2016년 11월 13일 일요일

School wifi, Cisco router blocking my conexion


I've got installed AI Starter at my school laptops and then I access to the app inventor webpage where my projects are. When I try to connect with AI Companion there is no result on the mobile phone (in the phone I have running MIT AI2 and entered the code).

Time before, I could do this without any problem. Now, the wifi on my school has changed and they have put list access control by a Cisco router to control peer-to-peer traffic, and this seems to be what is blocking the connection.

What can we do ?

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1) Talk to someone in your school's IT department, they might be able to help.    Libraries, airports and hospitals and other public WIFI frequently block the ability to use certain ports required by AI2 to communicate with a phone or tablet as a security issue making it impossible to use AI2 with an Android device and Companion in the restricted environment.  The school may have a place, usually a computer lab where the ports are not blocked and may allow you to use that WIFI system even if you are not taking a course.

2) You probably can develop in those restricted environments using an emulator.   Have you tried the emulator?  The emulator works slower than using AI2 in conjunction with an actual Android device.  You can develop and test most things using an emulator.  Some blocks cannot be used because the emulator does not have all the capabilities of a phone or tablet.  With those caveats, the emulator works fine.   To test your app on your device, create an apk and email it to yourself.   Load it on the device and test your app.    Not entirely satisfactory, however this technique works and allows you to develop.

3)  Do you know you don't need either the emulator or a device to DEVELOP using AI2.    You do not have to Connect.  Without connecting, you can design your project 'in the blind.'   That is write the code and save it.   You cannot test what you do this way.  Create an aia and load it when you have access to a WIFI network that does not have blocking.

4)  There are several, awkward methods that you could use some phones as a modem..  This assumes you have a phone capable of doing this.   I have not tried this since it requires temporarily creating an unsecured WIFI connection... I assume it could be done using your laptop, a phone for the data connection and a second phone or tablet.  
5) Stand-alone AI2 third party software.   Once upon a time, there were non MIT stand alone versions of AI2 that could be use entirely on your laptop without a WIFI connection.  They might work for you.

Does any of these possibilities work for you?

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Thanks a lot for your answer.

I've thought on some of these you've told me, the problem is I want to test App Inventor with my students, so, there are at least 15 people trying to test AppInventor.

The emulator is very slowly, we've tried it.

Test at their house, it could be, but it's less interactive, and they forgot the issues they could have after a 6h class periods in the morning.

Don`t knew about the non MIT stand alone versiones of AI2, I would look for them.

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The emulator is very slowly, we've tried it.
see here for options http://twodogapps.com/?page_id=686#Emulator


Don`t knew about the non MIT stand alone versiones of AI2, I would look for them.


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Thanks a lot :)


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Here are two possible solutions for you Rosa:

1) Request the school IT people  unblock, I think it is ports 8000 and 8400 as described in the link provided by Taifun  

⦁ SCHOOL IT/NETWORK ADMINS: Information specific to school networks (also helpful for conferences and hotel situations)  provides general directions on how they could do that.  Unblocking those ports would get you back to the situation where the WIFI worked for you.   Unblocking, if possible, is the preferred path forward.

2) Use a USB connection.  You already have AIStarter downloaded (because you tried the emulator), this is a very real solution possibility.  To get a USB solution, you wlll have to install a driver on each laptop if these are Windows laptops.  A usb connection is more complicated to set up but once set up provides the same convenience as using WIFI because the students would develop on their devices.    A complication is if the student's use their own Android devices, each device might require a different driver.

Connecting to the device with a USB cable



To use USB cables, the student laptops need to install a software package called App Inventor Setup, which contains applications for communicating with the hardware device.

The App Inventor Setup package also includes the Android emulator, that lets students work and test without an Android device at all.



The instructions for installing App Inventor Setup and using USB cables are here:






This will simply work with Android devices on most Mac or GNU/Linux operating systems.



For Windows, there’s a complication:  Windows systems require installing device drivers.  These drivers are specific to the type of device (e.g., the specific brand of phone).  Google provides a page on drivers  from which people can download device drivers for various phones, but in some cases the drivers need to be obtained from the device manufacturer. We highly recommend that Windows users of App Inventor use the WIFI connect method, which does not require installing drivers or the App Inventor setup software. Google Nexus devices generally work, even on Windows, without extra drivers. On Mac, extra drivers are not necessary for any phone.


In summary, the USB connection method is not recommended. Using WIFI connect instead avoids driver issues, but it requires network connectivity using the school’s WiFi.

3) Taifun provide a link for using the third part stand alone option.  This is a real possibility but it has its own problems.  This software has to be installed on each laptop.  The problem is greater...frequently, the software provided is not the latest version of AI2 (however it will work in most instances quite well for your 6Y class.

4)  If all else fails, and you as an instructor has a PC that is not blocked, the students might use a single PC to test by transferring the aia's they create to that PC.

Hope something here is a real solution for you.    Please let us know what works for you.


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Many thanks, again.
This morning I've received a message from de IT responsible and the issue seems to be solved. :)

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