tether

SSH into a Raspberry Pi with only a network cable using OS X's 'Internet Sharing'

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I had to connect to a Raspberry Pi to set it up for a presentation, but I did not have:

  • A keyboard and/or other input device to use to type anything into the Pi
  • An HDMI cable to connect the Pi to a display so I could view anything on the Pi
  • A microSD card reader so I could modify the contents of the Pi's microSD card

Because of this, none of the standard methods of setting a static IP address, reconfiguring the Pi's WiFi configuration, or logging in on the Pi itself to find it's IP address or set things up so I could connect over a local network would work.

I remembered that Mac OS X handily includes an 'Internet Sharing' feature, which sets up a bridged network interface so your Mac is effectively a router and DHCP server to any devices connected to the shared interface.

How to Tether Your iPad to Your iPhone (via WiFi)

Since buying the iPad on the first day of it's introduction meant I had only one option; wifi-only, I needed a way to connect my iPad to the Internet on the go. Since I already have an iPhone, and have used it to tether my MacBook Pro in the past, I tried finding an easy way to tether to my iPad over WiFi. I didn't let Steve Jobs' comments about the iPad not being able to tether with the iPhone get me down.

A quick search around the web didn't find any quick tutorials, so I pieced enough information together to find that the best option would be to jailbreak my iPhone, download Cydia, and install MyFi, a nice app that turns your iPhone into a mobile hotspot.

Tethering Your iPhone to Your Mac with OS 3.0

Tethering your iPhoneAlongside today's news that Apple has finally released the iPhone/iPod Touch OS 3.0 to the public (download it by opening iTunes, connecting your iPhone or iPod Touch and clicking the 'Check for Update' button), some websites are noting that it is easy to enable tethering on your iPhone, even if AT&T hasn't officially announced support for this feature.

Tethering is great for small Internet browsing sessions, or when your iPhone just isn't enough to do what you need to do (for instance, adding content to a website, or uploading a large file). But don't Tether too much: First, if a lot of people are tethering, it can slow down the network for everyone else, and second, your iPhone's battery takes a huge hit (even if charging) while you're using it's 3G signal for tethering.

[NOTE: Visual Voicemail may stop working after you follow the steps below. To get it back, simply go to the Settings app, tap on General, then Network, then Cellular Data Network; tap on the "Visual Voicemail" APN and change it from wap.cingular to acds.voicemail.]