PirateBox for Android on Oregon Scientific MEEP tablet - problems

Greetings! My two girls each has had a MEEP tablet computers that their grandparents gave them 2-3 years ago, but they're no longer using them because their grandparents bought them both new tablet computers for Christmas. The MEEP is an Android tablet computer that is designed specifically for kids and with fairly extensive parental controls and protections. However, since my girls are no longer using theres, I have been looking to repurpose at least one of them by rendering it capable of running Piratebox for Android. The MEEP has 802.11b WiFi capability. Also, it is already rooted, so there is not need to run any sort of jailbreak programs to root it.

Google Play allowed PBforA to be installed to the MEEP, but the first problem that I encountered was a message that PBforA could not create a backup of the original "dnsmasq" binary. Upon Googling the error message, I came across the following page, and the advice there was partially helpful in correcting the problem:

[github.com]

I say partially because it seems that the MEEP does not suport the "cp" or "copy" command. So, I had to move the dnsmasq binary to the sdcard and use my laptop to connect to the MEEP as a USB storage device and make the backup of the dnsmasq binary before moving the dnsmasq binaries back to their proper locations.

After doing that, I was able to start up PBforA on the MEEP and to turn it on. Unfortunately, I still have not been able to connect to it successfully over wifi. I am able to see the SSID "Piratebox - Share Freely" on the list of nearby wifi APs. I am also able to associate to the SSID. However, PBforA does not respond to DHCP requests for an IP address, which I understand is in the 192.168.43.0/24 range, so eventually the interface is assigned a 169.254.0.0/16 IP address by my Windows 7 laptop computer, and the status of the connection is changed from "Connected" to "Limited Access." I have tried manually assigning an address like 192.168.43.10 to my laptop's wifi interface and then attempting to [192.168.43.1], but that did not work either to establish connectivity.

I am able to access the PBforA page on the MEEP tablet itself by using Firefox, which Iinstalled to it, to navigate to [127.0.0.1]. However, [192.168.43.1] does not bring up the PBforA page when entered into Firefox on the MEEP.

I can only assume that the implementation of Android on the MEEP has been "crippled" in some way such that it lacks some essential component to work. However, if anyone can offer any suggestions or can have me provide any additional information that might help lead to a solution to the problem, please let me know.

Many thanks,
Will Snyder

Hi Will,

the hotspot IP address is usually 192.168.43.1 as defined inside the Android sources.
If the manufacturer hasn't changed that, this should be ok. If a different IP address is assigned to the hotspot, this could be changed inside the settings.
Anyway, it's strange that DHCP requests are not answered. I just checked with Win8 and that did work.

What Android version is your MEEP running?
Can you manually start the hotspot from the tethering settings and is it working as expected?

Bye
Jochen

Jochen, many thanks for your reply and assistance in trying to diagnose the problem.
1. This MEEP is running Android ICS 4.0.3.
2. The MEEP has no option in Settings for acrtivation or configuration of hotspot functionality, and that might be "the problem." I can see why Oregon Scientific would have either removed or disabled hotspot functionality on a tablet computer intended for use by kids that has only 802.11b WiFi capability, no Bluetooth, and no 3G or 4G capability.

I did install FoxFi on it to see if that program's hotspot capability would serve as the necessary kludge PBforA to operate properly, but there was no change in the behavior of PBforA. Moreover, my attempts to connect to the FoxFi hotspot running on the MEEP yielded the same result as trying to connect to PBforA running on the MEEP.

So, my thinking now is that the installation of Android on the MEEP lacks hotspot functionality. I wonder if there is a way I can add that functionality, like copying the binaries from a generic installation of Android ICS 4.0.3 for that same processor.

Will Snyder

Hi Will,

actually I'm not sure what components are needed apart from "dnsmasq".
It's strange that you can see the hotspots SSID but it's not possible to connect to it.

There are some WiFi Tethering apps available on Google Play. Last time I tested those they only operated in adhoc and not infrastructure mode which made it impossible for mobile devices to connect.
You could try to use one of these, at least they should come with the necessary components. If things are working, it might be possible to change the configuration needed by PirateBox.

Bye
Jochen

Jochen, many thanks for the feedback. Actually, after I posted my reply to your message, I decided to search Google Play to see if I could find any apps that would allow my to access the hotspot functionality on the MEEP. I found one called "Hotspot Control" (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.hotspotcontrol) that was helpful in configuring the MEEP to act as a hotspot. I changed the settings on PBforA so that it did not automatically start the hotspot itself. The hotspot appeared to want to use the 192.168.42.0/24 subnet instead of 192.168.43.0/24, so I changed that setting in PBforA and told it to use the original dnsmasq binary. I WAS able to associate to the hotspot, get an IP address in the 192.168.42.0/24 subnet, and access the PBforA server's main page. The only problem was that Hotspot Control is hardcoded to use WPA2 PSK encryption using a password at least 8 characters long, which sort-of limits the open accessability of the PBforA server. I have tried a couple of other similar programs that allow the hotspot to run open with no encryption, but then I run into the same problem of my laptop associating to the hotspot but never receiving an IP address from the dhcp server. I continue to try other hotspot programs and fiddling with the settings. If I'm successful in finding a program that allows the hotspot to run with no encryption, I will post a link to it here.

Will Snyder