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TNS Services

Penn State Mobile Computing Service

Telecommunications and Networking Services (TNS) is pleased to announce the availability of the Mobile Computing Service through the use of "Mobility Ports".

Laptop PCs are becoming increasingly popular. Their compact size and light weight make them perfect for highly mobile people. Most mobile users, however, need to connect to a host computer to send and receive electronic mail (e-mail) and access Penn State computing resources or the Internet. Many do this via a dial-up connection using a PCMCIA modem card in their laptop. This is an excellent solution when you're at home or traveling away from campus. However, most Penn State faculty, staff, and students have, in their offices and residence hall rooms, access to a data backbone connection. A PCMCIA ethernet card is used to plug into the backbone jack and provides a much higher speed interface than does a dial-up connection.

Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to be tied to your office or residence hall room in order to take advantage of this higher speed connection? Since your laptop is portable, wouldn't you like your ethernet connection to be portable as well?

To answer this need, Penn State is in the process of installing "mobile" ethernet ports in various buildings at University Park and at some of the campuses. "Mobile" ethernet ports will be showing up in the computer labs, residence hall study lounges, and classrooms -- you should be able to recognize them by the "laptop" label or you can ask the reference desk personnel where they're located.

See:  Listing of Penn State Public Mobility Port Locations .

Whether you're in your office or residence hall room, or on the other side of campus in a computer lab, you'll be able to simply plug into a "mobile" port and with a minor software change, be connected to Penn State's backbone.

Instructions for Mobile Computing Users

Note:  Only users who have an active Access Account are eligible to use this service.

    Hardware required for using this service:

    • PCMCIA ethernet card
    • PCMCIA ethernet RJ45 connector
    • 10BaseT Cable

    Using a mobile PC at an access point

    • Setup (Do these once):
      1. Configure your Computer to use an Ethernet interface (follow instructions provided by the vendor of your Ethernet interface adapter)
      2. Configure your IP stack to use DHCP
      3. Configure the following DNS servers: 128.118.25.3 and 130.203.1.4
      4. Make a bookmark in your web browser for the port login secure web page:

    • Usage (Do these every time you connect):
      1. Connect your computer to a mobile Ethernet port (you may have to provide the 10baseT Ethernet cable, so bring the one from your Ethernet interface vendor with you)
      2. Start the computer (or cause DHCP to request a configuration)
      3. Start your web browser, and select the port login bookmark (see step 4 in above section)
      4. Log in following the instructions on the web page
      5. Use the network for your tasks
      6. Log out from the logout web page (a link is on the bookmarked page)
      7. Disconnect from the Ethernet port

Experiencing Troubles???

If your computer gives you an error message about assigning an address, and you have been able to make it work in the past, call 814 865-4NOC [5-4662]. Otherwise, contact the network administrator at the location of port you are using.

Administering the Penn State Mobile Computing Service

Campuses, Departments, or Colleges interested in installing Mobile Computing ports/service should refer to the information on Administering the Penn State Mobile Computing Service provided on the Web or contact the TNS LAN Service Team.

Definitions

Mobility Ports

These types of network access points do not have a PC connected to them at all times. There is never a time when a PC is connected to one of these ports that the owner of the PC is not present. User authentication is required for this class of port.

 

 

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