New FONspot Software for Mac and Linux just released.
The FON Labs just released a very beta download that turns your Intel based Mac or your Linux based computer (Ubuntu for example) into a FONspot.
I have been testing this download and it is really fun to use. For example at Kinnernet, I made a lot of friends when their WiFi went down and the only available WiFi was the one coming out of my Mac that was receiving internet signal with a 3G card. So next time there’s rip off WiFi somewhere, or no WiFi, you can take out your laptop with your flat data plan and be nice (a Linus Fonero) or entrepreneurial (a Bill Fonero) and help others connect.
Om Malik covers the news here.
The reason we don´t have it for Windows or Vista is that Microsoft handles WiFi in a way that makes it hard for a laptop to shift from being a receiver of WiFi signal to being an emitter of WiFi signal. But if anyone knows how to do this for Windows pls contact me at martin@fon.es.
Posted on FON | 11:15 am
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Posted by Juergen - April 25, 2007 7:35 pm - #
Hi Martin,
although not directly related… connecting to a FONera compromises a Foneros security as the connection is not encrypted (as with WAP, etc.) I just came across an article which describes a company that tackles that issue. http://www.hotsplots.de/en/ . Might also be interesting for you?
Greetings,
Juergen
Posted by Alberto - April 26, 2007 8:02 am - #
Martin, What are you laughting about? :).
Posted by steven - April 26, 2007 9:09 am - #
Hi Martin,
This kind of software allready exists for windows and can be found on : http://www.mywifizone.com/
I don’t have 3G card to play with… but it should work perfectly…
It even has features we lack in Fon…
support of 14 languages, You can TOTALLY customize your captive portal…there is just a bit of branding here and there,
Posted by Michal - April 26, 2007 9:15 am - #
Usually when I cannot do something under Windows I’m using coLinux.
coLinux is a clever piece of software which runs linux (with linux kernel and full distribution) under Windows, as a Windows service.
Maybe, with some tweaking it would be possible to run Fonera under coLinux?
I’m using coLinux on my laptop that way that it uses the same Ethernet port but is visible under different IP address.
Cheers,
Michal
Posted by Stefanos - April 26, 2007 11:04 am - #
Martin,
I tried using fonspot on ubuntu, but I get this error message:
Error for wireless request “Set Mode” (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan1 ; Device or resource busy.
/etc/fon_hotspot/fon_hotspot: 222: let: not found
/etc/fon_hotspot/fon_hotspot: 222: let: not found
Error for wireless request “Set Frequency” (8B04) :
too few arguments.
trap: 222: SIGINT: bad trap
Posted by Albert - April 26, 2007 12:33 pm - #
The software has misdetected your wifi interface.
You should edit the /etc/fon_hotspot file manually and specify your correct interfaces uncommenting the following lines:
#uncomment these lines for manual configuration
wan_ifname=”eth0″
wifi_ifname=”eth1″
wan_ifname should point to your internet connected interface and wifi_ifname to the wlan device
Posted by Ksilebo - April 26, 2007 9:46 pm - #
Trying it on my Mac Mini before running around with it on my Macbook Pro, and its displaying everything in I think Spanish. How do I set it to be in English?
Posted by bernard - April 26, 2007 10:12 pm - #
Buuaaaaah Martín!
Again, people forgetting about us Mac PPC processor people!
First Joost, and now Fon!
Do you have any timeframe on releasing a beta for Mac Powerbook (PPC processors) machines?
And yes, like Alberto asked, why were you smerking so much? Was the cameraman pulling faces?
bernard
Posted by Anonymous - April 27, 2007 12:43 am - #
/usr/local/sbin/fonspot: line 3: exec: wish: not found
thats the error I get when trying to run this on ubuntu 7.04
Posted by Victor Martin - April 27, 2007 9:14 am - #
Ksilebo, you’ve downloaded the spanish package. The english version is here: http://english.martinvarsavsky.net/download/fonspot/
Posted by Victor Martin - April 27, 2007 9:50 am - #
Steven, chillispot is not ported on windows. We have to search a windows hotspot software compatible with FON backend servers.
Posted by Martin Varsavsky - April 27, 2007 9:11 pm - #
Bernard,
We did a first cut with Nina in which she said I was too serious. Then we did a second cut and she started making fun of me and that’s why I laugh.
Posted by Anonymous - April 28, 2007 7:43 am - #
Wheres the source code?
Posted by Antonio - April 28, 2007 5:00 pm - #
Hi Martin,
good piece of script! I’m wondering if we can join your project with my ponte2 (wifi expander madwifi equipped device)…
Posted by Jordi - FON - April 30, 2007 3:27 pm - #
Dear Antonio,
Thank you for testing our software! We are very interested on cooperarting with you. I guess your ponte2 project involves having a special hardware (usb dongle suporting madwifi driver), can you confirm and share with us how your system works and which OSes does it support?
