RPCEmu and USB

RPCEmu 0.9.3 and RO 5.28
LanMan98/2.08

I’ve probably asked this before in the past but don’t remember.

Is RPCEmu capable of connecting to USB? (Particularly say a memory stick)

Thanks…
Dave

If you mean, can it connect to e.g. Drive F of a PC in which a USB stick (or other detachable drive) has been inserted, the answer is Yes. You’ll need first to set up the relevant drive as a LM98 disc, of course. It works here under 0.9.3/5.27 using LM98/2.06.

Well I can’t get it to work here.
Obviously I have a relevant LM98 disk configured and it puts a LM98 icon for it on the icon bar, but when clicked, errors with:

“Error when reading LM98::Computername Fstick” “Connection down”

Fstick is the name of the LM disk.

On another install using VRPC and the same version of LM98/08 the LM disk works on the same (F) memory stick without problem.

Thanks
Dave

How is the stick formatted? Filecore, FAT32, or what?

It is formatted NTFS.

Like the USB SSD that will connect and work also NTFS.

I’ll try reformatting the stick to FAT32 and see if that makes a difference, though I can’t see why it should as the USB (Samsung) SSD doesn’t have a problem.

Thanks
Dave

I don’t see why NTFS or FAT32 should make any difference either – I’d kind of expect Filecore to be a problem. AFAICS it just has to be a format that the host can understand.

Yup! I reformatted it as FAT32 but no change… LM98 disk on the icon bar but when clicked still …Connection down.

As previously noted, in the next door USB port the Samsung SSD, NTFS and that works okay.

Dave Shrugs shoulders…

Thanks
Dave

FWIW 1. I’m getting the same problem with VRPC and LM98, but of course that can be worked around on VRPC by creating a HostFS mount F.

FWIW 2. As noted above though the F stick fails, the Samsung SSD in the next USB port works okay with LM98 in VRPC… Not that I usually do it that way as I also have a HostFS mount for the SSD drive. :-)

D.

At the moment I’ve got a Sony A6000 camera plugged into Drive F and I’m reading the camera’s card on RPCEmu (format = FAT32 according to ‘(F:) Properties’ on the Wintel side). But I’ve also used a FAT32-format memory stick (a Kingston DataTraveller G4 of 64 GB), and accessed RISC OS Pi SD cards (startup files partition only) in a card reader. In case it is helpful, here are my LM ‘F’ disc details:
Local name: F; Server: NAME-PC; Share: f; User: TomCobbley
[details changed to protect the innocent, as they used to say in US TV detective mysteries, but syntax is valid]. HTH

Does drive F: exist at the time RPCemu is started?

Does drive F: exist at the time RPCemu is started?

No: drive F: only appears in Windows Explorer when a storage device is inserted in one of the laptop’s USB sockets, which is invariably /after/ RPCEmu has been launched. LM98:Discs shows ‘F’ as a disc however, and selecting it causes the ‘F’ drive icon to appear on RPCEmu’s icon bar and enables it to be read from and written to as normal.
EDIT: I should add, I’m running Win7 on the PC.

Does drive F: exist at the time RPCemu is started?

It doesn’t make any difference here if drive F: is in the USB port before or after RPCEmu is started, the error message is the same.

I get a LM drive F on the icon bar, but when clicked presents the previously noted error message. “Connection down”.

And I’m running the RPCEmu on Win10 Pro 64bit.

Dave

Connection down”.

RPCEmu is connected to the outside world? You have a working internet connection?

RPCEmu is connected to the outside world? You have a working internet connection?

Yes. Though not quite sure what that has to do with a USB connection. Both the home LAN and external Internet are active.

The thing that confuses me…
Two USB ports side by side, and it doesn’t matter which port I put either the F: stick in, or the SSD, the SSD works while the F: stick will not.

FWIW. I have tried other USB ports, same result.

FWIW 2. I have also tried it with other (Different) F: sticks. (Same end result).

Dave

Though not quite sure what that has to do with a USB connection

I’ve just gone into Configure-Network-Internet configuration and deselected ‘Enable TCP/IP Protocol Suite’, rebooted, and hey presto, LM98 doesn’t connect to storage in the host computer. Re-selecting the Protocol Suite and rebooting restores both internet access and the LM98 LAN.

the SSD works while the F: stick will not.

What drive letter does the SSD show up as on the PC?

Configure-Network-Internet configuration.

I don’t need to test that, I know it works… I have LM98 disks configured for all the computers here on the LAN and they all connect okay… It also connects okay with a NAS on the LAN. (nb)

What drive letter does the SSD show up as on the PC?

The SSD is assigned and reads as drive “R” it also has a LM98 disk config as “R” and that works.

