On Saturday 08 August 2009 11:53:01 Mark Ellis wrote:
> On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 12:04 +0200, Guido Diepen wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > one recurring problem we encounter frequently is that people have
> > problems with SynCE, it is not working for them and often it turns out
> > that they have a firewall running. Currently this means that they have to
> > find this information on some forum, or that they have to find this by
> > asking questions on the mailing list or IRC channel.
> >
> > Unfortunately I am not very familiar with all the details of how
> > synce-hal works, but would the following extension be possible (and if
> > so, would you guys think it would be useful).
> >
> > When synce-hal detects a new device, it sets up the interface via DHCP,
> > after which it sends the UDP packet to the device which will have the
> > device initiate all subsequent connections.
> >
> > Couldn't synce-hal somehow check with a timeout function whether the
> > DHCP/initial handshake connection has been made within a given timelimit
> > after the device has been detected? I don't think that this should be a
> > very large timeout, normally this should happen within a matter of
> > seconds. If this situation is detected (i.e. synce-hal did not reach the
> > state of a connection be set up completely), you could have synce-hal
> > trigger a dbus signal signifying a problem with the connected device. The
> > clients (synce-trayicon / synce-kpm) can then listen for this particular
> > signal and notify the user of a connection problem and provide the user
> > with possible solutions (e.g. change firewall settings).
> >
> > Would this be possible in synce-hal, and if so, what do you guys think
> > about it?
>
> It's definitely possible to add a timeout to the hal stuff, but I don't
> know how much would be gained. There are so many reasons why this might
> happen, though a firewall is definitely the most common, as we know :)
It is true that there are more possible options. However, with this additional
signal triggered after a certain timeout of no connection being set up after
the device is connected, we can at least notify the user about the fact that
yes there is a device connected, but there are connection problems. We could
add some extra possible instructions to a dialog:
* Try to switch of any firewalls you might have running on the computer
* Try switching a wm6 device to legacy instead of rndis (IIRC this is what
windows will pop up with also if there are problems with the device)
This way, in case users do have problems, we at least know that HAL detected
the device as WM device, but something went wrong after it.
>
> I think what we actually need is an FAQ / troubleshooting guide. I'm
> also working on a more generic installation guide, but as always with
> these things I dont have enough eyes/hands/brains !
For sure we need such a guide, but indeed I know the problem about too much
work, too little time :)
>
> There were some thoughts thrown around about the firewall problem a
> while ago, that came to no real conclusions either.
I know, but I think with the additional option, we could at least make it
clear to users something was happening with the device, but during the actual
connection making something went wrong.
Kind regards,
Guido Diepen
--
Guido Diepen <gu...@jcwodan.nl>
Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the
impossible.
--Eddie Rickenbacker
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day
trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on
what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with
Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july
_______________________________________________
SynCE-Devel mailing list
SynCE-Devel@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/synce-devel
