doc/www/modem.php

   1 <? include ("barry.inc"); ?>
   2
   3 <? createHeader("Using your BlackBerry as a USB Modem"); ?>
   4
   5 <? createSubHeader("Introduction"); ?>
   6
   7 <p>The Blackberry has the ability to act like a Hayes compatible modem,
   8 complete with AT commands.</p>
   9
  10 <p>In order to make use of this feature you will need the Barry command line
  11 tools installed on your system.  See the <? createLink("install", "Install"); ?>
  12 page for more details.</p>
  13
  14 <p>You will need three components to connect to the internet:
  15 <ul>
  16         <li> a working Barry install, version 0.13 or later </li>
  17         <li> a working pppd and matching kernel </li>
  18         <li> an options file and chatscript for your Blackberry provider </li>
  19 </ul>
  20 </p>
  21
  22 <p>See the <? createLink("desktop", "Barry Desktop"); ?> page for
  23 more information on using the GUI to manage the modem.</p>
  24
  25
  26 <? createSubHeader("If You Installed Barry's Binary Packages..."); ?>
  27
  28 <p>If you installed Barry's binary packages, specifically barry-util,
  29 then default ppp options and chat scripts are installed automatically
  30 for you.  Currently there are scripts available for the following
  31 providers:
  32 <ul>
  33         <li> AT&amp;T Cingular </li>
  34         <li> China Mobile </li>
  35         <li> Fido </li>
  36         <li> KPN Nederland </li>
  37         <li> Manitoba's MTS </li>
  38         <li> O2 Ireland </li>
  39         <li> Optus AU </li>
  40         <li> Orange Spain </li>
  41         <li> Orange UK </li>
  42         <li> Rogers </li>
  43         <li> Sprint </li>
  44         <li> Telus </li>
  45         <li> T-Mobile US </li>
  46         <li> Verizon </li>
  47         <li> Vodafone AU </li>
  48         <li> and a minimalist script for debugging </li>
  49 </ul>
  50 </p>
  51
  52 <p>For example, to run the default Rogers connection script, use the
  53 following command as root:</p>
  54 <pre>
  55         pppd call barry-rogers
  56 </pre>
  57
  58 <p>If none of the default scripts work, see the Troubleshooting section
  59 below.</p>
  60
  61
  62 <? createSubHeader("If You Installed Barry From Source..."); ?>
  63
  64 <p><b>Configuring PPPD</b></p>
  65
  66 <p>Sample configurations are provided in the source tarball, and if you are
  67 using a binary package, they should already be installed for you under
  68 /etc/ppp/peers and (depending on your system) /etc/chatscripts.</p>
  69
  70 <p>Copy the desired options file to /etc/ppp/peers and edit the file,
  71 making sure that the paths are referencing the correct files.
  72 <ul>
  73         <li> <b>pty</b> - must point to the location you installed Barry's
  74                         pppob program. </li>
  75         <li> <b>connect</b> - must use the correct chatscript </li>
  76 </ul>
  77 </p>
  78
  79
  80 <p><b>Establishing a Connection</b></p>
  81
  82 <p>If you named your options file "barry-rogers", then to connect to the
  83 internet, run:</p>
  84 <pre>
  85         pppd call barry-rogers
  86 </pre>
  87
  88 <p>Some systems may provide wrapper scripts for running pppd.  For example,
  89 Debian uses "pon" and "poff".</p>
  90
  91
  92
  93 <? createSubHeader("If Your Device Needs a Password..."); ?>
  94
  95 <p>If your device requires a password, you can specify this on the <b>pppob</b>
  96 command line.  For example, if you are using the <i>barry-rogers</i>
  97 PPP script, edit your /etc/ppp/peers/barry-rogers file, so that the
  98 <b>pty</b> option says something like this:
  99 </p>
 100 <pre>
 101         pty "/usr/sbin/pppob -P password"
 102 </pre>
 103
 104
 105 <? createSubHeader("Testing Your Connection"); ?>
 106
 107 <p>PPP will display some messages on stdout as it connects.  On success,
 108 you should see IP address negotiation and the resulting IP address for your
 109 machine.  PPP will then just wait for network activity.</p>
 110
 111 <p>When testing to see if this works, use your web browser.  The usual
 112 method of using <b>ping</b> does not work reliably, and some providers
 113 may have this blocked.</p>
 114
 115 <p>Check your routing table to make sure that the new default gateway
 116 is there.</p>
 117 <pre>
 118         /sbin/route -n
 119 </pre>
 120
 121
 122 <? createSubHeader("Security Concerns"); ?>
 123
