Application:FreeTether

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freeTether - Version: 0.99.13

Overview

freeTether is an open source tethering application for webOS that turns your device into an access point/gateway that allows you to share your device's cellular data connection with other devices via WiFi, Bluetooth or USB.

Installation

The following information will help with installing freeTether on your device.

Notice/Warning freeTether currently is in a beta/testing phase and as such its use falls under the WebOS-Internals Testing Feed Rules. Please take a few mintues to read over, understand and agree to the WebOS-Internals Testing Feed Rules before continuing.

Preparing Your Device

The following steps should be taken to prepare your device for the installation of freeTether.

Remove Other Tethering Solutions

It is highly recommended to remove all previous versions of freeTether and freeTetherD, as well as, Mobile Hotspot. Other tethering solutions may conflict with freeTether as well.

Testing Feeds

freeTether is found in the WebOS-Internals Testing Feeds. The WebOS-Internals Testing Feeds need to be added to your Preware configuration. Please carefully follow the steps listed on the WebOS-Internals Testing Feed page before continuing.

Method

The following method is the recommend way to install freeTether. By installing with Preware, you'll be certain to have access to the latest versions of freeTether.

Preware

1. Open Preware
2. Start typing “freetether” (no quotes), then press the enter/return key.
3. Tap freeTether from the list
4. Tap the Install button

Or

1. Open Preware
2. Tap Available Packages
3. Tap Application > System Utilities
4. Tap freeTether from the list
5. Tap the Install button

Updating

freeTether is being heavily developed and will have many updates during the beta/testing phase. Check Preware often for the latest updates to freeTether.

Troubleshooting/FAQ

Q: What version of webOS is freeTether available for?
A: freeTether is only available for webOS 1.4.5 and later.

Q: I think I've found a bug. What should I do?
A: freeTether is currently a beta/test release, so don't get all worked up if you encounter a bug. Please review the bug/features listed here before submitting your own. You should also consider removing all other tethering solutions and then try again; as one of the other tethering solutions may be causing the issue with freeTether.

Q: I don't see freeTether listed in Preware. What am I doing wrong?
A: Make sure you have both testing feeds configured. You need the "ALL" feed and your device specific feed. See the WebOS-Internals Testing Feed wiki page for more information.

Q: Where can I find the testing feeds?
A: The Webos-Internals Testing Feed information can be found here.

System/Device Compatibility

Here is a list of some systems and their current status/compatibility with freeTether.

	Bluetooth	USB	WIFI (Open)	WIFI (WPA)
Linux	Good	Good	Good	Good
MacOSX <=10.5	?	?	?	?
MacOSX 10.6	Good	Broken	Good	Good
Windows 7 (x86)	?	Good	Good	Good
Windows 7 (x64)	Can work	Good	Good	Good
PS3	N/A	N/A	Good	Good
Wii	N/A	N/A	Good	Needs Work
iPad	N/A	N/A	Good	Good

Usage

The following information will help to understand and use freeTether.

Overview

Each tethered interface has a section describing how to enable/disable the interface for tethering and how to configure any preferences for that interface, as well as, a section on configuring the TCP/IP options that the tethered interfaces will use.

WIFI Tethering

The following steps will assist you in configuring and using freeTether for WIFI tethering.

Configure WIFI Preferences:
The WIFI Preferences can be accessed two ways.

1. Tap the WIFI row listed in the Tethered Interfaces list.
2. Tap or Swipe down the app menu and select WIFI Prefs.

Network:
This setting determines the name (SSID) of the WIFI hotspot network. Tap the Network row to change the SSID. (See Figure 1)

Security: [Open | WPA2 Personal]
This setting determines the type of security to be used for the WIFI hotspot network. Tap the Security row to change between the Open and WPA2 Personal. (See Figure 2)

[The following settings are only available if WPA2 Personal is selected for the type of security.]

Passphrase:
This setting determines the passphrase used. Tap the Passphrase row to toggle between showing or hiding of the passphrase.

To configure your own passphrase, tap the Set Passphase button. A passphrase can be created two different ways. (See Figure 3)

1. Tap the text field (above the Generate Random button) and enter your passphrase. (The passphrase needs to have a minimum of eight (8) characters.) Then tap the Set Passphrase button.
2. Tap the Generate Random button to have freeTether generate a passphrase for you. Then tap the Set Passphrase button.

Enable/Disable Wifi Tethering:
Toggle the On/Off switch to enable or disable the freeTether WiFi tethering.

• Tethered WiFi Preferences
• Freetether wifiprefs1.png

  Figure 1

• Freetether wifiprefs2.png

  Figure 2

• Freetether wifiprefs3.png

  Figure 3

Bluetooth Tethering

The following steps will assist you in configuring and using freeTether for Bluetooth tethering.

Configure Bluetooth Preferences:
The Bluetooth Preferences can be accessed two ways.

1. Tap the Bluetooth row listed in the Tethered Interfaces list.
2. Tap or Swipe down the app menu and select Bluetooth Prefs.

PAN Profile: [Enabled | Disabled]
This setting attempts to enable Bluetooth PAN support for those carriers that may disable Bluetooth PAN support. (See Figure 1)

Enable/Disable Bluetooth Tethering:
Toggle the On/Off switch to enable or disable the freeTether Bluetooth tethering.

• Tethered Bluetooth Preferences
• Freetether btprefs.png

  Figure 1

USB Tethering

Enable/Disable USB Tethering:
Toggle the On/Off switch to enable or disable the freeTether USB tethering.

TCP/IP Preferences

The following steps will assist you in configuring the TCP/IP Preferences for freeTether.

Configure TCP/IP Preferences:
The TCP/IP Preferences can be accessed two ways.

1. Tap the DHCP Server section listed below the Tethered Interfaces list.
2. Tap or Swipe down the app menu and select TCP/IP Prefs.

For a view of the TCP/IP Prefs... (See Figure 1)

Gateway:
This setting determines the gateway address that is used by the tethered clients as their connection point to your device.

Subnet:
This setting determines the subnet address that is used by the tethered clients.

DHCP Start:
This setting determines the starting address used when allocating IP address to the tethered clients.

Max Leases:
This setting determines the maximum number of addresses available for allocation to the tethered clients.

Lease Time:
This setting determines the length of time the tethered client's address allocation is valid. (Time is in seconds.)

• TCP/IP Preferences
• Freetether tcpipprefs.png

  Figure 1

Resources

Donation to Developers

• Please see the official PreCentral Forum thread opening post for the donation link.

Official Forum

• Official PreCentral Forum Thread

Official Bug/Feature Request Site

• Official Bug/Feature Request Site

Status

freeTether currently is in a beta/testing phase and is being heavily developed.

Changelog

0.99.13 - Current Release - (Released Jan. 14th, 2011)

• Disable settings while interface active
• Add TCP/IP Preferences

0.99.12

• Default to Open for wifi tethering
• Styling tweaks
• Show passphrase hint
• Menu options for each interface

0.99.11

• Add client info scene
• End freeTether service on app close

0.99.10

• Default to WPA for wifi tethering
• Provide default passphrase
• Enforce min passphrase length
• Random passphrase generator

0.99.9

• Service fixes for race conditions and client list reporting
• Save and restore interface state
• Fix spinner states and multi-interface toggling
• Fix client list to correctly update hostnames

0.99.7

• Bluetooth PAN profile

0.99.6

• USB, Bluetooth and WiFi support
• webOS 1.4.5 and 2.x.x support
• Improved UI

Known Issues

Please see the issues list here for more information on the known issues.