Using V-Phone with Virtual PC for Macintosh OSX

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 04, 2006 Posts: 1

Hello all,
I am interested if anyone has tried using Virtual PC for Mac OSX to use the V-Phone. It seems simple enough because virtual pc emulates a windows based environment on a Mac. However, I am not a technical programmer and I do not know exactly how the V-Phone is initialized on pc systems and I can for see that there could be difficulties.

Has anyone tried this? Or does anyone has some advice for getting the V-Phone to work on a Mac before Vonage finally gets around to creating the drivers for the service?

I plan on experimenting on Virtual PC but I wanted some feed back before I purchased the software.

Thank you in advance for the help.

Posts: 58

stevepofd wrote:

Has anyone tried this? Or does anyone has some advice for getting the V-Phone to work on a Mac before Vonage finally gets around to creating the drivers for the service?

I'm running a few PPC Macs myself. And while I don't have the VPhone hardware to try it out, here is what I have so far surmised (and some things worth testing if you do have the VPhone software).

First off, there is no guarantee that VirtualPC will see the device at all. The problem isn't the software on the device itself, or its ability to run under VirtualPC, but how USB devices are detected and enumerated by the system. This is a job for the host OS (in this case, OS X). The host OS must virtualize access to devices to any virtual machines running under it, and if the VM software doesn't export this functionality for your device type, you're SOL. USB devices are particularly problematic in this regard, as they are designed to be live plug-and-play (i.e.: you plug them in as the system is running, the device advertises its endpoints on the USB bus, and the host OS attaches the appropriate device drivers to communicate with it across the bus). If VirtualPC doesn't listen for all USB bus events and pass them on to the Windows VM itself (and it can't, as for certain core types OS X will intercept the bus attachment messages first), it simply won't recognize that the device has been plugged in, and won't talk to the device.

There may be a better way, however. As the device is supposed to work without drivers on Windows, it must be using standard USB interfaces. For the storage subsystem, it will implement the standard USB Mass Storage Class protocol, which every OS supports (this is why you can plug a standard USB drive from any manufacturer into any system without regard for OS, and it will be detected). For audio, I'm hoping it supports the standard USB Audio class protocol, in which case again, Mac OS X will automatically support it when you plug it in.

That just leaves the software, and for this you can use either X-ten Lite or SJPhone, and put it into the storage on the key. The tricky part will probably be getting the necessary configuration information and entering it. You'll want to download the software, and then either reformat the V-Phone to use HFS+ (I suggest without journaling, unless you think you'll be changing the data on it frequently), or create an HFS+ disk image inside the existing FAT-16/VFAT partition (which is good if you want to retain the Windows software).

This still leaves a small problem: the configuration file for X-ten Lite are normally written to your ~/Library/Preferences/com.xten.SIPClient.plist file, which is where the software expects to find these settings. You'll want them on your key, however, which makes it tricky to ensure these settings are on any random machine you want to use (with a similar problem for SJPhone, although I don't know where it stores its properties, as I'm not running it here). You may be able to work around this with a small script that makes a soft link to the file on your USB key in the appropriate place. Perhaps not the cleanest solution, and it does require you to have sufficient permissions on the system to write files to ~/Library/Preferences (in order to make the link), however it does have the advantage of security (as you're not copying the file, when you leave a system you don't control the next person won't be able to make calls using your account).

I think the real key is whether or not the V-Phone is using the standard USB Audio Class protocols, or if it has some weird custom protocol. As a Mac developer myself, I'd love to play with this and get a solution working, but don't have a V-Phone device myself, and really have no intention of getting a third Vonage line that I have no use for just to get one (I already have a main Vonage line and a Softphone account).

Which brings me to another possible solution: if you just want to use this with specific Macs, get yourself a standard USB key, get a Vonage Softphone account, get the X-Pro software for the Mac they give away with it, throw it on the key, and get yourself a Bluetooth headset. All Macs from the last few years have Bluetooth built-in -- just pair your headset with the Mac, run the software on the key, and enjoy the same experience without the wires (this is much how I run my Vonage softphone -- I have it installed on my PowerMac at the office, and on my PowerBook which goes everywhere with me. Calls to/from either go through the Bluetooth headset I take everywhere with me).

HTH!

Yaz.

Posts: 58

stevepofd wrote:

Has anyone tried this? Or does anyone has some advice for getting the V-Phone to work on a Mac before Vonage finally gets around to creating the drivers for the service?

I'm running a few PPC Macs myself. And while I don't have the VPhone hardware to try it out, here is what I have so far surmised (and some things worth testing if you do have the VPhone software).

First off, there is no guarantee that VirtualPC will see the device at all. The problem isn't the software on the device itself, or its ability to run under VirtualPC, but how USB devices are detected and enumerated by the system. This is a job for the host OS (in this case, OS X). The host OS must virtualize access to devices to any virtual machines running under it, and if the VM software doesn't export this functionality for your device type, you're SOL. USB devices are particularly problematic in this regard, as they are designed to be live plug-and-play (i.e.: you plug them in as the system is running, the device advertises its endpoints on the USB bus, and the host OS attaches the appropriate device drivers to communicate with it across the bus). If VirtualPC doesn't listen for all USB bus events and pass them on to the Windows VM itself (and it can't, as for certain core types OS X will intercept the bus attachment messages first), it simply won't recognize that the device has been plugged in, and won't talk to the device.