Dave

Aside… Not to confuse the USB issue, but to illustrate that the F stick can be read and is not a duff.

nb. The NAS has a USB port and with the NAS as the LAN intermediary, Stick F works through the LM98 NAS disk connection.

D.

I don’t need to test that, I know it works…

Indeed. But as I have given myself hours of unnecessary work in the past by overlooking the bleedin’ obvious, I just thought it worth mentioning. Back to the issue with the stick:

On another install using VRPC and the same version of LM98/08 the LM disk works on the same (F) memory stick without problem.

Were the LM98 disc parameters under VRPC identical to those in RPCEmu? What is strange is that, after you reformatted to FAT32, LM98/VRPC stopped accessing the stick. Did anything else change during the reformat?

Were the LM98 disc parameters under VRPC identical to those in RPCEmu? What is strange is that, after you reformatted to FAT32, LM98/VRPC stopped accessing the stick.

Yes the disk Params are the same…

Though VRPC is a bit of a herring in this search. Under normal circumstances I don’t use LM98 much on VRPC. As I have a number of Mounts for such things, like stick F and SSD R… Along with the underlying SSD harddrives C, D and X.

My problem is really with RPCEmu which doesn’t do Mounts. (Well if it does I don’t know about it).

Thanks
Dave

Sticking with RPCEmu as this is the real problem install…

LM98 disks connect and work with the underlying harddrives C, D and X and of course as previously mentioned the USB SSD harddrive R.

Right time for some tests.

I’ve created a new LM98 disk and initially use R (SSD Drive) as the share, tested… It connects and works okay.

Now I’ve put the LM98 disk share back to F.
I’ve dug out my Memory stick storage box and will try a number of different sticks of varying capacity…

All fail to work. “Connection down”.

I take one memory stick and change its drive letter to Z. Obviously change the LM98 disk share to be the same Z.

In Windows I’ve set the stick Z to be shared and with full permissions.

RPCEmu LM98 same failure… “Connection down”.

Ah well almost enough, it doesn’t seem to be resolvable…

Dave

As an experiment, and to try and replicate Dave’s situation, I decided to test-access all 3 USB slots on this laptop simultaneously. Windows assigned letters in alphabetic sequence to them, so drives (F:), (G:) and (H:) duly appeared. I shared all these drives. I then set up LM98 discs with the corresponding drive letters, and RPCEmu was able to access all of them via LanMan98 at the same time, so I had drives F, G and H on RPCEmu’s icon bar. However, the laptop is running Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit): could Windows 10 be queering the pitch?
If someone using RPCEmu on Windows 10 would like to comment on their experience with detachable USB drives and LM98 it could be helpful.

I have just tried this on Windows 10 Pro, and have it working from RPCEmu.
Steps I took:
1. Put USB stick in and found out it drive letter G in my case.
2. went into network setting in RISC OS configure, and then to the hosts file and added the IP address of the PC, and its name – this step might not be neceesary.
3. On the Windows side made the drive shareable as G (it defaults to Read Only)
4. Now set LanMan98 v2.08 up with the following Server name = name of your PC, Share = G, and then added the User

All working, opened the USB stick without issue.

Hope that helps a bit.

Interesting thoughts chaps, but a case of been there, done that, heard the fat lady sing and then watched the caretaker lock up and go home… :-)

IP address and name of the underlying PC is already in the Hosts file.

And yes the Stick related LM98 drives are on the icon bar, but when I click ’em… Always, “Connection down”

WHY!

Thanks
Dave

the Stick related LM98 drives

That’s what’s bugging me: LM98 seemingly allows access to some USB drives but not others on Dave’s system, even though the accessible and inaccessible drives are similarly formatted and shared. I am at a loss….

Dave, which version of RPCEmu are you using? I am using the RISC OS Direct version, provided as bundle and with normal Networking, not the bridging version

G’day folks.

It is the RISC OS Direct version from the bundle and normal networking (Not the bridging version).
RPCEmu 0.9.3 and RO 5.28

LanMan98/2.08

On a Win 10, 64 bit Pro computer, fully up-to-date and the Win SMB settings are ticked on.
(Obvious as some LM98 shares work… But I checked anyway).

A thought occurs… What versions of RO 5.nn are you guys using?

As I’ve noted I’m using 5.28 (Not sure which release, I must check)…

It’s 5.28 (19th Oct 2020) Maybe that’s the difference?

Thanks
Dave

Had an after-thought…

Just been to the download section to check, and that was the final release of 5.28

So with that thought in mind, I reverted the OS to a 5.27 of March 2020, but that didn’t make any difference… Same old… So my earlier thought was a duff. :-(

Bwwaaaaa! :-)

Dave