Jan Borchers
<borchers@stanford.edu>
This document describes how to set up an Apple Remote Access server on a Macintosh which is connected to the Internet via Ethernet, and how to connect a Psion Series 5mx palmtop to the server and access the Internet from the Psion via the server. I have been using a German 5mx Pro and a blue-and-white Macintosh G3 Pro/300 with a Stealth Serial Port in the internal modem slot and running MacOS 8.6 and MacOS 9.0.4 US, which works fine, but it should work with the non-German Series 5mx, Series 5 Classic and with other Macs as well.
New:I added a Mac OS X section.
This page has been featured on the 5 Alive news service on 22 July 1999, and in Psion's official PSION.Life newsletter, Issue #9.
PC users have various ways to connect their Psion Series 5 organizer to the Internet via their desktop PC. One possibility is setting up the Windows RAS (Remote Access Server) which is part of Windows NT. Another possibility is to use the shareware DSLink instead of RAS, or PassThru, a shareware to connect you Psion to your modem via your PC. Please contact these sources with questions about their PC-based solutions.
After months of struggling to move data between my Mac OS X box and my Psion, I have finally found an initial solution at least for file transfer:
Download ZTerm or a similar serial communications program for the Mac
Use the Comms application on the Psion
For the hardware connection, use a Keyspan USA-28X USB-to-Serial adapter on your Mac and a nullmodem cable (see Mac OS 9 section below for details), or simply use the Infrared port on your PowerBook! I use the Infrared solution myself most of the time.
For the Infrared solution, set ZTerm to 57600bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, no(!) flow control, and use YModem-1k for sending and YModem Batch for receiving. Set the modem serial port to "IrDA-IrCOMMch-b". On the Psion, set Comms to use the Infrared port, send and receive via YModem (Batch).
For the cable solution, set ZTerm to 115200bps, hardware handshake, select your Keyspan serial port as modem serial port, and set Psion Comms to use RTS/CTS handshake.
Now you can transfer individual files using the Send/Receive commands on both machines. Unfortunately, transferring multiple files in one batch does not work this way.
Obviously, the next thing to find out is how to make the PPP server work on Mac OS X so that the TCP-based solution described below can be used. If anyone succeeds to have their Psion dial into their Mac OS X box, please let us know!
I haven't been able to find a similar solution for Mac users described on the net, so I looked into it myself, and found a way: The Apple Remote Access (ARA) Personal Server. Unfortunately, unless you are running Mac OS 9, you have to purchase this from Apple, but if you are a registered developer and receive the Technology Seeding CDs, then you can find a copy of the ARA server software on the January 1998 Apple Technology Seed CD for testing purposes. A free update to version 3.0.2 is available online.
The good news is: With Mac OS 9, Apple Remote Access Personal Server is part of the standard Mac OS distribution. There is no need to purchase additional software for your Mac anymore.
If you have Mac OS 9, ARA Personal Server is already installed, giving you a new "Answering" menu in the Remote Access control panel. You can go straight to the next step, Configuring the Mac.
If you have an earlier version of Mac OS, then you need to install ARA Personal Server. When installing, make sure to check the information in the README file that comes with the server software. In particular, make sure to disable the ARA client extensions if you have them installed before installing ARA server. Otherwise, the server software to answer incoming calls etc. will not be installed. After installing the server, the basic setup is fairly straightforward, and well described in the accompanying ARA user guide (pdf document). Please read the section about setting up the personal server!
In the Remote Access Control Panel, select "Null Modem 115200" as Modem. Also, under "Users and Groups", open your owner account and make sure you are allowed to dial into the computer. Finally, under "Answering", enable "Answer calls", allow access to the entire network, allow TCP/IP clients to connect using PPP, and allow clients to use their own IP address.
The only thing that I had problems with was the IP address: You may have to fill in some address here to make the Remote Access control panel happy, so use the IP address you plan to give to your Psion. Howver, actually getting it from the server did not work for me. Therefore, we will also provide the IP address on the Psion itself.
Connect the Psion to your Mac with the serial cable. I am using a PowerMac G3 Pro with a Stealth Serial Port in the internal modem slot.
