IPHETH(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 ipheth(4) — the iPhone tethering girlies' bestie 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to ipheth, section 4 of the kernel interfaces manual — which is basically the section where the kernel spills all its hardware tea. this one? it's the USB Apple iPhone/iPad tethered Ethernet driver. yes, the one that lets your laptop steal your phone's internet like the icon it is. 📱✨

✨ NAME ✨

ipheth — USB Apple iPhone/iPad tethered Ethernet driver

like. that's the whole vibe. USB tethering. ethernet-over-lightning-cable. slay. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

so you wanna load this driver as a module at boot time? then you put this exact line into loader.conf(5):

if_ipheth_load="YES"

and that's it, that's the whole incantation 🎀

OR — alternatively, if you're a compile-it-into-the-kernel kinda girlie, you drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device miibus
device uether
device ipheth

all six. don't skip any. the kernel is not a "just eyeball the measurements" recipe, bestie 🧚

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the ipheth driver provides support for network access through Apple iPhone and iPad devices — which we all know and love as USB tethering. no cap, that's literally what it's for. 🔥

ipheth should work with any Apple iPhone or iPad device. like, any of them. the whole lineup. iconic behavior honestly.

⚠️ but — and this is the important part — in most cases this must be explicitly enabled on the device first. so go tap the thing on your phone before you come crying to the kernel. 🙈

for more info on configuring this device, go read ifconfig(8). and just so you know going in: the device does not support different media types or options. it does one thing. it does it well. main character energy, no side quests. 💜

👑 HARDWARE 👑

these are the devices the ipheth driver supports, periodt:

  • Apple iPhone tethering (all models)
  • Apple iPad tethering (all models)

that's the list. short, sweet, absolutely ate. ⭐

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these next, iykyk:

arp(4), cdce(4), cdceem(4), intro(4), netintro(4), urndis(4), usb(4), ifconfig(8), usbconfig(8)

🎀 HISTORY 🎀

the ipheth device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 8.2. vintage. a classic. an elder that still serves. 💖

💜 AUTHORS 💜

the ipheth driver was written by Hans Petter Selasky <hselasky@FreeBSD.org>.

we love a legend. 🫶

💀 BUGS 💀

ngl, this is the part where it gets a lil spicy.

some devices may need to be manually configured to use an alternative configuration, using the usbconfig(8) utility. a command similar to this:

usbconfig -u 1 -a 2 set_config 3

may be required if the device is not recognised automatically by ipheth after it is connected.

😭 so if you plug in and nothing happens — try the config command, bestie. it's giving "the driver needs a little nudge". not a bug so much as a ✨situationship✨ with your hardware.

and that's the whole page, fr fr. this one came from the Debian source, dated November 24, 2015 — yes, an elder, but the tea is still accurate. stay tethered, stay iconic, and always read your man pages. bye bestie 💅✨🌸

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