Kwins Pda

[Tomoe]

1) What's the average throughput compared to quoted 128kbps?
2) Does it fall down too much at times?
3) Does their web-proxy work only on port 80, or is the whole http traffic regardless of port routed through it?
4) Are you able to use it while commuting in subway/trains?
5) Does that 'platform certificate' program you are required to install/get by upgrading the ROM impose any limitations on USB/IrDA ports or additional SD communication cards (i.e. can you connect to other computers through them while it's running - I would like to be able to use my computer's screen and keyboard to net when at home)?
6) How fast is it drying the battery compared to when you're not using the card; also, is it possible to put it in dormant mode of some kind?
7) I've seen on various pictures that the card bulges out on the side quite a bit. Is it a problem when you're holding your Z in hands and typing?
Do they disconnect you at certain time intervals and if they do, do you get the same IP once you reconnect?

Thank you

[Surreal]

Moved for relevance

[Tomoe]

Moved for relevance

OK, thanks and sorry, didn't really know where to put it, as it is a service, not solely an accessory.

[Sumo]

1) feels like a 128K throughput also
2) No experience it will work where a PHS phone works, so pretty good coverage.
3) No experience of inaccessible sites.
4) unknown
5) I use it with Rdesktop and it works great connecting to my fibre connected home PC
6) It only switches on when you need it, more like a modem function, than always on, I suspect the battery life would reduce to 1.5 - 2 hours
7) No big problem, the arial rotates fully and is not too uncomfortable.
No experience

I recommend it, its good value.

The only trouble you might have is if you converted to English, you may need Japanese fonts for the registration process, although the manual that comes with it shows screen shots although they are pretty tiny. I managed it without but I recall it was not easy...

[Tomoe]

Sumo, thank you very much for your input, it is very helpful.
I have some additional questions, I hope you won't mind answering them.

5) I use it with Rdesktop and it works great connecting to my fibre connected home PC

And you are able to do that while you're connected to the internet through KWINS? Or?
Also, what I meant to ask is, am I able to establish any kind of connection between my home pc and Zaurus while the Zaurus is connected to the net through KWINS, in order to use my pc as a ssh/vnc/x terminal for Zaurus, not vice versa.

6) It only switches on when you need it, more like a modem function, than always on,

Yes, I read about that later on.

I suspect the battery life would reduce to 1.5 - 2 hours

Which Zaurus model do you have and for how long does the battery last when you don't use the KWINS card?

7) No big problem, the arial rotates fully and is not too uncomfortable.

This is good to know.

Another question, are you able to use the platform certification software when you flash the rom to something other than regular Sharp rom?

Thanks again.

[Sumo]

Sumo, thank you very much for your input, it is very helpful.
I have some additional questions, I hope you won't mind answering them.

5) I use it with Rdesktop and it works great connecting to my fibre connected home PC

And you are able to do that while you're connected to the internet through KWINS? Or?
Also, what I meant to ask is, am I able to establish any kind of connection between my home pc and Zaurus while the Zaurus is connected to the net through KWINS, in order to use my pc as a ssh/vnc/x terminal for Zaurus, not vice versa.

I only have experience of connecting to my home PC, and running Citrix client and or Java apps etc.

6) It only switches on when you need it, more like a modem function, than always on,

Yes, I read about that later on.

I suspect the battery life would reduce to 1.5 - 2 hours

Which Zaurus model do you have and for how long does the battery last when you don't use the KWINS card?

SL-c860, I would guess it lasts 7-8 hours.

7) No big problem, the arial rotates fully and is not too uncomfortable.

This is good to know.

Another question, are you able to use the platform certification software when you flash the rom to something other than regular Sharp rom?

Only used the sharp rom, I don't think the certification program will be a problem it only really lets you generate a password and user name from the serial number they provide. The problem might be the driver for KWINS card, since this is a Japan-only device, I doubt the other non sharp based roms would support it...

