Does anyone have any suggestions for extending the USB on the Toppy in my lounge to my main PC upstairs?

I'm getting a bit fed up with hitching my laptop up to it whenever I want to make any changes or download a TV programme to disk.

I've checked out the Devolo home plug system (networking via the house mains ) with the USB option, but their web site says that the USB option is only for use by PCs at both ends.

I have a home network using both LAN and wi-fi if that's any help.

The easiest option is to buy a USB extender or two! You can pick them up pretty cheap from electrical/computer shops (and even cheaper from pound shops!) Obviously, you're still going to have a wire going round your house, but there isn't really any alternative.

You could try this when it is available:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=398632

Will it work with the Toppy or the Hummy? I have no idea. Please let us know after you have tried it!

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

Wireless = pain in the a**e!

Certified Wireless USB should work with the Toppy, but other wireless USB technologies tend only to support a subset of the possible USB devices.

You could use something like a Linksys NSLU2 or Linkstation Live, which can both have software added to them to make the Toppy visible to other devices as if it were an FTP server. And then connect that device using ethernet, wireless or mains networking.

http://www.toppy.org.uk/search.php?usb will give you some starting points.

Presumably if I use any of the available "bridges" for making remote USB devices into what would appear to be an FTP server, I'd then use Topset 2.0 to connect to a server rather than go looking for a USB connection it can't find?

I used the guide on www.toppy.org.uk to create an FTP server using an ASUS g500 wireless access point and small USB drive. it worked brilliantly and I can now access my topfield using ws_ftp.

It's been particularly useful recently changing the firmware to test the new freeview playback version (IMHO some great stuff but still a bit too buggy for SWMBO - failed to record ER!) and then back again with minimal disruption.

You can use a normal ftp client for the file transfer or firmware update - personally I usually just use Internet Explorer since it is already on the PC.