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Android Tablet

This documentation is based on the ASUS Transformer TF-101 tablets. It is expected that it will apply to other makes/models as well.

Cisco AnyConnect VPN access

Search the Play Store for this app & install to gain access to the campus VPN network with your RCSID/password.

Connecting Android Tablets to the RPI 802.1x network

NOTE-This network is being dropped by campus in favor of WPA2!

The native configuration application supplied with the tablet does not support the particular 802.1x network configuration used by RPI. The new WPA style might be 'out of the box' compatible but this has not been verified yet. The procedure below is needed to access the 802.1x network which is still used in some areas on campus.

(used successfully with Asus TF101 running Android 3.1)
1. Use the App store to add Wifi Advanced Configuration Editor
2. Edit a configuration to match the specs below (note: it appears there is no way to create a new configuration from scratch in the Wifi Advanced configuration editor, but editing an existing configuration to match to settings shown below works well).

network={
ssid="rpi_802.1x"
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=IEEE8021X
group=WEP104 WEP40
auth_alg=OPEN SHARED
eap=PEAP
identity="RCS USER ID HERE"
password="RCS PASSWORD HERE"
phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
priority=2

}

(thanks to John Lee's page for the configuration information: http://john-lee.net/node/18)

Getting the device to mount via USB under Linux

Follow the directions here:

http://alldroid.org/tabid/40/g/posts/t/1125/Mount-Internal-Storage-of-Xoom-in-Ubuntu.aspx

also described (equivalently) here:

http://www.xoomforums.com/forum/motorola-xoom-development/691-mount-internal-storage-ubuntu.html

note 1: adjusting the vendor id to be: 0b05 (since the transformer is an Asus device, and the post linked below was written for a motorola Xoom). The vendor id was determined using the "lsusb" command in the terminal.

note 2: under ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid), the mtpfs package must be compiled from source (the packaged distribution is broken, for some reason. go here to get the source:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/source/lucid/mtpfs

Helper Application Launch Issue under Honeycomb 3.2

From the note found here:
http://www.gkspk.com/view/info/issues-in-android-honeycomb-3-2/

Text follows:

Issues in Android 3.2
Sunday, 24th July 2011 by Musaul Karim

Android 3.2 finally provides external storage support in actual android code, so the manufacturers don’t need to patch it in. However, it is currently just read-only. That seems to have dissapointed a few people.

One of the biggest niggles however in Android 3.2 is they introduced a bug in intents. Its the mechanism how one activity launches another one. If there are multiple apps installed which can handle an activity (ex: if you have multiple image viewer apps), android gives you a window where you can pick which app you want to use. This bug prevents the picker window from coming up properly. Instead, the screen just darkens a little. The workaround is to rotate the device which will cause the window to come up.

The bug is officially documented & described here:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=18638&q=label%3AVersion-3.0&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars

Hence, rotate the screen to bring up the helper application selection menu. If the tablet is in the keyboard/dock, it must be removed from the dock to rotate the display, after which the tablet can be returned to the dock. (this took me a little while to figure out --casey)

Using the Exchange Server for Email

The following settings were derived from the information at the Help Desk web pages -- Mark

Incoming Settings

IMAP server - exchange.rpi.edu
Security type - SSL/TLS
Port - 993

Outgoing Settings

SMTP server - exchange.rpi.edu
Security type - STARTTLS
Port - 587
Require sign-in - IS checked, then enter your RCSID/password

Check the "Automatically download attachments when on WiFi" if you want that.

Using the Built-In Calendar Function

If you are syncing to external accounts, ex: Google for application backup and/or email, then the Android will show you two calendars. One will be your Google calendar. The other is the built in calendar bearing the name ASUS.

Items in the ASUS calendar can/will be synced to Outlook by using the ASUS Sync program. Items from your Google/other calendars will NOT be synced to Outlook. Creating items in any other calendar other than the ASUS one will leave you with items that don't and can't appear in Outlook. This may be mis-interpreted as a sync error when in fact all is working as designed, just not as intended! To "fix" the broken syncing, items have to be moved to the ASUS calender.

Unfortunately, the Android calendar has no tool to let you change the assigned calender for a given event! A third party app called Business Calendar has a free version that WILL let you do this. Each event must be opened in turn and the calendar changed manually. Once this has been done, the tablet can be synced to Outlook and these items should now be present in the Outlook calendar.

If you are not using any of the other calendars, you can avoid entering data into the wrong calendar by de-selecting all calendars other than the ASUS one. This will hide any events stored in those calendars. If you need the other calendars then you'll simply have to pay attention to which calendar is set before saving the event OR using the Business Calendar app to change it afterwards.

The Business Calendar app seems to be friendly and nice looking with multiple widgets suitable for the tablet's home pages. It is possible to use that instead of the default Android calendar app.