I got a TrÄ“o 650. It isn’t WiFi capable. I get to pay Verizon $40 a month for that privilege. No. Thank. You. I’ve already whined about this.

But! I did find a way to share my Mac’s internet connection with my TrÄ“o via Bluetooth. Which is pretty cool. I’m copying comments posted at MacDevCenter.com but I’m also adding a little detail. This works. It allowed me to surf the net, check email and even sync Avantgo (who STILL don’t have a conduit for the Mac, thankyouverymuch.) Any way, here’s how you do it:

1. Pair your PDA via Bluetooth to your Mac; after that, the Bluetooth discovery option in both devices can be set to “off”
2. Open a terminal window on the Mac (Applications->Utilities->Terminal)
3. Run the following command. Just copy and paste it (all on one line), it will ask for your password, that’s what sudo does. Enter an admin password when prompted:
   sudo /usr/sbin/pppd /dev/tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync 115200 noauth local passive proxyarp ktune asyncmap 0 persist :10.0.1.105
4. Enable IP forwarding by pasting this into the terminal window as well:
   sudo sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
5. Setup your PDA for a new bluetooth connection; the device should be setup as “pc connection”, 115200 speed, and a fixed IP (in our case 10.0.1.105) and DNS same as the one on your Mac. Here’s how you do that:
   • Preferences ->Network
   • Click Modify to unlock the settings.
   • Click Detials…
   • Click Modify to unlock the settings.
   • Click Advanced.
   • Uncheck IP Address Automatic and enter the IP address as above.
   • Uncheck Query DNS and enter the DNS IP address your Mac is set up to use. That’s in System Preferences under Network.
   • Click OK
   • Click OK
   • Click Connect

Keep in mind that I tried this on a G4 iMac running Mac OS X 10.4.8 with a cheap Bluetooth dongle and a Trēo 650 and it worked fine. I might try it again with my old Tungsten T3.

UPDATE: No luck with the Tungsten but I’ll have to try it again. Had other problems. Also, once you redirect the internet through the Bluetooth you can’t sync with Bluetooth. I’m waiting for my sync cable so that is a problem. Right now the only way to undo it is to reboot. Blah. I’m looking in to a better answer to that too.

UPDATE 2: This will only work if you are connected to the internet via a PPP connection. I have an iMac connected to a DSL modem that uses a PPP connection. It works on that. I share that internet connection via the iMac’s Airport. When I try this hack on my Powerbook, it doesn’t work because the Powerbook is not connected via a PPP connection. The iMac takes care of that. I need to fish around and see if there is a way to share another type of internet connection.

UPDATE 3: Something I keep forgetting is that you have to go to HotSync Manager -> Connection Settings and uncheck bluetooth-pda-sync-port before you do the steps listed above. Once I remembered to do that I was able to sync the Trēo and the Tungsten,