On Thursday 16 Jun 2011 15:38:30 Allan Gottlieb wrote:
> I have an htc incredible and want to use it to act as a modem for my
> gentoo laptop.
> 
> The htc manual says that I first must install htc sync.
> When I go to the htc web site, I find that htc sync is only available
> for ms windows.

I wouldn't think that this is necessary unless you want to sync contacts, 
messages, etc.  Opensync may work with that phone - but I do know for sure.


> I believing others on this group have tethered their incredibles and I
> wonder how.  I see in google some attempts to use wine or other ms
> windows emulators / virtualizers.
> 
> I do not need to sync contacts/mail/calendar since I do that with
> google.
> 
> I haven't seen any howtos for tethering directly with gentoo.

I don't have your phone to provide detailed instructions, but this is how I 
have tethered phones in the past to connect to the Internet using IrDA or 
Bluetooth.

1. Establish a connection between your phone and the laptop.  I assume you 
will use Bluetooth for this, so you will need to edit 
/etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf as follows:

#
# RFCOMM configuration file.
#

rfcomm0 {
#       # Automatically bind the device at startup
#       bind no;
bind yes;
#       # Bluetooth address of the device
#       device 11:22:33:44:55:66;
device XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;  <--your phone's b'tooth MAC address
#
#       # RFCOMM channel for the connection
#       channel 1;
#channel 1;
#       # Description of the connection
#       comment "Example Bluetooth device";
comment "HTC Incredible";  <--your phone's name
}

To find the MAC address run hcitool with various parameters like, scan, dev, 
inq.

Then create a ppp connection on your PC and point it to /dev/rfcomm0.  First 
check though that the device is being created and if not, check the 
/etc/conf.d/bluetooth file, this is mine:

# Bluetooth configuraton file

# Bind rfcomm devices (allowed values are "true" and "false")
RFCOMM_ENABLE=true

# Config file for rfcomm
RFCOMM_CONFIG="/etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf"


The tricky part with the ppp connection is using the correct string for 
running the modem on the phone.  On mine I dial up *99# and that activates 
GPRS on the phone.  You may also need special initialisation commands for the 
phone's modem.  Some googling on these specifics should get you there.

Other than that enable bluetooth on both devices, establish a connection using 
bluetooth and entering a pin and then run ppp on your laptop.  If all goes as 
expected you should be online.
-- 
Regards,
Mick