ptownsean

Okay. I'm looking to go wireless with my home network. I have a lot of external USB devices that I normally connect to my laptop via hubs. I would like to buy a cheap box and fill it with USB cards then connect the box to my wireless router. That way I could go anywhere in my house and have access to my USB drive, printer, etc.

My question is... can I somehow connect my laptop to the PC box and use the laptop as the monitor. It would save me from having to find space for a monitor that would only be used during setup and maintenance of the box. Is there anyway of doing this or should I try something different?

Cynthetiq

laptops have VIDEO OUT not video in, usually. so you can't use that option. You'll initially need a monitor to setup the box. Borrow one from a friend, or have it setup already with PC Anywhere or other RPC type software.

I use VNC to connect to my box that has no monitor, keyboard, or mouse. works wonderful and i connect to it via my palm or laptop wirelessly around the house.

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mikec

yes, most laptops don't have a video IN signal, at least for CRT/DVI connections.

You can do what cnthetiq does, and use VNC, which is sweet, because you connect with the same permissions as the logged on user. I use VNC to connect to my server when I need to run something w/full admin rights. However it tends to be a bit slow. If you're running XP on your network, you can use remote desktop to connect. A LOT faster, and it works great!

and yeah, only power and network need be plugged in the PC box. I'd recommend booting it one final time w/a monitor attached, and change BIOS to halt on no errors, otherwise it will stop booting every time, when there is no keyboard attached.

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ptownsean

Great info guys. Thanks, that will help me out a lot!

steveincolumbus

Get a video card with a composit output that way you can hook it to a tv for those emergenies when vnc don't work.........

urbandev

VNC: www.tightvnc.org
VNC drawbacks: configured for shitty JPG compression by default, slightly slow refresh, and doesnt show video or anything partitially transparent

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