How to share the internet connection of your Ubuntu with your old Palm using Bluetooth

Since Bluez utilities have been updated to the version 4.x I’ve found quite complicated to share the internet connection of my linux box (actually an Ubuntu 10.04 – Lucid Lynx) with my Palm Centro.

So I’ve investigated the issue a bit and this is how I get it working:

1. pair the phone and the pc using the standard bluetooth interface (on the taskbar)
2. sudo apt-get install bluez-compat
3. gksudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf
4. Uncomment the line “net.ipv4.conf.default.forwarding=1”
5. sudo sysctl -p
6. gksudo gedit /etc/ppp/peers/dun
7. paste inside the file (and adapt it to your network configuration):
115200

# IP address of PC : IP address to be assigned to Palm
192.168.2.1:192.168.2.2

local

# put your DNS server IP down here:
ms-dns 192.168.0.1

noauth

debug
8. sudo /usr/bin/dund --listen --persist --msdun call dun --nodetach
9. launch the connection from your phone, it worked for me… Good luck!

There are 5 comments left Go To Comment

  1. shane /

    Wow! This still works in Maverick! Thanks for the very quick and easy setup!

  2. Giovanni /

    Hi, I’m trying it but I’m stuck at point 8 everytime I execute that comand I only receive a list of option.

    1. tslpre /

      I guess that wordpress has replaced the double dash with a straight line…

      The point #8 should be read as:
      sudo /usr/bin/dund --listen --persist --msdun call dun --nodetach

  3. Kyle /

    Can you explain the meaning behind the settings in step 7? I can get a successful connection with my Centro but am having difficulty accessing the outside Internet. I think it might have something to do with these settings not matching my network router.

    1. tslpre /

      You’re right, I’ve now added a couple of comments about the network information to be added in the file /etc/ppp/peers/dun.

      Make sure you match your PC’s IP address with a valid (free) IP for your palm separated by a : – like:

      192.168.2.1:192.168.2.2

      and that you put a valid dns at the line with “ms-dns”.

      Hope this will help you!

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