Reading on a Palm OS Device? Cool tool for remote PC Access...

[brecklundin]

This might be old news to long time Palm OS based device users but for me being new to this group of devices I found a way to use Clie nx73v to remotely access my home network and control the PC's there. It works via both the LAN over wired and WIFI or via HTTP. Best of all it's free. But I donated since I am gonna just the crud outta it!

here is the link, it's open source which I am a huge fan of anymore:

http://www.uvnc.com/

Or you can go to SourceForge and search for UltraVNC.

My motivation is I have an old PIII Dell Inspiron 5000 I used as an el cheapo media server in my living room. I have been dying to find an easy way to remotely control just Winamp but now I can control the whole PC really easily.

It's not perfect and is, of course, a big drain on the battery if used to excess. But if I am having a bad day and do not want to get up to play something I can just fire up the Clie and viola I am connected.

Admittedly I have just been using it for a couple days but I have to say this was the EASIEST setup for a RAS system I ever used. Basically I installed the PC side as a Windows service, created a password then installed the client on my Clie and boom...it worked.

Now when reading I can fire up Winamp, tune into a fav music stream, video stream or any danged application I want and go right back to reading or doing my crossword puzzles on the Clie.

Also since the Clie came with built in "remote control" software that works with both my TV and stereo I am in couch potato heaven...hehehe...

I did install one of the encryption plugin modules in case I find I need to access one of the other PC's on my netowrk while not at home. I have yet to fiddle much with the HTTP access though but should be just fine if I setup my router to redirect specific ports to each system...or however the thing shakes out. I say that because before I had a single system running the server now I have multiple systems.

But this has been even easier then setting up a "normal" VPN...plus it allows me to use the Clie without the headache of fighting with the antique web browsers which I have been able to get running on it...

So far this has been the BEST $15.95 I ever spent. I added a NIC for $10 via eBay (xmas is a great time to snag super deals as most folks are buying retail so prices are down...) then $10 to the guy who wrote this software.

Anyway, just thought I would pass along this to anyone else who has an old Palm OS based device gathering dust...

Oh, it also sorta streams video, but it's really SLOW so I am going to try disabling that setting to eliminate that data being sent back to the client side.

Hope someone has some fun with this one...