How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

I live in a country that restricts Internet access so I subscribe to PublicVPN. It works great with my Windows XP laptop but I have no idea how to set it up with my N800. Contacted PublicVPN but they have no support for Linex. Has anyone done this before? I am new to Linex myself so I would really need step-by-step instructions. Anyone out there with info on how to do this?

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Not sure what PublicVPN is as I have never heard of it, but there is a program called OpenVPN for the N800 and you can then set it up to connect to what ever vpn concentrator you use for the publicVPN i think. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on PublicVPN will chime in here.

Dave

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN?
 

Thanks. I have read everything on the board concerning vpns, including OpenVPN. I am a novice at Linux so everything is Greek to me. I use the N800 when traveling so no problems then but once I am back in here, the IP blocks good stuff, including Skype. PublicVPN provides a way for me to get around the restrictions. I guess I was looking for someone who has figured out how to set it up and save me the task of trying to figure out.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Is that publicvpn.com?
I had a quick look. It seems to support MS PPTP VPN (among others), it even claims to work (unofficially) with PalmOS, which should mean quite normal MS PPTP. If so, it should in principle be possible to get it working on the N800. You will have to install some additional stuff on your N800, which may or may not be outside of what you feel comfortable with doing. The ITTF member Fanoush has what you need at this link: http://fanoush.wz.cz/maemo/#pptp
Disclaimer: I have not tried this myself, although I've planned to for a long time - I need pptp occasionally.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Okay, yes. This is probably what I need to do. I had read this previously but didn't understand . It tells what I must do but not how to do it. I will need someone to walk me through the process. For starters, how do I "extract both directly on device via 'tar zxvf 4.2007*.tar.gz'". Any help is appreciated. I am too new to Linux to figure this out.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

If you're new to linux, setting up PPTP will be extremely intimidating. It requires a kernel reflash, manually inserting several modules, editing some shell scripts, and quite a bit of command line work.

You're better off running a proxy on your desktop, locking it down, and connecting through that.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

True, it is probably too complicated for a newbie like me. I guess I was hoping someone could step me through the process. While I love the concept of open source, it does have a huge learning curve for the less informed. I guess that's why Bill Gates continues to make his billions. Anyway, the proxy-on-my-desktop suggestion doesn't work here. My country's IP is the villain because it blocks me from accessing many sites. By establishing a PPtP tunnel to publicvpn.com from my desktop and laptop, I am able to tunnel past the censors. I haven't been able to do the same with my N800. Oh well, thanks anyway. I saw this as a long-shot anyway.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Maybe an onion router like tor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)) would work for you? I'm currently putting together a version packaged for the N800, I'm setting it up to be a null-configuration package (just install it, and set up the network connection to use it. There's a little bit more work to set it up in the current desktop version, if I get it done the way I want it'll be simpler on the N800). I may have a version ready in a week or so.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

I recall trying to use a tor-on-a-flash-drive on my laptop without success. But I am more than willing to give it a shot on the N800 so if/when you get something together, I will gladly give it a shot. You'll certainly be able to see if a newbie can get it to work. Thanks.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Did you checked out that?
These guys do the necessary steps in detail. But atm there is just this kernel here which needs extra modules. But the step with the extra modules isn't covert in the thread.

So i recommend you to wait until OS2008 comes out or you will have to do this twice. This should be within the next 3 weeks...

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Assuming you can connect from your N800 to your desktop, you could leave your desktop connected to the VPN, and then go from N800->Proxy->Desktop->VPN->Internet.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Ahhhh, Yes. This is a nifty workaround. I'll look into it. It indirectly gives me what I need. Thx.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Can I suggest you change VPN providers? OpenVPN is very simple to get up and operational on the N800. Witopia is a great OpenVPN provider and it's dirt cheap (about $30 per year). I used it on my N800 prior to setting up my own OpenVPN server.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Good suggestion. I googled witopia and it seems to be an alternative. So lets be clear here. I will get a subscription for personalVPN from witopia and it will work with my XP laptop and desktop as well as with my Linux N800? Setting it up on for XP looks the same as PublicVPN but will N800 be fairly straight forward for me?

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Since I don't know your comfort level, I don't know how 'straight forward' it will be for you. That said, I use my one Witopia account for all of my computers (an N800, a Mac Book running OS X, a couple of Windows laptops and some Linux boxes...I even have a Linksys WRT54GL running OpenVPN client that has a static connection to Witopia when it's powered on). All that is required is copying the certificates that you get from Witopia to each machine into the appropriate directory for each machines OpenVPN client. The install on the N800 is fairly simple, but it does require following steps exactly (which are readily available online). Furthermore, the SSL VPN that underlies OpenVPN is a much better form of VPN (for many reasons) than PPTP. And yes, you want the Personal VPN. :)

Regards,
ER

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Great, I will switch and go this direction. It sounds like you have it nailed. Nice solution for me. Thxxxxxxxxxxxx. I'll be back if I encounter problems and can't find answers.

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

No problem, and don't hesitate to ask for assistance. My initial purpose for using Witopia was the same as yours; I was living in a country that filtered darn near everything. I was also responsible for about 95 other users and we needed things like VoIP, VTC, etc. Witopia was first rate and even worked with me when the local govt got wise and started blocking. Anyway, they're a great company with a great service.

ER

Re: How to Set Up PublicVPN
 

Rindee or others. I have installed personalvpn on my xp and vista machines. Nice click-install process. No prob with certificate thingy either. So I searched for a simple way to do the same with N800. Looks more complicated. Some sites talk about connecting to a computer on my network to do this. I really just want the N800 to do the same as Windows -- connect/tunnel directly to the Internet. Can anyone direct me to a website that has straightforward instructions to set this up and then insert the certificate to make it work? Thx.