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Well it's utility time again.  This one should come in VERY handy for all of you "networked" individuals. 

Ok, here's what this gadget does.  You've got your Model 180 unit or Skyblaster acting as a "Gateway Internet Server".  It works great, only one problem.... It just hung up, it's in basement and you're on the second floor.   That's right, not the first floor, but the second floor.  Alright, now we get to trudge down 3 flights of stairs only to push the reset button on the machine.  Once that's done, we have the beautiful opportunity of again, pretending we're on a stair stepper and stomping back UP three flights of stairs.

I don't know about you, but that's not my idea of "Surfing".

StarControl to the rescue.  Here's the way it works.  It's comprised of two pieces of software, that falls into the Client/Server category.  The server side of this little beauty resides on the machine that's connected to the Model 180.  Once it's started, it sits in the icon tray until its needed.  It also has the IPA_temp_fix code in it, so that if for some reason, RPA crashes, StarControl will restart it.  Essentially, all you have to do is assign the server a password.

 
Now once you do the install on your clients, the fun part begins.  Simply type in the IP address of the machine connected to Model 180 and the correct password.  Now press the connect button.  This will talk to the gateway and make a connection.  Once you see the light turn green, you can then push the "Reboot" button.  At this point, if your password is correct, you'll get a "Reboot Message Received".  If its wrong, you'll get "Authorization failed".

Now, here's a nifty trick that is sort of a side effect.  As long as you've got the client software installed and know the password, you should be able to perform this bit of magic from anywhere in the world.  So, let's say your in Hong Kong and your wife calls you blistering mad that she can't surf the Internet, cause the blasted thing is hung up.  It's irrelevant that this phone call is $5.00 a minute.... she wants the Internet and you'd better give it to her.  No problem.  Boot up your trusty laptop, make a connection to the Internet, start StarControl client and boom, computer is rebooted from around the world.

In the next version I hope to have the current status of the RPA and also a method of shutting down just the RPA and restarting it.  Currently if I try to close down the RPA, it messes up the socket.  I should be able to correct this though.  Just look for it version 2.0.

Click here to download it.

Note: you must be a member to download this software.

 



DISCLAIMER: Use this program at your own risk, just like the Main window states.  It was developed on Win2k Pro.  Also briefly tested on Win98 and ME.  Again, you use this program at your own risk.

Tips

When used with 98 - ME you might want to install the Microsoft Family Service.  This will stop the request of a logon.

With NT/2000 try installing this as a service so you don't have to worry about the logon screen.

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