Hi all.

Pear PC is great, however the networking aspect of it is driving me up the wall. I feel as though I'm so close, yet so far away. Hopefully someone can help me out.

I've followed just about every network guide I could find on the subject, trying ICS, using a proxy, bridging adaptors, etc. Nothing yet has seemed to work.

So now that the intro is out of the way, here's what I have at this point in time:

Host machine is Windows XP Pro SP2
OS X 10.3 running perfectly in Pear PC (config file posted below)


Host machine ethernet adaptors configured as follows:
#1 (Physical)
IP: 192.168.0.2
SM: 255.255.255.0
GW: 192.168.0.10
DNS: 192.168.0.4

#2 (Win-TAP32, Open VPN 2.0 Beta 2 Version)
IP: 192.168.0.7
SM: 255.255.255.0
GW: blank
DNS: blank

OS X adaptor configured as follows (DHCP is not working):
IP: 192.168.0.8
SM: 255.255.255.0
GW: 192.168.0.7

So currently (with the Realtek drivers) I can ping the Win-TAP32 adaptor from within OS X, and see the packets coming in from the request, but there isn't any reply being sent back. I've also attempted to connect through CC Proxy, but nothing. This is about the closest I've come so far to having it up and running.

I've tried re-installing Open VPN, but the problem remains the same. Trying to use DHCP doesn't help at all either. Bridging connections seems to be even worse. ICS just plain won't work (telling me some other machine is using 192.168.0.1 when there isn't).

Have I missed something simple in my configuration, or am I doomed to not have connectivity in the emulator?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi there,

I can only advise on ICS because that's what I use and it works for me. Everyone seems to have their preferred method though...

Looking at your network info above, first and foremost you will need to sort out the address distribution. Your physical NIC (presumably connected to a router+modem) is on a 192.168.0.x subnet, but so is the TAP adapter. This is the typical setup for Ethernet bridging - your physical network must have a different subnet, say 192.168.1.x for ICS to be activated successfully.

You say you don't have another IP 192.168.0.1 on your network. Are you sure? This address is a common default for routers and/or Ethernet modems. If that is the case, and the address can't be changed (as with my accursed D-Link piece of crap at work), then ICS is out because, as you saw, the TAP adapter needs to get that address. In that case you'll need to use bridging or a proxy server.

Wacky behaviour with the adapter device seems quite common. You might want to check your Device Manager in case there's some remnants left of the previous install.

for starters, please report back on the router issue and we'll see how to proceed.

Thanks for the reply.

Your advice got me thinking, then I got it working, but the way I ended up doing it seems a bit odd.

I changed my network addressing around a bit and enabled ICS. So now I have:
Host Adaptor #1 (Physical)
IP: 192.168.1.2
GW: 192.168.1.1
DNS: 192.168.1.4
ICS enabled

Host Adaptor #2 (TAP)
IP: 192.168.0.64
GW: blank
DNS: blank

OSX Adaptor (with DHCP now working)
IP: 192.168.0.44
GW: 192.168.0.64
DNS: blank

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't ICS just work, without me having to use a proxy as well? Because in my instance here it doesn't. I need to have CCProxy running as well so I can actually get out to the internet.

Don't get me wrong, having it working was my main goal (no matter how I had to go about doing it). It just seems a bit weird to me.

Thanks again.

Well done on your progress, anyway...hurrah!

ICS does 'just work' but only serves an adapter with the exact IP address 192.168.0.1 - your changes to the physical network's subnet have brought you halfway there, but the TAP adapter MUST have that specific address.

If you've actually successfully enabled ICS, it might be the case that you can change the TAP adapter's IP to 192.168.0.1 and disable CCProxy - but I doubt it.

Like I say, CCProxy is not something I've tried - Prasys is the authority on that subject roud these parts. How it's doing what it is, maybe he can answer.

But if you'd rather take it out of the loop altogether, I suggest disabling ICS, disabling CCProxy, and re-enabling ICS. Then you just need to change the gateway address in OSX, and (in theory) you're good to go.

You've done it again!

I changed the address on the TAP adaptor to 192.168.0.1, shut down the proxy, and bam! Working perfectly with just ICS. Now I just need to get it to play nice with Zone Alarm and I'll be set.

While I'm typing (and while you're helping ), any suggestions for a good redraw rate? I'm running at 25 right now but it's still a bit choppy at times. I have an Athlon 64 3000+, 1GB RAM, and a GeForce 5200.

Thanks again..

Nice platform - with that kinda power I guess you can afford to go down to the minimum - 10, I think...

Re ZoneAlarm: you need to reduce the security level to Medium, and ensure the 'Allow outgoing DNS' is ticked in the Advanced dialog, if you're using the free version. If you're behind a router this setting should be secure enough.

I figured out the Zone Alarm thing after I had made my last post. Everything internet related is working perfectly now.

I've run with the redraw rate at 10 and multiple other levels, almost always wth the same results. Maybe I need to tweak some other settings to get it running nice and smooth.

I think most of us struggle to get the smoothness. Couple of things you could try:

- reduce screen size or bit-depth. Personally I'm comfortable with 600x800x32, though you may want more...!

- increase the RAM. I only have 512MB installed, but I can get away with giving PPC up to 1GB (0x40000000) without ill-effects. Why not try even more?

Only on Windows 98 SE. On 2000 and XP it can have any address, but without the DHCP server.

HOLD THE PHONE! Are you saying XP's ICS can be setup to serve to a different IP address?

If that's true, it could help me greatly with something at work. Can you tell me how to do this?

Of couse, you should simply enable ICS, and then change the TAP's IP address. Note that you will have to manually set the OSX' IP address afterwards (since when you change the TAP's IP address, it will no longer give them automatically) to one in the same subnet (like 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2), or install a third-party DHCP server (I recommend Herbert Hanewinkel's server).

Hmmm... so the Mac cannot get DNS without a third-party DHCP server?

The router acts as DHCP server on my home net, where I'm able to use ICS in normal config, so I give the Mac the host's external NIC address as router and that seems to work. Would this no longer work?

You should just manually put the same DNS server address you get from your ISP, along with your current config for ip address & gateway.