Help.

I'm back at the mother-in-law's cottage and stuck with a dial-up internet connction tied to one of the worst notebooks I've ever used, a Sony VAIO of some sort, with positively the worst keyboard ever. I can barely type on this POS. I digress...

The last time I was here I wasn't able to succussfuly share the dial-up connection over an ad-hoc wireless network. I'd really like to simply set this thing up and then use my notebook. I had done this before a few years ago with an HP she had, but for whatever reason I just can't seem to get it right this time around.

I can't recall exactly what the issue was the l the last time I tried it and I've yet to try again tonight. Can anyone give me a quick step-by-step or point me to a site that they know contains working instructions?

This is a total non-issue on a Mac where it's very simple to accomplish. Perhaps still not easy enough for a complete newbie to do, but "it just works" nonetheless. That's how I connected last night from my parents' (albeit with a high speed DSL connection).

BTW, I'll say it again, this Sony has the worst keyboard I've used. I'd rather be using a Vic-20 keyboard.

Dial-up? What is that?

Internet Connection Sharing should do it but I've never done it. There are plenty of guides out there tho.

The issue I'm having right now is that my Mac doesn't get an IP address from the Windows ad-hoc wifi connection and therefore can't access the internet. I've turned on Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) for the dial-up network connection and AFAIK hav created the ad-hoc network correctly....

Ugh... It also takes forever to connect to the ad-hoc network. It's instant for the one I created on teh Mac last night.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/setup/adhoc.mspx#1

That's the guide I used.

From what I can tell from looking at this, you need to check that the firewall isn't blocking it.

The firewall isn't on...


Step 10 here doesn't show the message it says it's suposed to. But the result of thechange does claim the network connection is "shared"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306126

Ok, this FINALLY just started working. No rhyme nor reason that I can see.

I manually assigned an IP of 192.168.0.2 to my Macbook along with subnet and router/gateway of 192.168.0.1. It then no longer said I could notget out to the net, but stil didn't work.

Then I cleared the manual setting and put it back on DHCP, renewed and it picked up the same addresses. Then when I applied the changes to the network properties it lost the IP address, then reconected to the ad-hoc network and re-obtaned them and it now seems to be working.

SUPER (SUPER) slowly, but working. Let's see how long it takes to check my email. Then how long it takes to download any mail.

I'll agree with you on this one and admit that ICS in Windows is awful. On the few occasions I've had to use it, I've found it to be buggy and hard to get working.


Yeah. It is a shock when you drop back down to dialup after any kind of broadband connection. Good that you've got it working.

My parents are in the country and can not get any kind of broadband so when I go there I have to use dial up. It's good to have to revert back every so often it makes you appreciate how far the internet has come

Of course the other option is just to disconnect from the internet for the short time you are there.

I spent three days last week without power (220K customers out of 300K in Montgomery County, MD, lost power in a storm), and did something similar. The only AC power we had was a 140W inverter from the cigarette lighter in my car.

I tethered my blackberry to my laptop, shared the connection, and set up a small dhcp server on my laptop. (My wife's computer is US Senate issue and I can't edit the IP address: DHCP or bust, cable or full wireless only!) I had both machines sharing the 3G connection.

It was quite functional. Throughput wasn't great - everyone was using their mobiles - but not as slow as dialup. My wife was able to remote to her office desktop and finish up a long draft - July is silly season before the August recess on Capitol Hill.

The inverter was only able to power one laptop at a time, but otherwise, it worked well. On a different note: here's a hearty endorsement of LED and fluorescent lanterns. They last way longer on a set of batteries!

Anyone know anything about really quiet standby generators? I don't need huge power. 7 to 10 KW would probably cover the stuff I really need - blower on the gas furnace, microwave, refrigerator, a few lights, and computers on a really good UPS. (Caveat: a neighbor fired up her portable generator, saved her refrigerator but fried her computer and TV.)

-jk

That's what happens the vast majority of the time but if I ever do use it I always am amazed that, that is all we had not too long ago.

ICS worked beautifully under Windows 2000. It took seconds to set up and have work.

MS fixed that in XP. I spent two days trying to get it to work and finally gave up.

I agree and that's normally what I'd do. However, I didn't really give any customers notice that I'd be away nor did I set up an auto-responder, so there are a few emails I need to get through during the week. Otherwise I really don't need the connection this week.

Oh, and of course the empegBBS.