networking and clintrob go hand in hand... i'll see if i can answer a few of these ?'s...

I followed the instructions above and they worked perfectly.. synced the i500 up over the air, I have a wireless lynksis router hooked to a notebook... 128 bit encrypted.. using a static ip for the notebook..

ok, as i was about to write this robo posted a nice solution... very good explanation and detail...

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old devices: I300, I330, I500
current: I730

Wow thanks so much guys. I think I was able to forward those ports to my laptop. Also which is the IP address of the router? I am assuming it is the "WAN IP" and not the LAN IP?

So as long as you point towards your router and set up the forwarding, thats how the phone finds my laptop/client?

I still cannot get it to work. I have plugged in my routers IP (WAN IP) and forwarded the ports but it says cannot connect. Sigh.

Holy crap it actually works!!! Now my only problem is my dynamic IP that the cable company changes every couple of days and the DHCP on my laptop. I might just sync on mydesktop and set it a permanent IP.

What a cool feature, I wonder why Samsung left out instructions for this powerful option.

The router has two IP addresses (and routes between them).

The WAN IP address is the Wide Area Network, which in this case is the Internet. This is the address you plug into the i500.

The LAN IP address of the router is it's address on the Local Area Network.

In the IP Forwarding of the router, you need to put the static LAN address of the computer you want to synchronize to.

This is great news! Just on a lark, while testing network synch for the first time, I specifically ignored the instructions posted in this thread which said to put "!!" in the computername field of the Palm and to put the IP address in the address field.

Instead, I put the DNS name in the computer name field and left the IP address field blank. And it worked the first time!

This is huge! You can now use a free dynamic DNS service like dyndns.com or no-ip.org (I use the latter) and you never have to worry about the cable/DSL provider changing your dynamic address!

It was a beautiful thing to behold. Now, the only downside for me is that the computer I synch with is my notebook. When I'm on the road on business, the laptop is probably not at home plugged into the Internet. It's probably with me. And powered off in the carrying bag.

But I'm sure plenty of readers on this list will love this new info! Enjoy!

What's the DNS name? Is this the network name of the computer? If so how does the phone know where to look since its a WAN and not a LAN?

This is cool, it solves my DHCP problem since I am stuck to DHCP on my laptop since it moves to the office and back home.

DNS = Domain Name Service

If it weren't for DNS, which provides text names as substitutes for IP addresses. Instead of simply remembering Google.com, you'd have to use a web address like http://216.239.53.100.

Typically, DNS names were simply associated with static IP addresses. For example, google.com would be associated with 216.239.53.100 and 216.239.51.100.

As you know, your laptop uses DHCP, and so its address changes just sitting at home, if the Cable/DSL provider chooses. What's more, if you move it from home to office it is guaranteed to change.

There are services out there that attempt to deal with this. As I posted above, visit dyndns.com or no-ip.org and take a look. What you do is download and install a little "agent" piece of software. This software connects into their servers on a regular basis and says, "Hi! This is SpineDoc's computer! I haven't the foggiest idea what my IP address to the world looks like, because I might be behind a router or NAT device. But when you get this message, it will have an IP Source address -- update your DNS servers and use that address!"

And it gets better -- for your simple HotSynch purposes, this can save you money. Normally, you'd have to pay domain registration company a yearly fee (anywhere between $9 and $40 per year) to register a public global DNS name, such as SpineDoc.com. Now, if you were hosting a public website, you'd want this. But for HotSync, you really don't care what the name looks like. So, at places like no-ip.org, you can have them issue you a name from their list of domains. So you can get spinedoc.no-ip.org for free!

Enjoy!

This sounds HUGE! I just wish I understood it (See my sig below )

I second spinaldocs question re DNS.

Question 2: Shadow is on vacation in Florida (Hey PHO!), and then it hits, POW!, FSOD, hard reset, no data. This vision sync won't work, right? The first time you sync with your computer after a hard reset, it asks for you password and then asks that you confirm the name to which you want it to sync.

If this worked somehow in this setting, this takes care of the whole no backup when traveling thing.

Is there some way that this could work?

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dale1
my story in phones....
i300-->i330-->i500-->sprintt650-->ppc6700-->gsmt650-->HTC Universal-->gsmt650-->8525-->back again to my trusty t650

Well, I'm very, very new to Palm and HotSync and network syncing. But from what I understand, you're saying that the problem is that after a hard reset, the PC software is going to pop up a dialog box rather than just go ahead and do the sync? Or that you'll have to do something on the PC side?

That said, there is a very awkward way around this.

You use some sort of remote control software on your home computer. Clumsy, but it will work.

My favorite is VNC. Load a program called "VNC" (Virtual Network ?Computer) on your home computer in "server" mode. Then do the DMZ or "port forwarding" thing. For VNC, port forwarding would be probably on 5900, perhaps 5901. Essentially, VNC is a free, cross-platform remote control application, like GoToMyPC, PCAnywhere, CarbonCopy, etc. In fact, you could use GoToMyPC or PCAnywhere (see below).

Then, after your hard reset, you can remote-control your home PC and do whatever you need to do to get the Network Sync to work. You use a copy of the VNC Client. VNC Client and Server software is free! The others listed above cost money.

Ahh -- but there's a catch. Yes, there is a Palm VNC. So you can remote-control your home PC from your i500! BUT, during a hard reset you would LOOSE this program!

Now, I don't know why installation of Palm software in this day and age requires syncing with a computer to do the installation. Why can't you just download the Palm VNC software from the web directly to your i500? If anyone knows how to do this -- let me know! But as far as I know, you can't do this. Catch 22.

So the answer is that you have to go to a CyberCafe, public library, hotel business center, or business associate's desktop and use their computer to remote-control your home computer. For this purpose, GoToMyPC is better, because you don't have to install the VNC Client on your friend's computer. In fact the public library or Cyber Cafe computer might be "locked down" and prevent such installs.

There is a Java version of the VNC Client, so theoretically you can remote-control your home computer from any system that has Java by downloading the Java applet as well.

A final, important note: security. The VNC Server on your home computer is, like every network-aware server program, a security risk -- especially when you specifically allow Internet access via DMZ or port forwarding. And VNC uses simple unencrypted (afaik) passwords. Plus, all your screen data and keystrokes are sent unencrypted as well. So, first off, pick a good password for the VNC Server.

Most people would also recommend that Internet-connected computers only run VNC inside an SSL tunnel. But this is complicated to set up for the base user, and what's more, it is going to be very trickey to set up on a "borrowed" computer or on your Palm (presuming anyone's gotten SSL tunnels working on the Palm OS and on an i500; I haven't been following that thread).

In the end, being a hacker, I'd be using VNC. But you might want to consider paying for the GoToMyPC service for this.

Robo you da man!!

Im going to change my sync computer to my desktop at home and try and give it a permanent address on the network. This way my major problem is if my cable company changes my IP, but I will just have to train myself to check it every week and update it on my palm, or better yet I have to check out those programs that you suggested. I plan on cable syncing 99.9% of the time, with an occasional sync over the wireless.

I think Im crazy here, but why the hell doesnt Samsung and/or Sprint brag about this ability? I mean talk about cutting the cord. If I was them I would be putting in big red letters on the box "Can sync anywhere you get Sprint service" or something. What a killer feature, especially if software was included that would automate the process for network dummies like me!!!

I've been extremely intrigued by this so called "wireless Hotsy