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Brazuca · Oct 8, 2001, 06:09 PM

I got it running by following the instructions here:
http://www.macfixit.com/osx/airportbase.shtml

I have a static IP address, so I used "en1" instead of "ppp0" in the script, and also I had to set up my firewall (Brickhouse) to allow Airport and to Share IP.

It works, but with a weak signal. Can anyone that understands all of this write a little app/script that will handle PPP, PPPoe, and Static connections?

Mac Boy · Oct 8, 2001, 06:28 PM

Sure I will. :-p

Actually I was going to do that anyway!

- Ross

LordJavac · Oct 8, 2001, 07:06 PM

I think that there's an Assistant (in 10.1) for setting up a SW AirPort Base Station on an OS X box. There's a movie of it on Apple's OS X 10.1 site. You should check it out. Since I don't have AirPort, I cannot give you any more advice, but an Assistant is going to be mnuch easier than hacking shell scripts. ;-)

conny · Oct 8, 2001, 07:51 PM

Originally posted by LordJavac:
I think that there's an Assistant (in 10.1) for setting up a SW AirPort Base Station on an OS X box. There's a movie of it on Apple's OS X 10.1 site. You should check it out. Since I don't have AirPort, I cannot give you any more advice, but an Assistant is going to be mnuch easier than hacking shell scripts. ;-)

It's only for the hardware base station not the software...

rsh · Oct 8, 2001, 08:26 PM

Your solution is very likely gNAT, a nifty little Cocoa app. Find it at Version Tracker.

oeyvind · Oct 8, 2001, 09:49 PM

There's a few more solution, I saw 3:

Web Board

Personally gNat is my favorite...=)

[ 10-08-2001: Message edited by: oeyvind ]

Brazuca · Oct 9, 2001, 01:17 AM

Originally posted by oeyvind:
There's a few more solution, I saw 3:

Web Board

Personally gNat is my favorite...=)

[ 10-08-2001: Message edited by: oeyvind ]

I have no idea what Gnat does. I thought that it wouldn't work well in 10.1 because of some differences in the script...Everyone told me to wait for the update but I needed this now.
As I understand, the process is nothing more than forwarding a port to the airport card. The script itself is only a few lines, and the rest is to make sure that the firewall is not blocking the traffic.

I'm surprised that someone that actually knows what their are doing didn't post this on the board sooner. I had to dig to find it, and there are a lot of people complaining about it, especially at Apple's forums.

oeyvind · Oct 9, 2001, 01:38 AM

Originally posted by Brazuca:


I have no idea what Gnat does. I thought that it wouldn't work well in 10.1 because of some differences in the script...Everyone told me to wait for the update but I needed this now.
As I understand, the process is nothing more than forwarding a port to the airport card. The script itself is only a few lines, and the rest is to make sure that the firewall is not blocking the traffic.

I'm surprised that someone that actually knows what their are doing didn't post this on the board sooner. I had to dig to find it, and there are a lot of people complaining about it, especially at Apple's forums.

Think the README file in gNAT is a bit wrong on last part (particularly on the IP address to be used).

Anyway, I helped a pal setup his G4 tower to be software base station yesterday.

What we did was run gNAT, external network == en0 (his onboard eth), internal network == en1 (airport), create a computer to computer network using the airport menu extra, then on his Win XP notebook join the network, set the IP address to be in the same range as the airport network, i.e. 10.0.1.2, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, GW==10.0.1.1 (his airport IP), enter in his ISP DSN, that's it...=)

[ 10-09-2001: Message edited by: oeyvind ]

Xool · Oct 9, 2001, 02:03 AM

Can't you just select "Create Network..." from the AirPort Signal menu?

oeyvind · Oct 9, 2001, 02:06 AM

Originally posted by Xool:
Can't you just select "Create Network..." from the AirPort Signal menu?

that's only creating a computer-to-computer network will no routing

Brazuca · Feb 24, 2002, 01:17 AM

Hello again,

I need some help with this. There is a script in MacFixit that I need to set up a shared network but I can't access it because the site has gone to subscription access.

Could someone paste or email me the script, or a copy of the instructions?
I don't want to get a subscription because I really never use the site.
http://www.macfixit.com/osx/airportbase.shtml

Thanks...

vt-macuser · Feb 24, 2002, 04:09 PM

Type "software base station" in Version tracker.

There is a nice tutorial there on how to do it. I have a hardware base station but just moved and Charter Cable modem apparently doesn't support home networking and somehow stops the base station from working (something to do with the unusual 255.255.252.0, I've heard).

Anyway, this tutorial worked for me!!!

Sort of an obvious question: since there are so many hacks to get this working (and have been since OSX Beta) why can't Apple figure this out and implement it???

Brazuca · Feb 25, 2002, 01:41 AM

Originally posted by vt-macuser:
Type "software base station" in Version tracker.

