[wclarkson]

Ok.....Here goes nothing. If you have trouble. Then read the instructions that come w/ gNAT. This is a more detailed instruction set. I will probably modify these and post them as a PDF some time. Maybe this weekend if I get a chance. It will be on Will Clarkson.com. I may get it done on Sunday or Monday

1. I went into the terminal. I said "sudo -s", and entered the root password.

2. "pico /etc/hostconfig"

3. Go down to IPFORWARDING=-NO-. Change it to say -YES-

4. Go to System Preference -> Network. Give Airport Card an IP of 10.0.2.1. And a subnet mask of 255.255.255.128. These numbers are arbitrary as long as they are 10.0.X.X or 192.168.X.X. I got these to work, so I suggest using them. Leave all other settings alone.

5. Create A computer to computer network on the server (I named mine "home"). Just give it a name. No password or anything. Its not as secure, but it will work easier. (at least in my experience).

6. Then, Go back to system preferences. It should automatically have airport selected. Then click the airport tab. Set the preferred network to the one you just created (i.e. home). Leave the password blank. And hit apply.

7. Then on your laptop. Go To system preferences. Give the airport card an IP of 10.0.2.5. And a subnet mask of 255.255.255.128. Then a router address of 10.0.2.1.

7b. In OS 9. I am given a Name Server address from my ISP (Road Runner). It does not show up in OS X's network preferences for some reason. So I suggest booting in OS 9 to get these settings. Then reboot in X and plug them in to your laptops airport settings. Do this only for Domain Name severs and Search Domains. Not for IP or Subnet mask or router.

8. Download gNAT from Apple.com Click Here to Download gNAT

9. Then. Open gNAT. Insert subnet mask as 255.255.255.128. And IP as 10.0.2.1.

10. **** These settings may differ from yours **** See gNAT help for exact settings.
Select the first 3 settings. Make sure they are checked. Then, Select External Network Interface as Ethernet Card (if you are on a cable modem). And for Internal, Selce Airport Card. I have an IP assigned to me. So, I check the Dynamic IP Binding. I also select the "Load on Startup" setting because I want it to share everytime I start my computer.

11. Click start sharing. This will set the startup setting to share.

12. Reboot both computers. In the boot panel for the server you should see "Network Address Translation". This is the UNIX name for Internet Sharing.

13. Once rebooted. Make sure each computer is connected to the Airport Computer to Computer Network and has the s (home). On the server, open the terminal. Type "ping 10.0.2.5". In about 5 seconds you should see text displaying that it see's the other computer. This is exactly what you want. Close the terminal (click to close anyway, otherwise it will ping forever).

14. Open gNAT. Make sure all of the settings are correct, and that it has the connection being shared.

15. On Laptop, ping the server by typing "ping 10.0.2.1". This should display text similar to that we saw before. Close the terminal

16. Double check all settings. Make sure computer to computer connection is up. And then open IE on the laptop. It should have the connection shared.

17. Enjoy!!!

I hope this helps all of you in the future. Your actual settings may vary. This is what worked for me, so they should work for you as well.

Good Luck!!!

BTW, <A HREF="http://"http://www.macnet2.com/phpBB/"" TARGET=_blank>MacNET2.com Rocks!!!!</A>

[wclarkson]

I've posted a PDF on Will Clarkson.com. If you want step by step instructions, use this resource.

[awaspaas]

i have a software BS working in os x with gnat and i didnt piddle around in the terminal. why do you need to modify hostconfig?

[OS X Fiend]

I'm not sure exactly why I needed to do the hostconfig modification. But, it helps to make sure NAT is enabled at every boot. I just covered myself 2 ways to make sure it was up and running.

[ckohler]

Thanks for the info. The only thing missing is DHCP for connecting clients. Anyone know add this as well? It'd be great if roaming laptops could tap in to my software base station without needing to set their IPs manually.

[ 01-25-2002: Message edited by: ckohler ]

[OS X Fiend]

I have created a tutorial application for setting up Software Base Station in OS X. It is available on my site http://www.willclarkson.com .

Here is a screenshot of the application:

[Michael T. Doyle]

So what are the benefits of taking this route versus the 2 minutes it takes to set up SBS functionality via a program with a GUI like, say, Brickhouse?

[wclarkson]

I feel that the ease of use is the reason for using my tutorial. I created this tutorial for those of us who don't know exactly everything about Mac OS X, UNIX, etc. It is meant as a beginners/ mid-level users' tutorial. It walks the user through the process of setting up a software base station. It explains everything you do.

I have tried brickhouse, and it did not work for me. Whether this was a fluke, or if it inherently doesn't work, is beyond me. I just know that I got my software base station to work using the process described in the tutorial. Has brickhouse ever failed you? probably so.

If you don't like it, that is fine with me. This is probably because you view yourself as an experienced user who has no need for novice tutorials. But, there are some of us, who do require this for some projects. I hope that you can understand this reasoning.

Remember, at one time, you yourself were a novice. Ignorant to everything new and interesting. So, just keep that in mind.

Have a nice day.

[justinkim]

I have a problem with my computer to computer networks crashing frequently. They never stay up for more than 24 hours and always crash if I'm transferring large numbers of files over Appleshare.

I finally put my base station machine back to 9.2. Performance and reliability have both gone way up. Anyone else have problems keeping their computer to computer networks up in X?

[ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: justinkim ]

[oranjdisc]

I still can't get SBS to work, damn't. I've tried everything, and even followed the directions to the letter from that application posted above. UGH!!!

[spiney]

I got my SBS up and working very well with Wills tutorial app. Thanks for the app. One question....

Each time I initiate a new ppp connection I have to stop and restart Internet Sharing in IP Netshare X in order for the dns to work.

Is this normal?