Connecting a Smartphone to a Mac via USB.

[garlicsalt2]

I have been searching for more than 3 hours for some kind of driver for my T-Mobile Dash, to use it as a GPRS/EDGE Modem. My iBook is an old G3 model, so even if I were willing to purchase Missing Sync (which I'm not, btw), my iBook is not supported, as it is not a G4 or better.

I am looking for a FREE driver for OS X 10.4 Tiger, specifically an "RNDIS" driver. I am not particularly looking for speculation. I believe I have the correct modem scripts, but I can't get my Mac to see the USB Modem. Yes, I have put my Dash into ICS mode. Yes, I am running Windows Mobile 6. Yes, I have all of the updates to OS X. Yes, I have tried searching the forums (this one, and several others). Yes, I have tried "Googling it", which produced much good information, but no solutions to my problem. Although my Dash is Bluetooth enabled, my iBook is not. Yes, I know I can add a USB Adapter. I may well do that in the near future. Right now, however, I'm just looking for an RNDIS USB driver for Mac OS X. I don't need Synchronization features, at the moment.

Anyone have any ideas??

Correction: Does anyone have any "good" ideas??

Thanks,
--Aaron

[astn]

I just wanted to touch this and see if anyone had any information to help. My girlfriend has a new Pantech Duo and I would like to get USB tethering working for that. I did find a couple sites that may help (HowTo: USB Internet Sharing With Linux And Windows Mobile 6 (http://blog.linuxoss.com/2008/01/16/howto-usb-internet-sharing-with-linux-and-wm6/)), but I don't know enough about the technology to feel comfortable trying it. Thanks.

[Mr. Zach]

I use my wizard as a modem sometimes just using Internet Sharing in my TNT Rom. You may be able to find a .cab for it. From there just use activesync/WMDC. I haven't tried it on activesync, only on WMDC.

[Rudegar]

he's using mac

[leoni1980]

download wmwifirouter by chainfire or the free trial of walkinghotspot (if your handset and mac have wifi), or a micro bluetooth dongle if not.

[astn]

download wmwifirouter by chainfire or the free trial of walkinghotspot (if your handset and mac have wifi), or a micro bluetooth dongle if not.

Pantech Duo doesn't have Wifi. That was my first attempt before I realized it didn't have it, because I'm using that solution with my Kaiser.

RE: bluetooth. I haven't had a lot of success with a reliable connection. I've tried with my Kaiser and successfully configured it, using it to connect three or four times from my house, but as soon as I went on the road, I couldn't get it to connect at all, using the same steps as before. I'm sure that's either karma or equipment smarter then operator, but I'm hoping for a USB solution for simplicity (theoretically) as well as the better data throughput.

[Paul_Days]

Well, if you are using a Mac then here is what i used to do before I got Missing Sync.

For Syncing contacts and dates and such i used Eltima Softwares SyncMate. Runs pretty good and can be done using the USB cable. It also provides the option to do it over Wifi, which is faster. The Full version allows your to Sync even more stuff I believe.

For Syncing files, I simply paired my phone with my mac and transfered the mp3's, jpg's, etc.

Hope this helps,

Paul

[aidanbree]

Welcome to the hell which is created when you have a Mac and a WM device!

I have been mucking around with trying to get my internet connection shared with my MacBook pro for a couple of months. Here is what I have tried

- Bluetooth PAN - There is an issue with the MacBook Pro whereby the bluetooth PAN will produce incredibly bad latency issues rendering it useless
- Modem Scripts (Bluetooth)- Have never found one which would connect....I have tried a few
- Mobile Stream (USB) - Never managed to get a connection. The support team said that they had never seen the issues I sent in logs. They will investigate and hopefully resolve in future releases.
-PDAnet (Bluetooth)- It actually works! although it seems to hang the dialer process on the Mac periodically which requires a reboot to resolve
-Wifirouter - It works although it caused issues with access points in the office and drained the battery very quickly.....even when powered from the MAC it would empty the battery. Worked OK when using a mains charger.
-VMware Fusion to XP desktop (USB) - Works and works well however you can't provide (well i havent got it working) an internet connection to the Host Mac.

At the moment I am using the PDAnet 'solution' but I am always looking for something more reliable. A usb connection would be better and more reliable as there seems to be big issues on the Mac bluetooth environment.

Cheers

Aidan

[evilc]

Hell, I couldn't even find an RNDIS driver for windows (apart from installing ActiveSync) which is why I made the Linux post.

Yeah, OSX is *nix based, but I don't think you can use Linux packages on it, what I know about macs could be written on the back of a postage stamp though.

Regarding the VMWare solution, did you try enabling internet sharing for WinXP in the VMWare session (using a different IP to the one the Mac uses) and set the default gateway of the Mac to the IP of the XP machine in VMWare?
What I mean here is that the PPC shares the connection to the VMWare windows machine via USB and the VMWare windows shares the connection to the Mac via TCP/IP.

[aidanbree]

To be honest I never really played about with sharing the virtual machine with OSX too much. I was a bit put off with running fusion like that all the time as it sucks the life out of the battery when out and about.

Until a better solution is available I will stick with PDAnet. It does put me off windows mobile (slightly) moving forward. It would be interesting to see if the Bluetooth PAN connection works correctly without the latency issue on the diamond when it is available. If it worked properly it would be the best solution.

Cheers

Aidan

[Menneisyys]

Read http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2398248 for a review & comparison of WalkingHotSpot

[bschloz]

Hell, I couldn't even find an RNDIS driver for windows (apart from installing ActiveSync) which is why I made the Linux post.

Yeah, OSX is *nix based, but I don't think you can use Linux packages on it, what I know about macs could be written on the back of a postage stamp though.

Regarding the VMWare solution, did you try enabling internet sharing for WinXP in the VMWare session (using a different IP to the one the Mac uses) and set the default gateway of the Mac to the IP of the XP machine in VMWare?
What I mean here is that the PPC shares the connection to the VMWare windows machine via USB and the VMWare windows shares the connection to the Mac via TCP/IP.

I was reading this thread and you gave me the idea which led me to a workable solution so I thought I'd share back. I'm in the same boat as many ppl with latest MBP which doesn't work well with BT PAN (slooooowwwww). I sort of needed Fusion anyway since I'm starting to write WPF apps and performance is terrible over RDP from OSX (different subject). Anyway, here are some keys to getting this to work:

1. Setup a private network (not bridged or nat)
2. Install activesync on guest and fire up 'Internet Sharing' from WM6 device and connect device to Mac with USB cable.

-at this point you should be able to get online from the guest OS through the mobile device as previous post indicates-

Here is where the fun starts:

3. Create an advanced network connection on the guest (accept incoming connections, aka VPN connection)
4. *IMPORTANT* Go to the TCP/IP settings for the advanced network connection and setup a range of IP addresses in the same subnet as the active interface attached to the WM6 device (run ipconfig to determine). Make sure that 'clients can request their own IP address' is unchecked. Make sure this range falls outside of the IP address assigned to the guest interface from the WM6 device.
5. On the host Mac, create a new VPN connection (PPP) and set the host to the private IP address assigned to the guest (again, you can determine that through running ipconfig on the client). *IMPORTANT* Go to the advanced settings for the VPN connection on the Mac and set the DNS to point to the IP address of the router of the guest WM6 device interface.
6. Connect to the VPN from the Mac host and you should be off and running.

It works flawlessly with very good speed (relatively speaking) over the 3g connection. To get online in a pinch, now I just need to fire up the guest (which takes just a couple of seconds from a saved state), connect my device via usb with internet sharing started, and then connect to the vpn from the Mac.