Linking

 

 

 

The Transcriber and Reader versions of the TypeWell software can link with TypeWell on other computers using either a serial cable, or a wireless WiFi connection.  When linked, the text the transcriber types is sent immediately to the linked computers.  Similarly, anything typed on the reader computer will show up on all other linked computers immediately.  Each reader can see the words typed by the transcriber and by other linked readers. 

The Premium Transcriber and Reader versions of the TypeWell software can also link with other remote computers.  For more information see remote linking.

Linking with Wireless (WiFi)

The most common way to link the computers is via wireless WiFi (802.11b or 802.11g).  If you don't have this built internally into your laptop computer, you can purchase a PC card to add the feature. 

To use a wireless link with TypeWell, the computer's wireless must be set up exactly as described in the detailed wireless configuration instructions for Windows XP or for Windows Vista or on an Apple Mac with Parallels.  This is usually best done by a person with some technical expertise.  The sophisticated wireless configuration used with TypeWell is designed to allow trouble-free linking of the computers under the widest variety of conditions. 

The TypeWell settings for wireless "take over" the wireless cards.  Once set up for TypeWell, you won't be able to use the wireless to connect to other computers, and even if your site provides wireless access to the Internet, you won't be able to use WiFi to access the Internet from that TypeWell computer.  Here's a link about using both the Internet and TypeWell wireless from the same computer. 

Linking with Serial Cable

Serial cable linking is easy if you have the following:

• Two Windows computers, each with a link-capable version of TypeWell.  Check by pulling down the Options or Link menu in TypeWell on each computer.  If the menu has a Serial Link entry, it is link-capable. 
   
• A 9-pin serial port on each computer.  Some notebook computers don't have a serial port built in; on such computers you must attach the docking station in order to use its serial port.  The most common solution is to get a USB-to-serial-port converter.  Computers constructed before 1994 may have a 25-pin serial port, in which case you'll need a 25-to-9-pin adapter in order to use the TypeWell serial cable capability. 
   
• The serial port enabled.  On some newer computers, the serial port is disabled in the BIOS.  Check this by going to Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device manager, opening the Ports(COM & LPT) entry, and seeing if your COM1 or COM2 is enabled.  If not, access the BIOS menu when the computer is booting up, to turn it on. 
   
• An appropriate serial cable (in technical terms, a null-modem 9-pin female-to-female serial cable).  We don't sell serial cables, but good quality ones at a good price are available from Cablesnmor. 

To activate serial linking, just connect the cable between the two computers, and turn on the Serial Link entry in the Options or Link menu on each computer.  In the bottom right corner of the TypeWell screen the readout will change from "Link Disabled" to "Searching" for a brief moment, and then will automatically change to "Linked on serial cable" when the computers detect each other.  This is nearly instantaneous when the steps above have been followed.

The Internet and TypeWell Wireless

The TypeWell linking method completely takes over the wireless settings.  This is necessary to make the wireless connection work reliably in day to day use. 

Some users would like to be able to access the Internet from the TypeWell computer.  The problem is that several of the set up steps (7a, 8, 11, and 12) preclude the use of the Internet along with a reliable TypeWell connection.  Unfortunately, there is no way to use a switcher program to change all these settings back and forth for the two different uses, particularly step 12. 

Here are the ways you can safely connect a TypeWell computer to the Internet. 

• The easiest is to use a wired connection for reaching the Internet.  In this configuration, the wireless hardware remains dedicated to TypeWell linking, and the wired network hardware can be used for Internet.  Similarly, you can safely use a dial-up connection to access the Internet with no negative effects on the TypeWell wireless settings. 
   
• Add a second wireless interface to your computer, by purchasing a second 802.11b/g card.  Configure this second wireless card to work with the internet, while leaving the first dedicated to TypeWell.  When doing this, we recommend that you remove the Internet wireless card when using the computer for TypeWell linking, both to prevent radio interference, and to avoid having the extra card sticking out of the machine and subject to damage when it's not needed. 
   
• A method we don't recommend unless you are an expert with wireless, is to manually reconfigure wireless back and forth from one use (Internet) to the other (TypeWell) on a regular basis.  To do this, set up TypeWell as discussed above, then undo steps 7a and 12 to go back to Internet mode, then re-do 7a and 12 to go back to TypeWell mode.  We don't recommend this because it's common for non-expert users to casually mess with the settings (like 7b, or leaving 7a set to the Any available setting), which will seem to work at the time but then will result in unreliable connections later. 

More Than One Reader

It is possible to have more than one reader linked to a transcriber computer, so that two or more people can read the transcript at once.  For instance one reader can be linked to the transcriber by a serial cable, and two more could be linked to the transcriber by wireless, and all three readers would see the transcript from the transcriber. 

To link an extra computer using wireless, follow the usual configuration directions (see Linking with Wireless, above).  At step 12 of the configuration, set the IP address for the extra reader computer to an unused value in the same 192.168.247.1 through 192.168.247.4 range used for the others.  Since there are 4 available IP addresses in this range, you can have up to 4 computers wirelessly linked together. 

You may additionally link to up to 4 readers in the Premium version of TypeWell using Skype remote linking (see link at top of this page).  Finally, by using the Streamtext (details online) linking method of the Premium version, you may have any number of readers read the transcript over the internet using standard web browsers. 

Be aware that there is a caveat with linking wirelessly to more than one reader.  Typing by the readers at the Reader machines will interfere with the transcript being shown on the other Reader machines.  It's best to plan not to allow typing on the reader machines in this configuration, or to set up a system for when typing is permitted by the readers.  This caveat does not apply to other types of links: the serial, IP, Skype, and Streamtext linking methods couple the reader machines directly to the transcriber so that readers do not see each other's typing, avoiding this problem.