Sandisk ConnectPlus 128MB - Driver update for ARM HPCs

I've been playing a bit with this card recently and I have some things to share.

Context
The Sandisk ConnectPlus is a lovely combo (Wifi + 128MB Storage) card that never had an actual HPC driver.
20ish years ago I created a hybrid driver using the official PPC driver + the control/config panel from the standard PRISM driver. It was a very basic solution; It didn't have AP scan capabilities so you had to use other apps like MiniStumbler to find access points, WEP keys had to be enter in HEX because their "passphrase" to HEX conversion didn't work in 90% of the APs I tried it with, and didn't show you your IP information, etc.... but it worked great.

However, fast-forwarding to present day, DHCP doesn't seem to be working with that very same driver I ""made"" (The config app relies on WinCE's own DHCP settings, and while worked fine back in the day, it doesn't seem to be faring that well today).

Square One
So if we go back to the original driver, now it's a lot more usable thanks to RedGear:

And it's great, because the original driver not only has its own (working) DHCP panel, but also includes an AP scanner and a PING utility, their WEP key conversion from passphrase or ASCII actually works, so no need for other apps, AND the app itself shows you information like your IP. However, it's not particularly easy to use when you have to scroll down to switch tabs and then back up to change settings.

Solution?
So I decided to do some Res-Editing in the original driver, and this is what I got (not going to show all screens but this should be a good showcase):

This "mod" only replaces the Wlu.cpl control panel app that comes with the original driver with my version, and still requires RedGear (or just aygshell.dll) to run.

Problems so far?

• Unlike the PRISM control panel, this driver doesn't have a way of turning the wifi radio off. It includes the dialog in the resources (together with a channel strength indicator) but for whatever reason it seems to be hidden and never used in the app, or at least it's not trigger-able on an HPC.


• If you leave it running for whatever reason it prevents the "Remove Apps" to be opened more than once, so I would normally close it as soon as I'm done setting up the card. I also remove the shortcut it creates in Startup so it doesn't launch automatically.

Haven't found other issues so far, and seems to be a lot more usable than my 20-year-old hack.

So... Would it be valuable in any way to package this as an HPC driver? Or maybe just distribute the modded panel and instructions on how to apply the mod? Or maybe this is not worth the trouble at all? I mean, the original driver is still usable to some extent with RedGear, it's just REALLY annoying and inconvenient to use.


What do you all think?

I think that's really cool. I hope C:Amie will put your packaged driver in the HCL. Seems like a worthy upgrade to the original to me!

It is certainly worth packaging into a cab if possible!

Nice! Will try to do it, then.
Another small issue it has (visible on the screenshots), is that tabs don't have names. I've been unable to fix that so far, but it's a minor inconvenience. If I find a way to give them names so it's easier to navigate I will, but otherwise that "issue" is still something that comes from the original driver and was not introduced by the mod.
If I'm not mistaken I think that tab names are given when the tabs are added to the control, and not at resource level, but I'll keep digging.

Tab names are usually a property of the control class, yes. Unless there is a MUI, you wouldn't expect to find them in a resource.

I assume that there is no MIPS version of this?

There's a string table in the resources that seems to contain what could potentially be the name of the tabs, but it's either not used, or completely disconnected from the actual tab control. Will keep tinkering.

Regarding a MIPS release, I checked the installer I have from Sandisk, and unfortunately it only includes a driver for ARM, making this probably the most niche wireless card of them all.

That is annoying; and wasting space!

ARM is not surprising if it was intended for PPC2000+,it's our loss if there isn't any other though.

Yeah. At this rate I think there will be *very* few actual users of this card. It's already a very uncommon wireless card, and the fact that it can only be used with ARM devices make it even rare-er.
I feel like I'm going to be the only user of my modified driver for a long while

We'll get it in the HCL and you can spy on the download counter

I definitely will.
Anyway, to prepare the CAB: This can either work with RedGear or I can include the only dependency (aygshell.dll) in the cab. Thoughts?

Whatever makes for the smallest, most user convenient install - or if you have time, do both.

Congratulations on the great work!

Thanks!

I've attached a ZIP with two versions of the driver, one with aygshell and one without the DLL.
I've also added some notes.

I doubt a lot of people will be able to test this (because the config app will not "open" unless you have the card inserted) but I'll be more than happy to perform more tests or screenshots if needed.

C:Amie, let me know how we can get this added to the HCL!

EDIT: Found a way to restore the tab names! Turns out they weren't showing because they were at the bottom. Moving the tabs to the top and shifting the dialogs made them appear!

Edited by ShadowMaster 2023-03-03 3:43 AM






Attachments
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Sandisk ConnectPlus+128MB HPC mod (v1.1).zip (318KB - 8 downloads)
ScrSnap013.png (6KB - 0 downloads)

Looks great, thank you for this!

I currently do not own a ARM based Handheld PC (only Pocket PC devices), but recently I was able to pick up one of these cards very cheaply thanks to you mentioning it, I had no idea SanDisk sold network cards at one point.
I'm on the lookout for a Jornada 720/728 locally so this will come very handy once I manage to acquire one.

Oh that's great. I like this card a lot, mostly because you get storage and wifi in the same card, and for PPC/HPC devices both storage AND expansions slot are a precious scarce resource. The memory area is great as a download folder, or to put wifi/network tools or other stuff that you'd normally use when connected to Wifi.

Hope you find a Jornada! They are fantastic devices.