I have a Ricochet wireless modem that I want to hook up
to the empeg while its in my car.

I understand that I have to change something (init?) to run "player -s - " or something like that so the player won't try to talk out the port. Then I need
a PPP kernel.

Is the old release 7 ppp kernel OK to use with the release 10 player? If not,
where can I get a PPP kernel? Or do I have to build one? Also, can the linux PPP be configured to dial out automatically to make a connection, or does it only do direct serial connections?

Once that is going, has anyone done PPP over irda? I'd love to be able to
hop in my car and get onto the empeg through IR while the serial port
is still talking to the ricochet.

brian

> I have a Ricochet wireless modem that I want to hook up
> to the empeg while its in my car

Last I saw one (before their 128k service), Ricochet didn't work well in a moving vehicle. They're not made to move between transmitters gracefully. If you want something that works while driving, consider a standalone CDPD (analog cell) modem.

Ricochet isn't great in a moving vehicle, but its not completely broken. In
my experience, it can usually "catch up" when you get to a traffic light.

In any case, I already have a Ricochet, so I figured I'd play around with it.
If I do find some critical wireless app for the empeg, I'll invest in a better
solution (although the CDPD/GPS combo sounds like a winner).

The Ricochet2 service (128k downstream) is explicitly designed to work at ground speeds up to about 65 mph. I tested it about a year ago on highway 101, and it performed as advertised. That was during early beta, though, and I haven't tested production units.

sweet... Now my only dilema is getting the external usb/serial modem, or waiting on the pcmcia modem.. I might just get the external now and try to interface it w/ the empeg, and go from there... My commute's going to be on 101 as well...
-mark

MK2: 36gb
Tivo: 90gb
CPU: 120gb
...I think drive manufacturers love me!