Best Regards,
Jordi
Posted by Michael - April 30, 2007 4:14 pm - #
Please tell me, why the GUI of the software support spanish only? Unfortunately my spanish is not very good… ;-(
– Michael
Posted by Dave - May 1, 2007 6:42 pm - #
I have the same problem as Stefanos. I edited /etc/fon_hotspot/fon_hotspot as Albert suggested.
I also commented out the first lines that try to guess the ifnames, and added eth1 in /etc/iftab because it was missing, but nothing changed.
Any suggestion?
Thanks.
Posted by Matthias L. - May 6, 2007 6:13 pm - #
I switched just now to Ubuntu and I must find out all features.
So I have a question: Where can I enable “Linux* Universal TUN/TAP driver (tun.o)” and “Runtime Tcl/tk”?
Posted by Matthias L. - May 6, 2007 6:17 pm - #
I see, “Anonymous” has the same problem like me. I get the same error: exec: 3: wish: not found.
Posted by Vincenzo - May 9, 2007 1:37 pm - #
Hi nice software, but there is a way to unistall his components on mac os x?
Posted by miss a - May 10, 2007 11:42 am - #
well, i installed the program, but it seems to be in spanish!!!
how come?
(just clicked the ‘mac’ link on the website….
Posted by Martin Varsavsky - May 10, 2007 7:26 pm - #
miss a,
There´s in Spanish and English
Posted by Fred - May 13, 2007 5:46 pm - #
Hi Martin,I began to translate FonMacSpot in French….That’s right for the interface…but I can’t translate the script…they’re locked…
Could you do something?
The link on FrancoFon:
http://www.francofon.fr/modules/mediawiki/index.php?title=Localisation_de_FON_Macspot_en_Français
Posted by Simon - May 30, 2007 5:46 am - #
How do you change the language in the interface to english?
Posted by Victor - May 30, 2007 4:32 pm - #
Simon, you have to download the english version
Posted by Simon - May 31, 2007 1:37 am - #
If you go to http://english.martinvarsavsky.net/download/fonspot/
and download the Fonspot application, the download link is as follows:
http://spanish.martinvarsavsky.net/download/fon/fonspot.php?id=4
which downloads the following file: fon_macspot_beta0.2_en.dmg
Which is not in english, but spanish.
But if you load: http://spanish.martinvarsavsky.net/download/fon/fonspot.php?id=2
you get file: fon_macspot_beta0.2_es.dmg
It is english.
Posted by Mattias - June 10, 2007 12:34 pm - #
How come we Mac PPC users are left out in the cold…? No plans for inviting us?
cheers,
Mattias
Posted by mortimer - June 15, 2007 10:41 am - #
Hi!
I installed Fon MacSpot on my iMac but at first login i didn’t get the form to register MacSpot, so it also doesn’t appear in my userzone. What can i do? Do i have to delete some kind of ini/config-file?
Thanks for your answer!
Best regards from Hamburg, Germany,
Mortimer
Posted by drbrandus - June 15, 2007 5:32 pm - #
Stefanos,
I tried it with Ubuntu 7.04.
in order to solve the errors you should edit /etc/fon_hotspot/fon_hotspot and replace the first line #!/bin/sh with #!/bin/bash
In order to use it you have to install tk8.4 and tcl8.4 using aptitude or synaptics package manager.
I could not register the fonspot on the network since I don’t have a second wireless adapter
Posted by drbrandus - June 15, 2007 5:49 pm - #
Another comment:
with my network card (D-Link G630 using rt61 chipset) I had to exchange lines 135 and 136 of the above file /etc/fon_hotspot/fon_hotspot because the card went back into managed mode after setting the essid…
Hope it helps,
Brando.
Posted by drbrandus - June 26, 2007 12:01 am - #
It worked!
I was able to navigate the internet through the fonspot connection…
but no form was presented at the first usage of the fonspot…
Anyone got it?
Brando
Posted by clive darr - July 1, 2007 4:58 pm - #
GnewSense 6.06.01 only xmits in AD-HOC mode instead of Infrastructure so I can’t connect !
Posted by Dag Forsén - July 4, 2007 2:17 pm - #
How do you uninstall the software?
Posted by clive darr - July 4, 2007 3:07 pm - #
good question since it doesn’t work, there’s no documentation and no support !
Posted by Alberto - July 5, 2007 11:36 am - #
Hi!
I installed Fon HotSpot on my Linux but at first login i didn’t get the form to register HotSpot. What can i do?
Cheers,
Alberto
Posted by Banian - July 8, 2007 2:05 pm - #
I install the mac version. But;
no form was presented at the first usage of the fonspot / so that I am still alien
no spots close to me to try connexion
Airport icon on my mac seems stange see : http://forum.macbidouille.com/uploads/post-65995-1183890191.jpg
Any one how make it work on Mac???