 124 <p>Depending on your provider, you may or may not have a firewall installed
 125 when you connect to the internet through a tethered modem.  Keep an eye on
 126 your open ports, and remember that connecting to the internet this way
 127 may not be the same as the network you are used to.</p>
 128
 129 <p>Also keep in mind that if your system is configured to forward packets
 130 and you have pppd setup to replace your current default route, and you
 131 are still connected to an internal network (say, via ethernet), this could
 132 allow outside connections to be routed to your internal network.  The
 133 default pppd options files installed by Barry do not use the
 134 <b>replacedefaultroute</b> setting for this reason.  Contact your
 135 network administrator for assistance on configuring your mobile
 136 network setups.</p>
 137
 138
 139
 140 <? createSubHeader("Troubleshooting"); ?>
 141
 142 <p>Some devices don't respond to the PPP commands at first, but after
 143 the battery is removed and reinserted, modem functionality works.  This is
 144 likely due to the protocol not being completely understood, but resetting
 145 the device in this manner is enough of a workaround to get it working.</p>
 146
 147 <p>If you still run into trouble, the first task is to increase debug output
 148 and to log it.  PPPD supports increased logging if you add the following
 149 lines to the options file:</p>
 150 <pre>
 151         debug
 152         nodetach
 153 </pre>
 154
 155 <p>Barry's <b>pppob</b> program also supports verbose protocol logging.
 156 Change your options file and edit the pppob command line.  For example,
 157 if your pppob is installed in /usr/sbin, set the <b>pty</b> option to:</p>
 158
 159 <pre>
 160         pty "/usr/sbin/pppob -l /tmp/pppob.log -v"
 161 </pre>
 162
 163 <p>Be sure to remove these options once you have your connection working,
 164 as the above causes your entire internet traffic to be logged to the
 165 output file.</p>
 166
 167 <p>If your provider is not yet supported by the sample options files,
 168 you will need to do a little digging on your own.  If you are able to
 169 tether your Blackberry using a Windows system, you can duplicate the
 170 login information in your chat script.</p>
 171
 172 <p>You may also find example configurations for your provider on the
 173 various Blackberry forums available online.</p>
 174
 175 <p>If you are still having trouble, please send an email to the
 176 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=153722">mailing list</a>,
 177 including:
 178 <ul>
 179         <li> the version of Barry you are using </li>
 180         <li> the output from pppd </li>
 181         <li> the log output from pppob </li>
 182         <li> the ppp options file and chatscript you used </li>
 183 </ul>
 184 </p>
 185
 186 <p>The logs from pppob can be fairly large, so limit the size to a single
 187 run.</p>
 188
 189
 190 <? createSubHeader("Connecting via Bluetooth"); ?>
 191
 192 <p>If your device has Bluetooth support, it is also possible to tether
 193 using Linux's own native Bluetooth serial drivers.  There are probably
 194 better tutorials on this already on the net, but here are a few notes
 195 from Michael Brown to help you get started.</p>
 196
 197 <p><b>Bluetooth Config</b></p>
 198
 199 <p>Put the following in your /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf file, replacing
 200 the X's with your Bluetooth BADDR.</p>
 201
 202 <pre>
 203 rfcomm0 {
 204         bind yes;
 205         device XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;
 206         channel 1;
 207         comment "Blackberry Dialup";
 208 }
 209 </pre>
 210
 211 <p><b>PPP Config</b></p>
 212
 213 <p>Use the same peer file that you would use for the USB tethering above,
 214 but remove the pty line that points to /usr/sbin/pppob.  Since you are
 215 using the Bluetooth serial port, you don't need pppob.  Replace that
 216 line with the line of your newly configured rfcomm device.  You may
 217 also need to specify the baud rate.</p>
 218
 219 <pre>
 220 /dev/rfcomm0
 221 115200
 222 </pre>
 223
 224 <p><b>Chatscript Config</b></p>
 225
 226 <p>No change is required.  Use the same chatscript you would use for
 227 USB above.</p>
 228
 229 <p>Run as usual.  For example:</p>
 230
 231 <pre>
 232         pppd call barry-rogers
 233 </pre>
 234