Hello,
I had a breakthrough today in my experiments with getting a Novatel
Merlin Type II PCMCIA card wireless CDPD modem working in my Newton
MP2100.
My hunch about MRU value being the key factor was correct, but I was
experimenting in the wrong direction. To recap: The modem's default is
576 bytes (or octets), NIE docs say it should be 556, and another
experimenter on the web had success with 296 (though not in a Newton.) I
had tried all of these and some other values but still was not able to
access HTTP and NNTP servers on the Internet.
On a lark, today I tried setting it HIGHER rather than lower,
specifically to 600. IT WORKED! News and Web were accessible, though
some Web pages were getting cut off prematurely.
I did some research on the Internet about Maximum Receive Unit. I found
out what it means, how it affects the PPP encapsulation process, and,
importantly, that the default MRU setting for RFC-compliant equipment
and software is 1500. Other settings are acceptable, but all entities
must be able to accept 1500-byte PPP frames.
<http://cie.motor.ru/RFC/1661/31.html>
So, I set the Merlin's MRU value to 1500 bytes, and voilą, successful
web browsing, news reading, etc. E-mail continued to work fine and maybe
has even become more reliable at the new setting.
I am going to do some more experimenting this weekend to determine
battery consumption, reliability in a moving vehicle, and general
long-term stability and usefulness, but so far I give this device a
definite "thumbs up." It has the potential to be the best, most usable
wireless option for the Newton platform.
After this weekend I will post more information including all the setup
tricks and scripts that any Newton owner would need to replicate my
experiment. In the meantime, you might browse some web sites to read
about the hardware and service I'm using:
<http://www.novatelwireless.com/Products/merlin.htm>
<http://www.attws.com/business/smcorp/explore/wireless_ip/main.shtml>
Regards,
-Jeremy
--
Jeremy Bond Shepherd | There's something about a martini
San Francisco, CA | 'ere the dining and dancing begin.
Internet: jbond@netcom.com | To tell you the truth.
Phone 415-929-0297 | It is not the vermouth.
| I think perhaps it's the gin. -Ogden Nash
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