Vista

I realise that this is a very specific scenario but having spent ages fiddling with wpa_supplicant files and getting nowhere, I feel I ought to share the solution that has, finally, worked for me.

The Scenario

I have a Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro phone* (Android v2.1-update1) and a Samsung Galaxy Tab P1010 (Android v2.2.1).  As the tablet is wifi only, I wish to make use of my phone’s 3G data connection occasionally, when there’s no wireless network for me to connect to.

The Problem

Versions of Android older than 2.2 (Froyo) don’t include the option to broadcast a wifi hotspot and even the latest version of Android doesn’t support ad-hoc networking (http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82).

A Solution

Try this at your own risk.  Both devices need to be rooted and should be backed up before you begin.

1. On the X10 Mini Pro, install Barnacle Wifi Tether
2. In the settings for Barnacle:
   1. Specify a name for the network you wish to create (SSID), eg. freedom
   2. Enable the “Skip wpa_supplicant” option
3. On the Galaxy Tab, install ZT-180 Adhoc Switcher
4. In the settings for ZT-180:
   1. Specify the name of the SSID that you’ve just set-up on Barnacle, eg. freedom
5. From the Actions menu in ZT-180, select “Switch to Ad-hoc mode”
6. Grant superuser privileges to ZT-180 when asked.
7. On the X10 Mini Pro, open up Barnacle and press “Start”
8. Grant superuser privileges to Barnacle when asked.

After a short wait, the Wi-Fi Information panel in ZT-180 should update to show that the Galaxy Tab has connected to the network being broadcast by the X10 Mini Pro.

To switch back to a normal, infrastructure network:

1. On the Galaxy Tab, open up ZT-180 and, from the Actions menu, select “Switch to Infrastructure mode”
2. On the X10 Mini Pro, open up Barnacle and press “Stop”.

I came across this solution in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14979870.  If it doesn’t work for/isn’t applicable to you, if you haven’t tried them already, these links might help:

• http://szym.net/2010/12/adhoc-wifi-in-android/
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=754961
• http://www.olsr.org/?q=olsr_on_android

^* Fantastic size and form but zero battery life and slower than a sloth

Or “How Sony Ericcsson took a good thing and very nearly made it bad.”

I love the X10 Mini Pro. I’ve had it for a few weeks now and am still marvelling at how light and compact it is and that I once again have an FM radio with me at all times.  However I am struggling to adjust to the customisations that Sony Ericsson have made to to Android.  For example:

• Right now, as I type, there’s an annoying blue bar occupying the bottom sixth of my screen. On the left-hand side it tells me, in no more than three letters, what language I’m currently set to.  On the right-hand side it tells me what mode the keyboard is in (letters vs. numbers, upper, lower or title case) and provides an option to hide the bar.  It’s information I’d rather do without, in return for a larger usable screen area. So I hide it, only to discover that it reappears with the very next key press…  I’ve had a rummage through the phone’s settings and haven’t yet found an option that enables me to hide it for good.  If you know of one, please let me know.
• The default calendar widget has less functionality than the default one on my G1 – and that was just enough to make it useful!
• The default email client assumes that my email account name is the same as my email address (which it isn’t).
• Although I’ve disabled the on-screen keyboard (it has a hardware one) it still pops up if when the cursor is placed in a form field and I haven’t yet opened the keyboard. I understand that some people might want this sometimes but, personally, I’d like “off” to mean “off”.  This could be solved using  finer grained preference settings.

However, every cloud has a silver lining:

• Luckily there’s a fantastic email app called K-9 Mail that does everything I need and more, so that’s my email problem solved.
• And as I’ve yet to find a decent calendar widget so I’m thinking of taking a stab at creating one myself.