Mocha FTP Server is a great way to transfer files between your JLT PDA and computer (any computer) over a Wi-Fi network. Compared to other methods of transferring data:
- It’s much, much faster and more stable than transferring by directly connecting PDA and computer with the included USB cable. Hotsync and Windows Mobile Device Center connections are far too slow to realistically handle transfers of more than 100 MB—and barely adequate for anything over 30-50 MB.
- It’s slower than using a card reader attached to your computer to transfer files to and from the memory card, but still fast enough for most purposes, it’s more convenient (no physically moving cards around, no trying to remember where you put the card reader), and, most importantly, it’s safer. Using a card reader can easily ruin your memory card, either because of you forgetting to do the safe removal procedure before removing the card or because of a USB crash (especially on older Windows computers).
- It’s several orders of magnitude faster than transfer by infrared beaming, which really isn’t practical for anything over 1 MB (and of course requires that your computer also be capable of infrared beaming).
- It’s faster and much simpler to set up than Bluetooth Sharing (which of course requires that your computer also be capable of Bluetooth communication).
If you’ve got Wi-Fi, Mocha FTP server is the most convenient way to transfer data—especially if you’ve got a lot of it.
Mocha FTP Server has a couple of minor bugs, but I’ve tested all the competing programs, including a couple of fairly expensive ones, and Mocha is by far the best—some of the others don’t work at all; Mocha actually works well. As with anything technical, the instructions below may look long and involved when you read them cold, but as you actually go through the procedure with the PDA in your hand you’ll find it pretty quick and simple, even the first time. There are actually only a couple of things to do. After the first time, you’ll find it takes only 30 seconds or so to connect. Here’s what you do:
- Turn on Wi-Fi on your PDA and connect to your network as you normally do to go online. Try connecting to a web page to confirm that the connection is good.
- Start Mocha FTP Server on your PDA.
- You may get a message about registration—this is one of the bugs mentioned above: it forgets the registration data. This screen may or may not be a bit messed up (the other bug), but it’ll be legible. Neither is a big problem. If asked, just tap “Register” and enter the registration code. The license name “freeware” will probably be entered for you (it doesn’t seem to forget that too often), but if it isn’t, enter it. To get the registration code, please visit Mochasoft's site. You won’t have to do this every time, but it will be necessary once in a while, so you may want to make a note on your PDA with the license number.
- On your PDA, you’ll see a screen like the one shown on Mochasoft's site. All you have to do is note the IP address shown. At this point, your PDA is ready. Leave the PDA on and Mocha FTP server running.
- Now, you have to connect to your PDA from your computer. On your computer, start your favorite FTP program. If you don’t have one, I recommend the excellent, free FileZilla. The following directions are for FileZilla, but other programs should work the same way. You can also use Microsoft Internet Explorer, following the directions on the Mochasoft site (but who uses IE anymore?).
- In the Host box in the Quick Connect boxes at the top of the FileZilla window, enter the FTP address you noted from Mocha FTP server on your PDA. Leave the other boxes alone (in other programs, if you have to enter a username, use “anonymous” and leave the password blank). Click the Quick Connect button. FileZilla and Mocha FTP server will take a few seconds to communicate with each other and make a connection. When they’ve succeeded, you’ll see the contents of your PDA in the right hand window of FileZilla.
- You can open folders and navigate around within the PDA in that right hand window of FileZilla. Now just copy and paste or drag and drop between that right hand window and anywhere else on your computer to transfer files to or from the PDA, move files around on the PDA, delete files on the PDA, etc.
- When you’re done, quite FileZilla on your computer and exit Mocha FTP Server on your PDA. Shut down Wi-Fi on your PDA.
That’s it.
If you’ve bought a JLT system since around July 2010, Mocha FTP server should already be installed on your JLT PDA. Look for it in the Program Menu (tap Programs from the Start Menu to access the Program Menu). If you don’t already have it, you can get it from either of two places:
- Anyone can download Mocha FTP Server’s Windows installer from the Mochasoft site (scan down the page until you see the Download button). After downloading the installer to your Windows PC, connect your PDA or Smartphone to the computer via ActiveSync (Win XP and previous) or Windows Mobile Device Center (Vista and Win7). Double click on the downloaded installer on your computer and it will be installed to your PDA. At some point your PDA or SmartPhone will ask you where you want to install it: choose Device and tap OK.
- JLT customers can also download the Windows Mobile installer from JLT. Either download it directly to your PDA or transfer it from your computer to the PDA. Then, in File Explorer on the PDA, navigate to the installer file and tap it. It will automatically install itself to the PDA. . At some point your PDA or SmartPhone will ask you where you want to install it: choose Device and tap OK.
After installing the program, start up Wi-Fi and connect to your network normally, start up Mocha FTP Server from the Program Menu, and in the Mocha start-up window tap Register. Enter the license name and license number as shown on the Mochasoft site.
Pretty simple, ねー