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Connect a Palm to a LAN via USB cable Network
There's a splendid program out there called USB-TCP Bridge that takes everything that comes from the USB port and reroutes it to a TCP connection. And vice versa of course -- everything that comes from that TCP connection will be sent to the USB port. This makes it possible to connect a Palm with a USB interface (Zire for example) to a network via a host computer that runs USB-TCP bridge, pty-redir and pppd.

First of all, download USB-TCP Bridge and pty-redir via the above links. Start USB-TCP Bridge and set it up to:
  • Listen on USB and connect to TCP port
  • USB connection type: should be set to "Serial emulation"
  • TCP Port: shoudl be set to 22000.
Press "Start Bridge," and (as written in the app), "You may need to deactivate HotSync before activating the bridge." Decompress pty-redir and run make in the Terminal to compile it. Then run it with:
./pty-redir nc -l -p 22000
This will reroute incoming traffic from port 22000 to a device. pty-redir will print out which device it's going to use -- /dev/ttyp0 or something like that. Next, start pppd on that device:
pppd /dev/ttyp0 115200 10.0.0.1:10.0.0.2 noauth proxyarp
Replace the IP numbers with whatever you are using on your network. Now your connection will be all set to go, just configure your Palm to use USB and connect.

Strong Warning: This hint might jeopardize the security of your network, due to the fact that anyone can connect to your host computer on port 22000 to gain access to your network.
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Connect a Palm to a LAN via USB cable | 4 comments | Create New Account
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Connect a Palm to a LAN via USB cable
Authored by: Sawtoothed on Nov 16, '03 09:50:11PM
A "few" more details :-)
You need the nc command for this hint to work (it is included in Panther, but not Jaguar). You can find it here. It compiles out of the box, with the usual
./configure ; make ; sudo make install

Next, it seems you need to tell pty-redir where nc is, so the command looks like this (if you installed nc yourself, on Jaguar) :
./pty-redir /usr/local/bin/nc -l -p 22000

If you have Panther and the command given by fuse2 doesn't work, try :
./pty-redir /usr/bin/nc -l -p 22000

After that, pppd need to be run as root, so use sudo :
sudo pppd /dev/ttyp0 115200 macip:palmip noauth proxyarp


For clarification, macip must be replaced by the IP address of your Mac, and palmip by the IP address that will be given to your Palm (choose whatever you want, as long as it's in the same subnet, e.g. your Mac is 10.0.0.1, choose 10.0.0.2 or 10.0.0.3 etc. for your Palm)

If you want to access the Internet from your Palm, open the Sharing pane of System Preferences, and start Internet Sharing (in the Internet tab), otherwise you will only be able to access your local network.

Now, how to configure your Palm :
  • Tap Prefs then choose Connection, and make sure Cradle/Cable is selected. Tap Edit... then Details... and check that the speed is set at 115 200bps
  • Still in the Prefs, choose Network. Go to the Service menu and choose New. Name this new Service, for example "Mac", leave the User Name field blank, make sure the Password field says "-Prompt-" and the Connection is "Cradle/Cable". Then tap Details... There, choose PPP as the Connection type, set Idle timeout to Never, uncheck the "Query DNS" box and enter the IP of your ISP's DNS server(s) (or the IP of your router, if you have one). Next to "IP address" there should be a checked box named "Automatic". If it's not checked, check it.


Now you should be able to start a web browser, mail client (check out the Eudora Internet Suite if you want to test the connection with a website or your mail server, it's free at eudora.com), AvantGo, chat client, etc. on your Palm, and it will connect automatically.
Open /var/log/system.log in the Console if you want to see what happens when the Palm connects.

Note :
If you disconnect the Palm (there should be a Disconnect button in the Internet-aware Palm app you're using, but some apps disconnect themselves automatically) and want to reconnect it, you'll have to type this in the Terminal :
killall netcat
and then start pppd again.

[ Reply to This | # ]
Connect a Palm to a LAN via USB cable
Authored by: Sawtoothed on Dec 05, '04 08:31:03AM
If you are using Panther and did not compile nc yourself, you will have to type killall nc, not killall netcat.

[ Reply to This | # ]
Connect a Palm to a LAN via USB cable
Authored by: jedik on Jan 17, '04 10:40:48PM

Well, this didn't work for me. I tried many configs, but no success at all.

Finally, I found this in the Internet:

http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?s=b686f4583ecbda0da585cf00b7f054ec&threadid=32094

I have a "generic" USB/Serial adapter (Prolific chip) and it worked like a charm! I just changed the device to /dev/tty.usbserial0.

Cheers!


---
:: Jedi Knight ::
-- Mac Rules! --



[ Reply to This | # ]
Connect a Palm to a LAN via USB cable
Authored by: reeder.29 on May 09, '06 09:28:12PM

[I realize previous postings on this thread were two years ago, but since this thread appears to be the most cogent description of this I could find, I have posted my findings below]

pppd has an option to create the necessary pseudo-ttys automatically, so pty-dir is unnecessary. I reccomend the following command:

sudo pppd pty 'nc -l -p 22000' 10.0.0.1:10.0.0.2 115200 noauth proxyarp persist

With this, I could ping any IP address from my Palm. Adding the "persist" option allows the Palm to connect and disconnect, without needing to restart pppd.



[ Reply to This | # ]