As far as I can tell, no one has yet come up with a way to tether a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac (running Mac OS X) to use it as a modem. This works on the PC, so it’s likely a matter of reverse engineering to get it working on OS X.
It seems that others are interested as well. A few folks seem to have started working on it, but maybe we can provide some encouragement with a bounty?
I’ll throw in $50 to get things started… if you’d like to sweeten the pot, PayPal some cash to paypal AT alexking DOT org with “BlackBerry Bounty” in the comments.
Current bounty total: $685
Terms:
- The working solution must work on both MacBooks (including Pro) and PowerBooks and it must work with a BlackBerry 8700 on T-Mobile and Cingular.
- If the solution is not made available for free (ie. is packaged as a commercial product), anyone who contributed to the Bounty must be given a free license.
- The solution must be found by September 30th, 2006.
- If no solution is found by that time, I will refund the bounty contributions (via PayPal).
UPDATE: digg it folks!
[…] BlackBerry Cool recently purchased a couple of 13″ widescreen MacBooks for the office, and after having some terrible wifi experiences while away last week, the staff has taken a decidedly bigger interest in whether or not someone finds a solution. Go here if you’d like to contribute and/or stay up to date on the proceedings. Alex is going to give back the money if no solution is found by September 30th, so spread the word! […]
[…] If you own a Blackberry and a Macbook / Macbook Pro, you owe it to yourself to get in on this. Who knows… Maybe money might motivate the geniuses out there to come up with a solution. […]
[…] I limped through my recent DSL outage by booting into Windows on my MacBook and tethering through my BlackBerry (wouldn’t it be nice to be able to tether in Mac OS X?), but I sorely missed the EV-DO connection I had with Sprint. […]
[…] Also, I know that the SK3 will never provide EDGE access, and though the BB8700 doesn’t currently, it is more likely that it will. […]
Hey Alex, I am in the process of developing a website that would facilitate exchanges of the sort you have going on at your website. i.e. Where people can post an idea that they are interested in having implemented and are willing to pay for, and other users can add to the bounty, and if someone creates a solution, that individual can take the bounty. I would be quite happy if you hosted your bounty project with me, and would love to share more information with you and get your input on the project. If you are interested, please email me.
[…] It looks like the folks behind Shark Modem (a BlackBerry modem application for Windows) are considering making a Mac version. I’m on a rooftop in their latest blog post. Will they be the ones to claim the bounty (which is up to $482 now!)? […]
Queried on whether they’re working on Mac tetherization, Mark at PocketMac says, “working on it… but, don’t have a firm date to offer you just yet…�
I’ll chip in a bit for this . . . I don’t have the phone yet, but it’s coming on Monday. I would rather have native OS X support. Another option I’m going to try is using Windows XP in Parallels and see if I can get internet connection sharing going 😉 it’s a bassackward hack, but just might work, or just create a lot of headache for me.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in Parallels – can’t get the BlackBerry recognized.
Boo! well thanks for the info, now I don’t have to waste my time and pull my hair out…I hate working in windows anyway :-s
I can get Parallels to recognize using the hint here.
Basically need to unload the PocketMac kernel extensions using:
sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/BlackberryUSB.kext
That allows BB Desktop to work, and a standard modem appears in the Parallels VM.
Now this standard modem SOMETIMES responds to Query Modem in windows. I haven’t gotten it to work as a modem yet though.
I got it working with Parallels, as noted here.
I have it working with Parallels also. Dont see any troubles there.
[…] I was planning on working on a solution for tethering Blackberries and Macs for Alex’s little bounty. There are some vagaries, so I’m not quite sure if the solution I’m going to propose would even qualify. The reason I’m not pursuing the bounty, is that (being honest with myself here) I barely have enough time for work, let along personal projects. And this doesn’t quite fall under personal project, maybe as a second tier personal project. And I had even picked up a use 7100t for testing too. Anyone want to buy it off me? […]
[…] My BlackBerry Bounty is at $560 and has pretty well stagnated there. Perhaps I need to submit it to Slashdot digg. […]
[…] Blackberry account will work for data in a non-Blackberry phone. unranked | Oakland, CA | link | trackback | posted @ Sep 8, 200610:11:45 […]
Hi,
I’ve written a Modem Script for the BlackBerry 8100 that allows it to be used as a Bluetooth modem under OS X. A couple of people have asked whether the script would work with the 8700 as well – do the 8100 and the 8700 have the same Bluetooth DUN profile support? I don’t have an 8700 to test on.
I’m not sure about the Bluetooth DUN profile, but I’ll be happy to help you test it…
Looks like the 8700 doesn’t have the same Bluetooth DUN profile as the 8100. Bummer.
Grant – I just got a Blackberry Pearl (T-Mobile), and it works like a charm with my Macbook Pro… thank you so much!
[…] One of my major gripes about the Blackberry 8700g is that it was never able to be used as a modem under OS X. I have even suported Alex King’s bounty to get it to work on the OS X, however per the bounty, the solution must be found within the next 11 days. I don’t see that happening anytime soon. […]
[…] from alexking.org: Blog As far as I can tell, no one has yet come up with a way to tether a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac (running Mac OS X) to use it as a modem. This works on the PC, so it’s likely a matter of reverse engineering to get it working on OS X. […]
[…] With just 5 short days left on the deadline for my bounty for tethering a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac as a modem (bounty currently at $610, please contribute!), there are suddenly a few rumblings. Perhaps someone will claim the bounty after all! Will anyone make the Sept. 30 deadline? […]
[…] Back in June we blogged about a BlackBerry Bounty being set up by software developer Alex King to come up with a way to tether a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac as a modem. So far Alex has no takers and there are only 5 days left before the September 30th deadline. […]
[…] The September 30th deadline for my BlackBerry Bounty has arrived, and unfortunately I haven’t seen a working solution from any of the folks who are working on it. […]
[…] Daniel Pasco, CEO of Brain Murmurs, has been awarded the bounty set up by Alex King. […]
[…] There have been a lot of questions about the BlackBerry modem solution that claimed my bounty. I’ll try to answer them below. Please note, this information is current as of writing and may change before a public release of the solution, etc. […]
[…] Because of this, I did not place any kind of “the solution must be free/open source, etc.” conditions on the bounty. In fact, I did the opposite: If the solution is not made available for free (ie. is packaged as a commercial product), anyone who contributed to the Bounty must be given a free license. […]
[…] My BlackBerry Bounty is up to $400. […]
[…] My BlackBerry Bounty is up to $300. […]
[…] I received this question about my BlackBerry Bounty today: Alex, […]
[…] Though I badly want to be able to use my BlackBerry as a modem for my MacBook in Mac OS X (bounty is up to $105!), I can use the BlackBerry as a modem for the MacBook now if I boot into Windows via Boot Camp. […]
I’m closing comments here, please add any questions, etc. to the FAQ post.
[…] permalink MAC, Windows & Linux Compatible Pulse is a Dialup Networking Service for the RIM Blackberry that uses Bluetooth to communicate with contemporary Power and Intel based Apple computers. Pulse was the recent winning entry of Alex King’s Tethered Blackberry Modem bounty. The product is under development and is slated for release in mid-November. An updated version of Alex’s FAQ appears below. — Read More […]
[…] – I begin doing some consulting work in Seattle. I set up a BlackBerry Modem of OS X bounty. I break 80 for the first time. I choose the Yahoo! UI library for PHP Tag […]
[…] A tip o’ the hat to Alex King who blogged about offering a bounty for tethering a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac. […]