or a pcmcia slot, or even a usb port and of course an sd card slot then the flashair will work...it just appears as a storage folder or as a hard drive. You just need to buy an adapter for the sd card to cf card(there are 2 types...type 1 fits the narrower slot in the Jornada, type 2 fits the wider slot in the mobile pro 900---but the type 1 will also fit the mp900). There is also a sdcard to pcmcia slot adapter which works well with either hpc.. And of course there are numerous sdcard to usb adapters if your hpc supports usb...jornada doesn't, mp900 does. You don't need any special drivers...just place the adapter with the flashair into the slot and it shows up as storage.

Now, you can't use it as a wifi card to cruise the internet...it only appears as storage. but you can wirelessly, securely update or transfer files as high speed from any pc...

Edited by joval 2020-03-22 11:12 AM
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joval Page Icon Posted 2020-03-23 12:15 AM
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CE Geek...I errored in mentioning formating the flashair as fat32 OR NTFS...that should only read FAT32...winCE 3.0 and 4.0 won't recognize NTFS Also, I'm having some issues with copying large files...so it's a work in process and more to follow)
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CE Geek Page Icon Posted 2020-03-23 2:00 AM
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No version of CE natively recognizes NTFS. There was an effort to develop NTFS support in CE a decade ago, but it didn't go anywhere:

https://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=14795
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roychanyl Page Icon Posted 2020-03-23 3:07 AM
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joval - 2020-03-22 7:11 PM

roychanyl.... if your hpc has a compact flash card slot, or a pcmcia slot, or even a usb port and of course an sd card slot then the flashair will work...it just appears as a storage folder or as a hard drive. You just need to buy an adapter for the sd card to cf card(there are 2 types...type 1 fits the narrower slot in the Jornada, type 2 fits the wider slot in the mobile pro 900---but the type 1 will also fit the mp900). There is also a sdcard to pcmcia slot adapter which works well with either hpc.. And of course there are numerous sdcard to usb adapters if your hpc supports usb...jornada doesn't, mp900 does. You don't need any special drivers...just place the adapter with the flashair into the slot and it shows up as storage.

Now, you can't use it as a wifi card to cruise the internet...it only appears as storage. but you can wirelessly, securely update or transfer files as high speed from any pc...



wow, thanks Joval.
that's about cleared my mind. Except a waste considering the wifi criteria.
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joval Page Icon Posted 2020-03-24 4:28 PM
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Actually its not a waste per se on the internet issue...as you can use a tablet or laptop etc to save complete webpages to the flashair...then use AIReader to view them off line. AIreader works very well for this and has some nice features. The browsers on the Jornada720 or MP900 seem to choke up on modern webpages...but the AIReader does a remarkable job of rendering web pages (without scripting).
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