On the Psion, open the Modem control panel, and select "Direct Cable Connection". Edit it to make sure the following settings: Speed 115200 baud, Connect via Serial, no init strings, Hardware flow control, Terminal detect Enabled, Carrier Detect Disabled, Modem Type "Fixed Line".
Next, open the Internet control panel, create a new internet service, call it "ARA" or something similar, and choose "Direct" for the connection type. If you like, fill out the account details with username and possibly even password (but note that this means anybody can connect to your PC with your Psion!) and disable manual login. Disable "Get IP address from server", and fill in an unused IP address that you get from your network administrator. Also enter Primary and Secondary DNS addresses (you can copy those from the Mac's TCP/IP control panel). Don't use a login script, enable PPP extensions, and disable plain text authorization.
You should now be able to connect to the Internet with your Psion. Try it out with the Psion Web application. If not, recheck that you followed the above instructions, and try a different Mac to see where the problem lies.
On my machine, this setup coexists happily with MacConnect. You just have to switch off call answering in the Remote Access control panel before using the MacConnect link, and turn it on again afterwards.
Note that MacConnect from Atelier needs to be updated to work with Mac OS 9. With MacConnect versions below 1.2, the Mac freezes when you try to mount a Psion disk on the desktop. (Backup, Restore, and Install reportedly work though.) Anyway, the update is available for free from Psion.
For a tool to fix some other MacConnect bugs, see my MacConnector page.
I use the ARA connection to download web pages or other files from the net to my Psion, and to copy emails to it directly from my POP3 account without removing them from the POP server. The Psion web browser becomes much more fun with this 115kbit connection! Also, file transfers run much more smoothly in the background using this server setup than with MacConnect which tends to block the Mac OS.
Psion Web works fine with Apple Personal Web Server to download files to the Psion. For upload, to avoid MacConnect completely, I sometimes use Psion Email to send files to myself, then collect them from my account with my Mac. Alternatively, you could use an FTP client such as RMRFTP on the Psion, and an FTP server such as CrushFTP on the Mac.
I suggest to choose longer disconnect timeouts when using this service, as there are no phone charges piling up. :-)
You cannot use this setup if you are using a modem to connect your Mac to the internet, because in this case, your Mac is an ARA client itself already. If you have an external modem, the workaround is to connect your Psion directly to your modem via the Psion-PC serial cable that came with your Series 5 or 5mx, and a standard null-modem adaptor available from your local computer store.
Of course, I don't take any liability if your Mac and / or Psion crash, lose data, or go up in flames as a result of following these instructions. All I can say is that it works fine for me, and that I thought some Mac-based Psioneers out there would like to hear about this too.
So, drop me a line if this page was useful for you, especially if you managed to get this to work with an Apple PowerBook, Series 5 Classic, or with a Mac connected to the Internet via modem. I am also interested in other alternatives to ARA Personal Server that are available as shareware or freeware, and whether AppleShare IP includes this functionality. If you have any information about these issues, let me know, and I will include it on this page.
Also, let me know if you cannot get it to work at all and you have read the instructions that come with ARA and your Psion! And, specifically, don't drop me a line with questions about using a PC to get your Psion on the 'net! There are lots of information about this at TUCOWS.
So: Good Luck, Happy Psioneering, Think Different, and PsionARA! :-)
For a tool to fix some MacConnect bugs, see my MacConnector page!
Jan Borchers
<borchers@stanford.edu>
16.03.2002. Updated address information, added Mac OS X section.
29.09.2000. Moved MacConnect info under separate heading.
27.09.2000. Updated MacConnect Mac OS 9 compatibility, Windows RAS info, PassThru link, FTP client & server info.
02.03.2000. Added info about avoiding MacConnect with Mac OS 9, HTML 4.01 compatibility.
28.10.1999. Included instructions for Mac OS 9.
27.10.1999. Added information about ARA Personal Server being part of Mac OS 9.
26.10.1999. Added link to MacConnector page.
27.07.1999. Added "Not with modem" paragraph and 5 Alive / PSION.Life feature note.
24.07.1999. Corrected MacOS version.
21.07.1999. Page created.