Posted by CiccioKiò - July 14, 2007 6:12 pm - #
After some troubleshooting, my FonSpot is up and running on a desktop pc with Linux Ubuntu 7.
This computer has to work as a wi-fi router for my zone. But…
I couldn’t register my fonspot, so i’m stll an alien and there is apparently no way to become a linus if i don’t buy a fonera…
(I’m just waiting for Fonera 2.0, but i need fon now!)
I(we) like the idea behind this piece of software, so why don’t you(we) get it up and running, Martin? Thank you!
Posted by blue - July 26, 2007 7:53 pm - #
I don’t know how to make it work on mac either - same problem as you. But the airport icon is strange because it shows that your computer is hosting a wireless network.
Posted by hello - August 15, 2007 4:44 pm - #
I am getting the following errors, trying to actually start the FONSPOT server.
/etc/fon_hotspot/fon_hotspot: line 93: /usr/local/sbin/chilli_radconfig: No such file or directory
/etc/fon_hotspot/fon_hotspot: line 156: /usr/local/sbin/chilli: No such file or directory
Posted by katayama - August 16, 2007 12:54 pm - #
It worked! on Ubuntu 7.04, but FC6. And I could connect to FON_LINUXSPOT AP by laptop PC with wi-fi. But, I couldn’t see regist page. Why?
And why the FON_LINUXSPOT works Ad-Hoc mode? It seems that infrastructure mode is better.
Posted by hello - August 16, 2007 2:15 pm - #
Ok I fixed the previous problem. I was running the AMD64 version… Fonspot launches fine on i386 with TK8.4 installed.
So…. Fonspot is successfully started, but my new AP doesnt show up (checked with Network Stumbler).
If I check on Unbuntu with iwconfig — it says it’s running in MANAGED mode. So I manually set it to Ad-Hoc through
iwconfig eth1 set mode Ad-Hoc
but the new AP still doesn’t show up! (there is activity on my ZD1211 stick though!)
Posted by Paolo - September 10, 2007 11:51 am - #
The link of the MAC version of FON Spot are still wrong… if you download the english version you get the spanish one and viceversa…
Posted by nolips - October 14, 2007 6:55 am - #
I’m can not use it.
“NSReceiverEvaluationScriptError” is generated by Mac OS X(v10.4.10) of a Japanese environment.
Posted by Karl - October 17, 2007 2:41 am - #
Help - I can only find the Spanish version, no matter which link I use. ?!
Posted by Leej - November 9, 2007 7:19 pm - #
OK so I have it working on my MAC Book Pro but there is no way to add it to my User Zone so even if an Alien used it I wouldn’t get paid.
When will we be able to configure it so that it associates the Mac Spot with our user zone?
Lee.
Posted by John - November 11, 2007 8:27 am - #
Well it works on Ubuntu 7.10, with a Sprint connection via USB to my Palm Treo, took a while to get the FON login page but it cam up eventually. Now how do we get our OWN login page instead of Martin’s
Posted by MarcoTO - November 16, 2007 1:56 am - #
Well, I think that the FonSpot for Max & Linux it’s great!
I downloaded the “Spanglish” version and it worked at the first time on my iMac with Leopard.
I tried to connect to it with my Nokia E61i and I got it! But, trying to get to any website, I get the Fon Access page and it looks like I never cab get the full page on my mobile to log in.
Just a little doubt and remark: if from march you couldn’t fix the wrong version download link, who is really working on this project?
Take care,
Marco
Posted by mika sjöman - November 19, 2007 3:06 pm - #
I agree, what is happening with this? What is the point for me to set up the FON Macspot, if I can not connect it to my userID? Great for FON, usless for me. Taking the crap software down now.
Sorry, that is the only way I see this software that started out as an good idea. You could have had soooo many more users if you let people share their connections via our WiFI cards. I also have a server, that I dont use at all and is on 24/7. If there was a VMware application, or a linux download preconfigured, I could had installed it on the server.
Guess that you easily could have doubled the userbase, many like me has wifi cards and a non compatible FON router, but now you are slowing yourself down. Really sad to see.
Posted by Clifford - November 28, 2007 7:49 pm - #
anyone know where can I get the same kind of software for win?… I’m using 3G USB modem, thinking of a method to share the net work with my friends while we go out door together using laptop.
Posted by David - November 30, 2007 4:20 pm - #
When I try to install on 10.5.1 an error shows:
“!
Install Failed
Unable to install
The Installer could not install the software because there was no software found to install”
Posted by iLM - December 17, 2007 7:54 pm - #
Well… The Leopard Installer Doesn’t Work.
i Open the “Installer Package” and then, when “start the installation” give me a error that say that the installation has Failed becuase no Installer has found on the package…
i try in different Mac’s and have the same problem. by the way i install the Tiger Version and its work…
And the Ubuntu Version and it Works…
Bye !