Thanks again.
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Your welcome, hope it helps - I looked into some of the other wireless devices in Japan, i.e. AirH" and @freed but this is definitely the most effiecent since you don't need an ISP account. Once you bought the card 11,000 yen for 6 months is a steal!

[Tomoe]

I only have experience of connecting to my home PC, and running Citrix client and or Java apps etc.

Could you please try to do that while connected to the net over KWINS?
The thing that bugs me most is, as I mention below, that their site says that the usb port is blocked while you're connected over KWINS.

I don't think the certification program will be a problem it only really lets you generate a password and user name from the serial number they provide.

Hm... Are you sure? From what I've read in lousy online english translations of their site, it seems that it also blocks the usb port in some way. =/

The problem might be the driver for KWINS card, since this is a Japan-only device, I doubt the other non sharp based roms would support it...

Ah well I'll be sure to check.

Your welcome, hope it helps - I looked into some of the other wireless devices in Japan, i.e. AirH" and @freed but this is definitely the most effiecent since you don't need an ISP account. Once you bought the card 11,000 yen for 6 months is a steal!

Yeah. Have you checked BitWarp PDA plan too? =)

Thanks.

[bwpda4]

Hm... Are you sure? From what I've read in lousy online english translations of their site, it seems that it also blocks the usb port in some way. =/

Sorry to revive an old topic, but this caught my interest.

I use Bitwarp PDA with an SL-C860. In this case it is possible for simultaneous connection between Bitwarp (wireless) and the USB cable (usbnet connection to PC).

However, after "upgrading" my ROM to the newest Sharp ROM, this didn't work anymore, so I downgraded back to the earlier ROM.

Your post got me to wondering if the KWINS driver is purposely blocking all other network interfaces on the zaurus (including the USB port) in order to artificially prevent the Zaurus from simultaneously accessing more than one network device. This would prevent using the Zaurus as a router (http://www.coder.jp/~zaurus/router.html)

KWINS just says this on the subject http://www.kccs.co.jp/kwins/support/faq/personal.html#q315

Rough translation: the USB connection is cut for 60 seconds while connecting to the KWINS network. They claim that "all PDA's are like this", which is untrue.

Regarding the Bitwarp PDA service, Sharp has this to say: http://support.ezaurus.com/sl-c3200/qa/qa_5_29.asp

Rough translation: "You can't use Bitwarp PDA or KWINS through the USB cable of a PC", which is technically untrue, at least for the 860 and the older ROMs.

I wonder if newer ROMS specifically perform this blocking of the USB cable (and other network interfaces) while connected to KWINS/Bitwarp services. This would be very annoying, but I could imagine that it's possible.

Does anyone know anymore about this? Tomoe?

[Tomoe]

I wonder if newer ROMS specifically perform this blocking of the USB cable (and other network interfaces) while connected to KWINS/Bitwarp services. This would be very annoying, but I could imagine that it's possible.

Does anyone know anymore about this? Tomoe?
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Heh, I had this thread on mail notify, and I even forgot about THAT! Imagine the surprise.
Anyways, didn't really look in on it after this thread, checked both KWINS and BitWarp (which offers a similar PDA plan).

Indeed there is a form of blocking going on, that's why KWINS PDA works only with a limited number of devices (Zaurii and maybe 2-3 WinMobile machines); in older Zaurii it was implemented purely as an installable driver but the newer models have the functionality built in the ROM on shipping.

From what I've got, the USB port AND the IrDA port are blocked while the KWINS card is being used. I understand their motivation behind this, because they're charging 1/4 of the regular price counting on PDA users not downloading too much. What I would like is for someone with a C1000/3000/3100/3200 and a KWINS card to check if the host mode is disabled too; if it is not, then you could just plug a usb ethernet or wifi module in and router away! It is probably easily hackable anyway, just not enough of the userbase for people to really mess with it. If I ever get it, I know I surely will. No japs will limit MY internets!! =P

See ya!

[bwpda4]

I wonder if newer ROMS specifically perform this blocking of the USB cable (and other network interfaces) while connected to KWINS/Bitwarp services. This would be very annoying, but I could imagine that it's possible.

