MagicQ, Android and Wireless

[indyld]

Hi All

 

I have just taken delivery of a little Edimax USB Wireless Access Point as specified in the Cham Sys documentation but am having trouble getting my phone connected to our MQ Pro 100. All the relevant settings are enabled as far as I can tell.

 

Following the MQ guide to remote control, I've set up the Edimax, IPs as per manual and can also see the SSID and connect to/ping the IP of the MagciQ Wifi Adaptor using my netbook. I was unable to Remote Control the MQ from my netbook however as it doesn't see any other consoles, which is interesting. I've only ever RCd the MQ using a wired connection before. But this time I simply want to set up the phone remote anyway.

 

I've tried to see the SSID from my Galaxy S Android phone and can't for the life of me get it to show in the available wifi networks. As I said, the SSID is there when viewed and pinged from a laptop, but even if I set up static IPs (again, as per manual) on the phone, it just doesn't show and I therefore can't get it to connect.

 

It all seems very odd, considering I am using the exact kit that Cham Sys specify in the config that they suggest. I can't help feeling it's some kind of failing in Android but can't work out how to resolve it.

 

Does anyone else have an experience of this or any ad hoc wireless networking tips?

 

Thanks

[Wol]

If the SSID doesn't appear on your phone, but does appear when viewed from a laptop then chances are you'll need to upgrade the radio firmware on your phone as it's not supporting the Ad-Hoc network.

[Grum]

I've had the same problem trying to use the iPad app. I was wondering if Edimax have changed the firmware or something. Could get the Edimax to work fine on the PC but when I connected it to the desk nothing happened.

[timsabre]

If the SSID doesn't appear on your phone, but does appear when viewed from a laptop then chances are you'll need to upgrade the radio firmware on your phone as it's not supporting the Ad-Hoc network.

 

As far as I could determine, Android doesn't support Ad-Hoc networking at all, I have just run into that problem on a different job I was doing. Iphone does.

If you are happy to hack/root your android phone you can get it working.

[indyld]

As far as I could determine, Android doesn't support Ad-Hoc networking at all, I have just run into that problem on a different job I was doing. Iphone does.

If you are happy to hack/root your android phone you can get it working.

 

Following on from this answer, all the information I can find on the subject suggests that Android doesn't support Ad Hoc networking unless you hack it which isn't really ideal either for myself or for my students that don't need that kind of headache on top of simply connecting to the desk. One thing that I've found out is that not all young people are as tech-savvy as you'd suppose....

 

The obvious answer to a cheap WAP but if I'd known that were the case I wouldn't have bothered buying the Edimax in the first place. It was planned to be a cheap and "easy" solution that didn't involve any other hardware, network cables etc. It sounds like the iPhone/iPad users will be fine but s'a bit much to have to tell Android guys that it can't work for them :-(

 

I also am not clear why I could ping the MQ from my netbook but the Remote Control didn't see the any consoles on the network. Not the main problem but interesting nevertheless.

 

Thanks for the ideas so far.

[J Pearce]

There are plenty of cheap wireless routers on eBay. Setting up is as simple as turning router on and telling laptop and phone/tablet to connect to the right wireless.

 

I bought a netgear something for £5 to use with work's Palette.

[timsabre]

There are plenty of cheap wireless routers on eBay. Setting up is as simple as turning router on and telling laptop and phone/tablet to connect to the right wireless.

 

Agreed, forget the USB ad-hoc wifi and just get an ethernet-connected access point. Android will work with that no problem. It's another box to carry and plug in, but only a little one.