Re: debian xfce network tethering an SGS2

[Zenaan Harkness <zen@freedbms.net>]

On 11/30/13, Ron Leach <ronleach@tesco.net> wrote:
> Apologies for responding to my own post, but here some more evidence
> of USB tethering failure, On 28/11/2013 15:56, Ron Leach wrote:
>
>> Expected behaviour:
>> - Plug in SGS2 to laptop USB port, set USB tethering
>> - See a new interface listed in wicd
>
> After further testing, this would never be possible in wicd.

I don't know that this is true (it may be, but doesn't sound right) -
I'm on sid.

Anyway, after various testing steps, I found tethering worked very
well when setting up laptop for friend with XFCE, two separate
successful cases:
a) using SGS2 as wifi hotspot tethering ("wifi tethering")
b) and separately, connecting by usb cable ("usb tethering").

This was wheezy. Also tested successfully wireless tethering on sid.

Here is my procedure for wifi testing/ config:

*) First:
Put Android phone into wireless tethering/ wifi hotspot mode.
apt-get install wireless-tools wicd
Add a launcher shortcut to toolbar for wicd.

*) Next, make sure firmware for your wireless chip is installed:
# probably have to add non-free packages to apt sources.list
# now find appropriate firmware package:
lspci|grep -i net
apt-cache search SOME-DEVICE-DATA
apt-get install APPROPRIATE-FIRMWARE-PACKAGE
reboot # probably needed here, but not sure..

1) turn on the wireless physical switch on laptop !

2) sudo ifconfig -a # find name of wireless interface device
Usually it's called wlan0 it seems.

# Steps 3 and 4 aren't strictly necessary (but useful for testing
purposes if you are having difficulty), you should know your SSID and
PASSWORD - they are configured on your Android phone.

3) sudo ifconfig wlan0 up # wlan0 is example interface device name
This is necessary for the following command to run...

4) sudo iwlist wlan0 scan | grep -i sid   # find the network name/ SSID

5) add to /etc/network/interfaces, entry such as:
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
   wpa-ssid THE_SSID
   wpa-psk THE_PASSWORD

6) sudo ifup wlan0
Or alternatively, run wicd command.

------
Now USB tethering was much simpler:
*) switch off wireless switch, or disable in wicd,
or disable with "sudo ifdown wlan0.

*) connect usb cable from phone to laptop

*) enable "usb tethering" on phone

*) ifconfig -a # should show usb0 network device

*) add following lines to /etc/network/interfaces:
allow-hotplug usb0
iface usb0 inet dhcp

*) sudo ifup usb0 # only do this if needed

Good luck
Zenaan