Does anyone know anymore about this? Tomoe?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=150634\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Heh, I had this thread on mail notify, and I even forgot about THAT! Imagine the surprise.

Great! To be honest, I didn't expect any response to my query, to say nothing of a next-day response! This-here "Internet" thingie sure is amazin'.

Anyways, didn't really look in on it after this thread, checked both KWINS and BitWarp (which offers a similar PDA plan).

I'm on the Bitwarp PDA plan. I signed up for Bitwarp back when the 860 came out (KWINS wasn't available then). Then I had some recurring network problems with Bitwarp (unable to login at peak times, over-restrictive SMTP blocking making me unable to send mails, etc) and considered jumping ship to KWINS, but finally Bitwarp fixed their problems so I'm still with them.

Indeed there is a form of blocking going on, that's why KWINS PDA works only with a limited number of devices (Zaurii and maybe 2-3 WinMobile machines); in older Zaurii it was implemented purely as an installable driver but the newer models have the functionality built in the ROM on shipping.

This is starting to make some sort of sense to me, in a sinister way. I wondered why, around the time KWINS came out, the Zaurus home page insisted that 860 users must upgrade their ROMS as soon as possible to use Bitwarp/KWINS services. As I said, after upgrading, I had weird connection problems when using the USB cable and my Bitwarp connection at the same time. I couldn't fix the problem in a few hours so I just reverted my ROM back to the earlier version (thankfully I did a NAND backup beforehand).

From what I've got, the USB port AND the IrDA port are blocked while the KWINS card is being used. I understand their motivation behind this, because they're charging 1/4 of the regular price counting on PDA users not downloading too much. What I would like is for someone with a C1000/3000/3100/3200 and a KWINS card to check if the host mode is disabled too; if it is not, then you could just plug a usb ethernet or wifi module in and router away! It is probably easily hackable anyway, just not enough of the userbase for people to really mess with it. If I ever get it, I know I surely will. No japs will limit MY internets!! =P

Well I have an 860 with Bitwarp so I can't test this directly, but I can try upgrading the ROM again and spend some more time investigating the USB cable to see if it really is being completely blocked during Bitwarp access, or if it was a configuration error on my part.

A friend has a C1000 with Bitwarp, so maybe I can try to test the C1000 USB connection during Bitwarp access.

Just wondering, how satisfied are you with KWINS? As far as I recall, KWINS is a bit cheaper than Bitwarp (Bitwarp PDA is 2190 yen/month, KWINS is something like 1900).

I got Bitwarp PDA pretty early, so I got the 1st-generation VN-201 PHS card (later customers, like my friend, got a different card that seems faster). With my card, I seem to get only about 64kbps max, though it claims 128kbps. On a good day I can listen to 56kbps shoutcast streaming radio. I can never listen to 128kbps shoutcast streaming radio - the card isn't fast enough and I get a lot of chopping pauses in the stream. My friend's newer Bitwarp card (can't remember the model number) is a little better, but still not able to listen to 128kbps shoutcast streams.

How about KWINS speed?

Any blocked ports with KWINS? Connection outages? Access coverage (in trains, etc)? Bitwarp seems basically OK on all three points - no ports blocked as far as I can tell (I can do IRC, streaming radio), infrequent connection outages (none recently, earlier on weekends sometimes I couldn't login), and reasonable coverage in trains, etc.

One thing I noticed about Bitwarp PDA is the upstream rate seems severely throttled. I tried to set up a VOIP connection between my friend's Bitwarp and my Bitwarp connections, and I got it basically working but the speed and latency was horrible, around 5-10s latency and maybe 8kbps. I also tried to set up a simple streaming radio server between our Bitwarp connections, which similarly only barely worked. If you try to ping one bitwarp machine from another, you get horrible connection response. Kind of weird... maybe they don't want you using these devices as P2P upstream/downstream terminals, only as a downstream terminal.

Any idea if KWINS has similar upstream throttling?

Sorry for all the questions, but it's a rare thing to find an English-speaking person using one of these services :-)