Linksys WRT150N vs. WRT54G

[Char Jackson]

On Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:48:30 +0200, Rambo <Rambo.test@pircarre.be>
wrote:

>There is no "other computer" ...
>I believe that there is only *one* computer, the laptop.
>And *two* routers : WRT150N at home and WRT54G at vacation location.

It turns out that the other computer is an iPod. When you're making a
VNC connection, you need two endpoints for that connection.

[Char Jackson]

On Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:50:10 -0400, Robert Peirce
<bob@peirce-family.com> wrote:

>In article <5nv736d31ruer0qthsnjdh0hsfsrteuern@4ax.com>,
> Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Ok, I thought you said the computer you were accessing is moving, but
>> now I see that the other computer is stationary and it's the laptop
>> that's moving. So then the question becomes, which of the two
>> computers is initiating the VNC connection?
>
>Oh, boy! I am not explaining this well. I have a laptop that I use at
>home and at my vacation home. I have an app on my iPod called Mocha VNC
>Lite that I can use from any public WiFi location to access my computer.
>It uses port 5900 to access VNC on the computer. I don't need it often,
>but when I need it, I need it.

The smoke clears! Thanks, that helps a lot. :-)

>There are two problems. One is that I use Verizon DSL so my external IP
>is not constant. I use no-ip to get around that. Second, the router
>needs to forward port 5900 to my laptop. At home (WRT150N), I can
>reserve an internal IP for the computer and port forward to that IP. I
>can set it and forget it.
>
>I can't do that on vacation (WRT54G) because the router can't reserve an
>IP. However, I noticed that once the network is up at my vacation home
>the internal IP doesn't change. Therefore, I decided the easiest route
>was to note the IP that was assigned by the router and tell the router
>to forward port 5900 traffic to that IP.

Agreed, that will work.

Like I mentioned, though, if you can turn off DHCP at the WRT54G
location then everything can be made automatic. The laptop would
request an IP address from the WRT160 and would always get the same
one because that router knows how to reserve the address, but at the
WRT54G location the laptop wouldn't be able to get an IP address via
DHCP (because you'd have DHCP turned off) so it would use the static
IP address you've told it to use. Free, easy, and automatic, but it
requires that you turn off DHCP at the WRT54G location, which may
cause other issues of you have multiple DHCP-enabled computers at that
location. Microsoft calls this "Alternate Configuration".

>In theory, I should only have to do this once when I fire up my DSL
>modem and router. While that is more than zero, it seems to require
>less work than any other alternative I have seen. Further, if I am
>careful of the order in which I bring up the computers when I am on
>vacation, there is a chance the router will assign the same IP each
>time. I haven't checked that, but it makes sense. Then I may just have
>to remember to connect to the network the same way each time.

The options, in no particular order:
1. Manually forward port 5900 to the laptop's IP when you go to the
vacation home, as you're doing now.

2. Upgrade the WRT54G to another WRT160, if you otherwise like your
other router, then reserve an IP address and permanently forward port
5900 to that IP.

3. Use Microsoft's Alternate Configuration feature.

4. Use one of many free 'net switcher' tools to assign your preferred
IP address to the laptop at the WRT54G location. Permanently forward
port 5900 to that IP in the router.

Did I miss anything?

[ray]

"Char Jackson" <none@none.invalid> wrote in message
news:j8u936d49q75tn35p8elrr4k49ve4946kd@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:48:30 +0200, Rambo <Rambo.test@pircarre.be>
> wrote:
>
>>There is no "other computer" ...
>>I believe that there is only *one* computer, the laptop.
>>And *two* routers : WRT150N at home and WRT54G at vacation location.
>
> It turns out that the other computer is an iPod. When you're making a
> VNC connection, you need two endpoints for that connection.
>
Correct, i realized my stupide reaction just after sending it :-)

[Char Jackson]

On Thu, 8 Jul 2010 10:50:46 +0200, "ray" <raymond.schmit@piscarlet.be>
wrote:

>"Char Jackson" <none@none.invalid> wrote in message
>news:j8u936d49q75tn35p8elrr4k49ve4946kd@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:48:30 +0200, Rambo <Rambo.test@pircarre.be>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>There is no "other computer" ...
>>>I believe that there is only *one* computer, the laptop.
>>>And *two* routers : WRT150N at home and WRT54G at vacation location.
>>
>> It turns out that the other computer is an iPod. When you're making a
>> VNC connection, you need two endpoints for that connection.
>>
>Correct, i realized my stupide reaction just after sending it :-)

No problem. :)

[Robert Peirce]

In article <i12std$13il$2@adenine.netfront.net>,
Rambo <Rambo.test@pircarre.be> wrote:

> I thnik that the best thing to do is to have a WRT150N at both locations.

It may come to that, but i am going to try the current setup a while
longer. With everybody's help I now know what I can and cannot do, so I
will work with that for a while.