SMB Browsing.

[jas2o]

If there’s SMB browsing in this app, I see 2 classic alternatives:

1. The app will let you input host-name or ip-adress, and then show you all shares available. This will require user to input credentials when browsing password protected shares. (Windows)

2. It will need you to enter host, share, user and password in a menu before you browse. (Most Homebrew)

I would love to see a hybrid of those two which let the user browse like the first alternative, and if preferred add “network locations” (//*HOST*/*Share*/*location*) to a list, save user-name and password, and then prompt user for a name for this “location”.

[rodries]

This share browsing is a whole other protocol that would need to be implemented, it’s not part of the SMB spec. So I really don’t see this happening. It’s only going to be used on initial setup, and aren’t there better things to concentrate on?

[kehkou]

Although I understand the overhead of this protocol, I would like to point out the benefits of it being implemented:

– If a single computer contains multiple SMB shares, all of them can be used without having to add them manually one by one.
– If the computer is configured via DHCP (probably, the common case) the IP address might vary from one session to another. Even more, there are routers that assign a different IP address after a computer is restored from suspension (even when MAC binding is present). This makes the system malfunction in these cases in which the IP varies. By contrast, the SMB name remains constant.

Therefore, there is a clear benefit of implementing the system with SMB name resolution: it always work, regardless of network changes. Please consider that most people using it will probably not know how to configure a static IP address or a MAC binding in the DHCP server.

In any case, thanks for considering it! 🙂

[rodries]

Please note that DNS resolution is also supported.

[kehkou]

Sure, but DNS does not resolve Samba PC addresses if they are used in the IP field, does it? At least, I tried it in MPlayer-CE and it did’nt work: If I use my Windows “PC-NAME” instead of its IP, WiiMC cannot access the shared foolder.

The SMB listener is a part of the SMB implementation that (correct me if I am wrong) listens to SMB messages in the network and maintains an internal table of associations of SMB names, shared resources, and IP addresses. It would be nice if at least this listener was implemented, to prevent the commented problems. However, I understand that it is a huge amount of work; I don’t know if part of the Samba project might be used.

[rodries]

You are wrong, that is not part of the SMB spec. It’s part of the NETBIOS spec. And yes, it’s a huge amount of work for little gain. If we had 20 people working on this project I’d be all for it, but the reality is with only two programmers at this time, our time is better spent elsewhere.

[kehkou]

Thanks for your correction, I was absolutelly wrong!!! 🙂 For the interest of others, there is info in the Wikipedia pages on SMB, Samba and Netbios over TCP/IP.

What should be implemented to allow for computer names in WiiMC is the Netbios Name Service, which is not part of SMB. This service is implemented in Samba (called nmbd) but this is currently not part of Mplayer nor WiiMC. As you said, implementing it is possible, but implies a huge amount of work. I am sorry that I have not the time nor the expertise to contribute to this. Thanks for your coding effort and your kind answers! 🙂

[Matoking]

@enriquevagu wrote:

Sure, but DNS does not resolve Samba PC addresses if they are used in the IP field, does it? At least, I tried it in MPlayer-CE and it did’nt work: If I use my Windows “PC-NAME” instead of its IP, WiiMC cannot access the shared foolder.

The SMB listener is a part of the SMB implementation that (correct me if I am wrong) listens to SMB messages in the network and maintains an internal table of associations of SMB names, shared resources, and IP addresses. It would be nice if at least this listener was implemented, to prevent the commented problems. However, I understand that it is a huge amount of work; I don’t know if part of the Samba project might be used.

I am able to use the DNS name just fine in wiimc as well as my NES and SNES emulators. Not sure what else you could ask for. :ugeek:

[Matoking]

@enriquevagu wrote:

Thanks for your correction, I was absolutelly wrong!!! 🙂 For the interest of others, there is info in the Wikipedia pages on SMB, Samba and Netbios over TCP/IP.

What should be implemented to allow for computer names in WiiMC is the Netbios Name Service, which is not part of SMB. This service is implemented in Samba (called nmbd) but this is currently not part of Mplayer nor WiiMC. As you said, implementing it is possible, but implies a huge amount of work. I am sorry that I have not the time nor the expertise to contribute to this. Thanks for your coding effort and your kind answers! 🙂

Why would you want to bogg the wii down even more with a service that is not needed? Given that every drop of resources (processor cycles, available memory, etc.) helps make audio and video run better, why then eat it up with a bloated protocal? Either give the box a static IP or setup a local DNS it really is just that simple.

[Author]

Posts