Bluetooth PAN for funambol with netcfg

gladstone · 2010-06-20 19:43:52

Put simply, I want to sync my phone (w890i) with Thunderbird.

It seems the modern way to do this (I say "modern" since opensync is inactive and does not support TB3) is via funambol.

However, I don't have a data plan for my phone and hence want to use a Bluetooth PAN to connect to the funambol server.

There exists a few guides that I've been referring to:

* A Guide to Synchronization with Funambol DS Server over Bluetooth PAN
* Bluetooth PAND (Personal Area Network) Howto For Debian Etch
* IPhone_Tethering

... which seem to have got me close, but no cigar.

I have bluetooth working correctly (can transfer files via obexfs) and can pair the devices.

Now, I use netcfg to manage network connections, so am trying to piece together the essentials of the aforementioned guides into a netcfg profile. Just to iterate, I don't want to access the internet on my PC via the phones modem. Stop me here if I'm confused with tethering/PAN's.

pand successfully establishes a connection and an ip appears to be assigned to the phone (checking with ifconfig). However, internet browsing (on the phone) doesn't work.

$ cat /etc/network.d/tether

CONNECTION="ethernet"
DESCRIPTION="Ethernet via pand tethering to phone"
INTERFACE="bnep0"
PHONE="00:1E:45:F6:87:70"

PRE_UP="/etc/rc.d/bluetooth start;
        pand -E -S -c ${PHONE} -e ${INTERFACE} -n"

POST_UP="echo "1" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;
        iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE;
        /etc/rc.d/dhcpd start"

POST_DOWN="pand -k ${PHONE};
          /etc/rc.d/dhcpd stop;
          /etc/rc.d/bluetooth stop"

IP="static"
ADDR="192.168.1.220"
#GATEWAY="192.168.1.254"
#DNS=("208.67.222.222")

$ cat /etc/dhcpd.conf

option domain-name "somedomainname.com";
option domain-name-servers 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220;

subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    range 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.250;
    option domain-name-servers 208.67.222.222;
    option domain-name "bluetoothap.int.yourdomain.com";
    option routers 192.168.1.220;
    option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255;
    default-lease-time 600;
    max-lease-time 7200;
}

$ sudo netcfg tether
:: tether up                                                                       [BUSY]
:: Starting bluetooth subsystem:  bluetoothd                                       [DONE] 
pand[27494]: Bluetooth PAN daemon version 4.65
pand[27494]: Connecting to 00:1E:45:F6:87:70
pand[27494]: bnep0 connected
:: Starting DHCP Server                                                            [DONE] 
find: `/var/run/network//suspend/': No such file or directory
                                                                                   [DONE] 
$ ifconfig 
bnep0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:19:5D:0F:4D:F9  
          inet addr:192.168.1.220  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::219:5dff:fe0f:4df9/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:3 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:165 (165.0 b)  TX bytes:710 (710.0 b)

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:12:F0:D9:84:D3  
          inet addr:192.168.1.3  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
...

Any ideas?

Last edited by gladstone (2010-06-20 19:44:28)

ngoonee · 2010-06-20 22:44:25

Sorry I can't help you with this specific thing, but you may want to check whether you can use an existing syncml server (mobical is the one I use). I ran funambol for a while (the AUR package is maintained by me) but there's some limitations currently which I can't stand, mainly that contacts can only have one mobile number (since v8).

Its almost certain that your phone has a syncml client (or can get one) so the question is whether there's an extension for thunderbird which does that as well.

gladstone · 2010-06-21 09:36:25

I had a quick search for alternatives and it seems they're either 3rd party services used to host your data (often paid-for solutions) or they're unmaintained/out-of-date.

I like funambol's approach (open-source, self-hosting), though that limitation you describe is rather critical! Could you post a reference?

ngoonee · 2010-06-21 10:07:34

No reference, I did post in their (very cumbersome) forums about it, only got one reply from the maintainer, can't find it now. Its basically a bug in their parsing, but the fix didn't make it into current 8.5.1.

As I said, there's quite a few free hosting services for contacts/calendar/tasks/notes. I use mobical currently, at least.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-20 19:43:52

Bluetooth PAN for funambol with netcfg

#2 2010-06-20 22:44:25

Re: Bluetooth PAN for funambol with netcfg

#3 2010-06-21 09:36:25

Re: Bluetooth PAN for funambol with netcfg

#4 2010-06-21 10:07:34

Re: Bluetooth PAN for funambol with netcfg

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