F11-XO-as-ad-hoc-router

HOWTO Configure an XO-1.5 as an Ad-hoc Wireless Router

Scenario: you have one wired ethernet service, and several XO-1.5 laptops. One laptop can be connected to the wired ethernet, the rest will access the internet through ad-hoc wireless. (The same recipe can also be used for XO-1 laptops if they are running a Fedora 11 based build, but these builds are not yet stable).

On the central laptop, connect the USB to ethernet adapter, connect the ethernet cable, and verify you can reach the internet.

Then in the Frame right-click on the wireless device and Create new wireless network. Then in Terminal type the following:

sudo bash
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
ifconfig eth0
cat /etc/resolv.conf

Collect the following data from the central laptop:

• IP address of wireless device, from frame wireless icon right-click, or ifconfig eth0, typically 169.254.x.y,
• IP address of nameserver, from cat /etc/resolv.conf and look for nameserver line, typically some random IP address from service provider

On each other laptop, on the neighbourhood view, locate the ad-hoc wireless network created by the central laptop, and click on it. Then in Terminal type the following:

sudo bash
ip route add default via 169.254.x.y
echo nameserver a.b.c.d > /etc/resolv.conf

Where 169.254.x.y is the IP address of wireless device, and a.b.c.d is the IP address of nameserver from the central laptop.

From this point on the other laptop should be able to browse to the internet.