There is a nice tutorial there on how to do it. I have a hardware base station but just moved and Charter Cable modem apparently doesn't support home networking and somehow stops the base station from working (something to do with the unusual 255.255.252.0, I've heard).

Anyway, this tutorial worked for me!!!

Sort of an obvious question: since there are so many hacks to get this working (and have been since OSX Beta) why can't Apple figure this out and implement it???

Actually, I tried the tutorial and it was missing something that took me 4 hours (!) to find. I had to set it to forward the PPP port, not the PPPoe. I actually ended up just having Brickhouse do this, but I'm sure that IPNet... does it also. But if anyone reads this and is having trouble setting it up, if you have a DSL connection set to connect via PPPoe, you must ask Brickhouse or any other program to forward the PPP port.

That means ppp0

hype · Feb 25, 2002, 05:01 PM

I've set up a software base station too using the tutorial from versiontracker, but unfortunately, I lose my connection every time I put my base station G4 to sleep...does anyone know a way around this? Does anyone else have this problem if they configured their SWBS using an alternate method?
-miles

Brazuca · Feb 25, 2002, 07:39 PM

Originally posted by hype:
I've set up a software base station too using the tutorial from versiontracker, but unfortunately, I lose my connection every time I put my base station G4 to sleep...does anyone know a way around this? Does anyone else have this problem if they configured their SWBS using an alternate method?
-miles

I would love to know about it also, but it seems that since a computer-computer airport network must be made, the network will be lost when it goes to sleep. It shouldn't be this hard to simply forward a port, and I don't know why a computer-computer network MUST be made. Hopefully 10.2 will have sbs software. I doubt it though.

timster · Feb 25, 2002, 08:14 PM

When OSX goes to sleep, it shuts down all networking.

What you can do is set the computer to never sleep, then set separate values for display and hard drive spin down.

Like for me, i use 10 mins for display, and 30 mins for hard drive spin down, then that way, my G4 stays responsive to network requests when it "seems" to be sleeping.

-tim

hype · Feb 25, 2002, 08:22 PM

i understand that a computer at sleep can't forward the 'net signal; i just don't understand why I have to reboot it when it wakes up from sleep before it can pick up the 'net again. Mind you, I'm talking about my base station, the one with a physical connection to my cable modem. As for the never sleep thing, my tower's just too noisy for me to consider that. I've come to like the silence when I sleep, without that incessant whirring fan. Oh well though. Thanks for the help-
-miles

davidwb45133 · Apr 8, 2002, 08:05 AM

What kind of range can you get when using a software base? My desktop is in the basement and the room I'd want to use my notebook in is right above it. Will this work?

surfacto · Apr 8, 2002, 10:28 AM

Originally posted by davidwb45133:
What kind of range can you get when using a software base? My desktop is in the basement and the room I'd want to use my notebook in is right above it. Will this work?

Doubtful. The range with the software basestation is terrible compared to the hardware. I barely get a signal from my iMac SBS when using my TiBook in the next room. And I live in a cheap ass duplex with paper walls! Basically the SBS is like paying $200 for a 4 foot ethernet cable because if you move any further than that it becomes totally unusable.
I've been on the lookout for some sort of antenna range extender for my G3 iMac (preferably something cheaper than an apple base station). I think there are products out there that can do this, but the trick is figuring out how to rig the Antenna in the iMac. If anyone has done this or seen it done, PLEASE share your knowledge!

Brazuca · Apr 8, 2002, 11:11 AM

Originally posted by surfacto:


Doubtful. The range with the software basestation is terrible compared to the hardware. I barely get a signal from my iMac SBS when using my TiBook in the next room. And I live in a cheap ass duplex with paper walls! Basically the SBS is like paying $200 for a 4 foot ethernet cable because if you move any further than that it becomes totally unusable.
I've been on the lookout for some sort of antenna range extender for my G3 iMac (preferably something cheaper than an apple base station). I think there are products out there that can do this, but the trick is figuring out how to rig the Antenna in the iMac. If anyone has done this or seen it done, PLEASE share your knowledge!

I get normal range from my G4 and TiBook. No problems at all.

awaspaas · Apr 8, 2002, 05:45 PM

My beef with the gNat solution is the fact that after an hour or 2, my computer-to-computer network goes away and I have to reselect it. Bad form. I remember hearing a developer saying that this could be eliminated if the host computer could actually be running in basestation mode. Anybody hear anything about this?

surfacto · Apr 9, 2002, 08:45 AM

Originally posted by Brazuca:


I get normal range from my G4 and TiBook. No problems at all.

You have a G4 tower or iMac? I haven't tested either, but the antenna must be better on your machine than on the older iMacs like mine. My guess is that all macs use the same antenna, but some have better placement for good range. Have you compared your range using SBS vs. HBS? In my experience, the HBS gets much better range. Seems like kind of a waste of hardware (and $$$) though for two computers to need a third modem just to dial in from the next room. I'm still searching for some kind of range extender for the iMac.