There may be a better way, however. As the device is supposed to work without drivers on Windows, it must be using standard USB interfaces. For the storage subsystem, it will implement the standard USB Mass Storage Class protocol, which every OS supports (this is why you can plug a standard USB drive from any manufacturer into any system without regard for OS, and it will be detected). For audio, I'm hoping it supports the standard USB Audio class protocol, in which case again, Mac OS X will automatically support it when you plug it in.

That just leaves the software, and for this you can use either X-ten Lite or SJPhone, and put it into the storage on the key. The tricky part will probably be getting the necessary configuration information and entering it. You'll want to download the software, and then either reformat the V-Phone to use HFS+ (I suggest without journaling, unless you think you'll be changing the data on it frequently), or create an HFS+ disk image inside the existing FAT-16/VFAT partition (which is good if you want to retain the Windows software).

This still leaves a small problem: the configuration file for X-ten Lite are normally written to your ~/Library/Preferences/com.xten.SIPClient.plist file, which is where the software expects to find these settings. You'll want them on your key, however, which makes it tricky to ensure these settings are on any random machine you want to use (with a similar problem for SJPhone, although I don't know where it stores its properties, as I'm not running it here). You may be able to work around this with a small script that makes a soft link to the file on your USB key in the appropriate place. Perhaps not the cleanest solution, and it does require you to have sufficient permissions on the system to write files to ~/Library/Preferences (in order to make the link), however it does have the advantage of security (as you're not copying the file, when you leave a system you don't control the next person won't be able to make calls using your account).

I think the real key is whether or not the V-Phone is using the standard USB Audio Class protocols, or if it has some weird custom protocol. As a Mac developer myself, I'd love to play with this and get a solution working, but don't have a V-Phone device myself, and really have no intention of getting a third Vonage line that I have no use for just to get one (I already have a main Vonage line and a Softphone account).

Which brings me to another possible solution: if you just want to use this with specific Macs, get yourself a standard USB key, get a Vonage Softphone account, get the X-Pro software for the Mac they give away with it, throw it on the key, and get yourself a Bluetooth headset. All Macs from the last few years have Bluetooth built-in -- just pair your headset with the Mac, run the software on the key, and enjoy the same experience without the wires (this is much how I run my Vonage softphone -- I have it installed on my PowerMac at the office, and on my PowerBook which goes everywhere with me. Calls to/from either go through the Bluetooth headset I take everywhere with me).

HTH!

Yaz.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 26, 2006 Posts: 1

simply plugging in the V-Phone (orange usb dongle) to my powerbooks (1.5 and 1.6 PPC 15") completely hangs them both.

They're running 10.4.8 Tiger.

Originally, I figured it would work; the windows machine my parents have detects the device just fine as a C-Link (i think?) audio chipset and a standard USB storage device.

Not so, you can't even use this thing as a USB Storage device, because something about it basically KILLS OSX. Be mindful, if you attempt this, and you kill your system and need to restart, disk utility booted from your install CD and a filesystem repair are always a good idea.

Originally, since this was sold to me for $40 with a $40 rebate, i was going to get the rebate and play with the device to see if i can do ANYTHING with it, not just Vonage stuff, like have a secondary audio input/output.

Be careful if you're not unfortunate enough to have to use windows. Razz

Few things will kill OSX and this is one of them.

-jre

Posts: 23 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 28, 2006 Posts: 23

if you bought the vphone in a retail store, activate or register the device on the Vonage website. you'll see below the page "bought Vonage at the store? activate it now"
once you're able to register the vphone in your account, you can now move your number to the vphone and back again to your original device.

when you log on to your web account, click on ADD ONS then "move-a number" feature. choose your number beside the present device where your number is registered. click on continue then you will be given an option where you want your number to be moved. click the drop down button under the DEVICE WHERE YOUR NUMBER WILL BE MOVED, you'll see vphone registered already. choose vphone then click on continue.

there you can move your primary number (for example you only have one line on your account), to the vphone device and use that vphone anywhere you go. plug the vphone in the usb port of any computer w/ a high speed internet connection ofcourse, then you're ready to go. technically, since you moved your primary number to the vphone, your device at home will be useless coz there's no number registered on that device. if you want to use your device at home, again, log in to your web account and transfer the number back again to your main device.

you just need to wait for 15 mins for the changes to take effect before plugging in your vphone device.
don't pick up the handset of your phone device that it attached to the original Vonage device for the number to be moved successfully to the vphone

also applies if you have another device. for example you have a motorola 2442 and d link vta. just make sure both devices is registered in your account..
vphone device is available in retail stores like bestbuy, circuit city, radioshack.

if device is bought in retail store especially in best buy, no number is registered in the device. you're just buying the device itself. you just need to register the device online.
if you bought device online, it has a number included on that device. you can choose which rate plan you want for vphone number when you click on "BUY NOW"

no charges for using "move-a-number"
no need to call Vonage
really convenient..

***********

Softphone does not automatically launch on some PCs.

Symptom: The USB drive is detected but the softphone does not launch automatically.
Solution: Manually startup the softphone. Using Windows Explorer, left click on the drive associated with the V-Phone (with the MAC ID volume label and the orange 'V' icon - typically the E drive). Locate the file 'Start Vonage Talk.exe', and double click on it to launch the softphone.

note: vphone currently not compatible with machintosh computers

V-Phone causes Mac OSX problems when inserted into a Mac computer.

Solution: The V-Phone is currently not supported on Mac PCs. However, the flash drive portion of the V-Phone is recognized and operational on version 10.4.6 of OSX. When the V-Phone is inserted into any other version of OSX, it causes the computer to reboot.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 25, 2008 Posts: 1

I do not use virtual pc I have an Intel Mac and I using VMWARE Fusion and I am running windows xp and it works great in that environment