Complicated wifi networking?

Hi,

You would normally do two computers like this.

Set the First to use Wifi and set that up so it has Internet Connection.

Then plug in an Ethernet Cable between two Macs

Open System Preferences > Sharing and turn On Internet Sharing and set the out put to be Ethernet. (and the Input (From) the Wifi card

In System Preferences > Network the Ethernet connection would then normally show a Self Assigned IP.

I see no reason why the Ethernet connection cannot be given an Address via DHCP from the router.

(I have not ever tried it this far removed from the direct connection)

11:01 PM Friday; May 27, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Set up the Powerbook G4 with the USB Adapter 6DBI Antenna. Once you can surf the web using the PowerBook G4, then...

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing -> Share your connection from xyz (what ever is identified as the USB Adaptor 6DBI Antenna). And set the "To computers using: Ethernet"

Now run an ethernet cable to your Linksys router's WAN port. Configure the Linksys as if you were connecting it directory to a broadband modem.

Your MacBook Pro should be able to access the Linksys and surf the web.

You are now behind 3 layers of NAT routers. Your neighbors home router is the first NAT layer. Your PowerBook G4 is providing a NAT router from the USB to Ethernet. And finally, your Linksys is providing a NAT router between the Ethernet and its WiFi. But it should actually work.

Hi,

Thanks for the Points.

I see Bob has been a bit clearer than I was.

The router makes the connections. Which direction the Internet lies is immaterial to it.

7:46 PM Saturday; May 28, 2011

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi,

Forget about the idea that the "Internet" must go in to the Linksys' port that would normally go to the Modem.

Plug it in one of the others.

The Linksys (If doing DHCP) should then give the PowerBook an IP address.

The data flow round the LAN should not matter.

<
9:31 PM Sunday; May 29, 2011

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

I am now trying to follow your advice with no success. I connect my PB G4 with the USB Adapter 6DBI Antenna and can connect to the internet fine.

Good

Then I connect the PB with Ethernet cable to the Linksys modem in port.

So far so good.

I set the internet sharing on and chose Ethernet as internet sharing (not the USB Ethernet adaptor but the "built in Ethernet"). But I get no IP address in the router which is set to DHCP automatic.

BAD!

You MUST tell internet sharing that you are sharing the USB antenna. That is your source. There is nothing to share on your ethernet cable.

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing

"Share your connection from:" MUST BE THE USB antenna (guess it is possible it shows up as a USB Ethernet Adaptor).

"To computers using:" MUST BE Ethernet

Also I tried to share via airport directly, and I have never tried that. My Macbook Pro finds the PB Airport signal, BUT it don't accept the name and password. Should it not be the same as the admin name and password?

Since your PowerBook Airport card is not being used for receiving the signal from your neighbor, you can specify that as the "To computers using:" target, BUT YOU MUST STILL specify "Share your connection from:" as the USB antenna.

I'm not sure what you are accessing on the Powerbook that needs a username and password. While it is possible to tell the "Internet Sharing" to use a password, it will be a WEP password (very insecure), and there is no username. I'm farely sure it is optional to set a password on your "Internet Sharing" via your Airport card.

On the other hand if you were trying to do file sharing with the Powerbook and you did receive a prompt for username and password, then it would use the username and password of the account you wanted to connect with on your Powerbook. But that would not have anything to do with accessing the internet.

Hi.

On the PowerBook

Still on the Powerbook but in System Preferences > Network

With it set to "Using DHCP" to should be getting an IP from the Linksys.

The fact that the Internet is then accessible (or should be) in the data that is available from the router the other computers should be able to get on to the Internet.

As I said earlier when this is done with two computers then the Mac doing the Sharing gives out IPs in the self Assigned range.

Although I think it should work the way I have described in the two pics you may well have to plug the cable into the port the connection from the modem normally goes in to have that IP show up (Or at least be accessible) in the Linksys Setup Page.

It is possible that you have to set the drop down here to Ethernet

Here is one set to Static

What has your Linksys got showing at the point the lowest arrow points to ?

10:17 PM Monday; May 30, 2011

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Ralph,

I think you are confusing the equipment. As I'm currently in a Barne &amp; Noboe entering this on my iPod Touch, my ability back check is limited.

