Baslinux mailing list

[James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>]

On Wed, Dec 06, 2006 at 03:59:09PM +0000, sindi keesan wrote:
> 
> We have a laptop with Windows and a PCMCIA wireless ethernet card with 
> Windows drivers.  Is there some way to connect to the neighbor's broadband 
> service via the Windows laptop and then network with a linux computer and 
> use a linux browser on the internet?  I suppose I could pay money for a 
> PCI wireless card.

Depends alot. Mainly on what Windows version you're using. Search g/scr oogle 
under "internet connection 
sharing" and you should turn up alot of information on doing this with 
Windows. You would surely need 2 
interfaces: one to pick up the wireless signal and to act as your portal to 
the WAN/internet, the other 
(serial, laplink cable?) to share the connection with another computer on 
your private LAN. Be aware that 
most of those "information" sites on internet connection sharing for Windows 
are mainly aiming to sell 
you something. In any case, Windows won't make a very good router or NAT'er, 
which is essentially what 
you're asking it to do. Linux works much better for this.

I managed to pick up a device for a reasonable price ($20 after rebate) that 
can get any Linux old 
computer that has a working NIC onto a wireless network. If you're going to 
invest in a new piece of 
hardware, I'd suggest one of these. It falls broadly under the category of a 
"travel router." It's a tiny 
wirless router with some nice added functionality. I think most folks would 
buy it to use in their motel 
room while travelling. Hook it up to an ethernet jack in your motel room and 
you can share your motel's 
network wirelessly using it (e.g., you can then wander around your room with 
your wirless-enabled laptop, 
remaining connected to the 'net without having to drag around cables). 
Anyway, the salient added 
functionality of this router for purposes of this post is that it has a 
little switch on the bottom that 
can put the router in client mode. Once you put it in client mode and do a 
power cycle, you can then hook 
it to your computer's ethernet card and it will relay your dhcp request to 
wireless AP's (access points) 
or routers in range and, if any are offering IP's, get you on said wireless 
network. In short, it acts as 
a wireless interface to your wired NIC. I see alot of travel routers 
advertised by various companies 
these days. I don't know if they all have the functionality of the one I got. 
Mine's a D-link (if anyone 
wants further info like model #, let me know). For $20, it was a worthwhile 
purchase. I think they're 
about 2x that cost without the rebate, though.

Another option along these lines would be to check craigslist for older 
(full-sized) Linksys WRT54G 
routers. The older verions (ver. 1 - 3, I believe--beware of version 5 and 
above) ran Linux. There exist 
all kinds of versions of Linux that people have put together for these 
routers that add functionality. 
One such added function is client mode, which would make the router do 
essentially what I described above 
for the D-link travel router (act as a wireless interface to your wired NIC). 
These can sometimes be had 
for $20 - $25 on craigslist.

Finally, at least one wireless chip maker, ralink, is releasing open source 
code for their chipsets. 
Edimax makes a PCI card that uses this chipset that runs around $20 new 
(newegg: I got mine for $5, minus 
antenna, out of a local computer store's junk bin). I have a PCMCIA card that 
uses this chipset as well, 
but it's a noname card. I could give the fcc # or tell you where I bought it, 
if anyone's interested. 
Only cost around $17 (shipping included). Whether the ralink source for the 
modules for this card/chipset 
would compile for older kernels, I cannot say. But if it would, this could be 
another way of doing 
wirless on BL.

James