Anyway, I think the equipment is neighbor connects to ISP. Mats picks up the neighbor via a USB antenna attached to a PowerBook G4. The G4 will share this via Internet sharing to either his Airport card to his MacBook Pro, or a Linksys via Ethernet, and to his MacBook Pro.

If the Linksys is used it must either connect via it's WAN port to pick up an IP address from the G4 Internet sharing, or if one of the 4 switched ports are used, then the Linksys DHCP server must be turned off, otherwise there will b 2 DHCP servers trying to give out IP addresses to the MacBook Pro.

Either I'm getting confused, or you are changing the equipment on me.

Your pictures show the Computer Named "MacBookPro" as having internet sharing enabled. I was under the impression that you were going to attach the USB antenna to the Powerbook G4, which would then share the neighbor's ISP connection?

Did you switch equipment, or is your Powerbook G4 named "MacBookPro"?

If the MacBook Pro is the Mac at the end of the line, it should NOT be setup as internet sharing. It should just be an ordinary client.

Again, going on the prior information.

USB Antenna picks up neighbor's WiFi signal.

USB Antenna is connected to Powerbook G4

Powerbook G4 -> System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing -> Share your connection from: USB Antenna (whatever name that takes on).

Powerbook G4 -> System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing -> To computers using: Ethernet

Ethernet cable from Powerbook G4 to Linksys router's WAN port. This might have "WAN" labeled on it, it might have "Internet" labeled on it. I guess it could have "Modem". But no matter what it should be separate from the 4 switched ports either with some physical distance, or a different colored plastic.

The Linksys router should then pick up an IP address from the Powerbook G4's Ethernet as the Powerbook G4 Ethernet is suppose to be acting as a router providing typical DHCP and NAT services to anything connected to the Powerbook G4's Ethernet cable. The typical Mac OS X Internet Sharing IP addresses are 192.168.0.n

The Linksys should then share the Powerbook G4's Ethernet connection via both its WiFi transmitter, and its 4 switched Ethernet ports. Since the Linksys is sharing its WAN port, it will implement its own DHCP and NAT services on its WiFi and 4 switched Ethernet ports. The IP addresses assigned by the Linksys would be the typical 192.168.1.n IP address range.

NOTICE that the Mac OS X Internet Sharing subnet is 192.168.0.n where as the typical Linksys subnet is 192.168.1.n

Alternative 1) You may choose to eliminate the Linksys altogether. That would be by telling the Powerbook G4 to share the internet connection via your Powerbook G4's Airport card. Now your Powerbook G4 is a WiFi base station and your MacBook Pro should be able to connect to it just as if you were in a WiFi hotspot.

Powerbook G4 -> System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing ->To computers using: Airport

Again, the IP address range assigned by the Powerbook G4 acting as a WiFi hotspot would be 192.168.0.n, and the MacBook Pro should get an address in this range.

Alternative 2) Going back to sharing via Ethernet, you could choose to connect your MacBook Pro directly to the Powerbook G4's Ethernet cable. This does limit your mobility. In this case again, you MacBook Pro should pick up a 192.168.0.n IP address.

Alternative 3) Again going with sharing via Ethernet, you decide to connect the Linksys via one of the 4 switch ports (NOT the WAN port, or whatever it is labeled). In this case you must configure the Linksys to "Disable" DHCP. There should be a "Disable" button on the Linksys DHCP configure page. Or an "On" / "Off" button, or something that indicates whether the Linksys is to provide DHCP addresses. Once you turn off the Linksys DHCP services, it should just turn into a glorified swtich and Ethernet to WiFi bridge device. Once in this Bridge mode, the Powerbook G4's DHCP server should be assigning 192.168.0.n IP addresses to anything connecting via the Linksys. The Linksys itself will NOT acquire its own address as it is no longer acting as a router, but just a "Bridge" and a Bridge does not need an IP address.

If you are getting assigned the correct IP addressed for the configuration you decide to try, and you still can not access the internet from your MacBook Pro, then look to see if you have working DNS server addresses. you can always plug in your own DNS addresses on your MacBook Pro using

MacBook Pro -> System Preferences -> Internet -> Advanced -> DNS -> +

Then enter something like the OpenDNS server addresses or the Google DNS server addresses

OpenDNS.org

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

Google DNS

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

Final option. Pitch a tent in your neighbor's back yard, and live their until you get your own internet service :-)