[plug] trying to share internet - seems hopeless

[Tomasz Grzegurzko]

On 10/22/07, Coral and Ben <cobel at bigpond.com> wrote:
> OK, how do I modify the variables at the top of the iptables script - I
> dont even know how to find it?

Hmm ok I thought if you were mucking around with kernels that this
would make more sense.. perhaps we can tackle some other things first
in that case (read on..)

>
>
> Tomasz Grzegurzko wrote:
> > On 10/22/07, Coral and Ben <cobel at bigpond.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi there pluggians,
> >>
> >> I am running kubuntu 7.04 with kernel 2.6.17-50-generic (not the
> >> standard kernel - the std one labels some IDE dvd/cdroms as scsi devices
> >> and tries to control them as such - some kind of sideways step in kernel
> >> development probably designed to be more compatible with sata drives but
> >> you end up with unusable ide devices),

Your PATA devices are bundled under the libata layer (faster, more
efficient, newer drivers though) and if they don't work can you post
more info on what devices, which driver they use (the libata or IDE
module name is fine) so we can probe this. Otherwise, there is a
kernel parameter that can be supplied also to use the older IDE layer
in favour of libata.

However with your custom kernel why not just use the layers you wish?

 and I have bigpond wireless
> >> broadband with the blue desktop modem.
> >>
> >> I have fantastic reception since installing a car antenna to the outside
> >> of my house (without the antenna I get scanty intermittent reception)
> >> and the modem seems to work fine in linux, being assigned a dynamic IP
> >> and the device label ppp0 once it is 'dialed' and connected. While it is
> >> not in use it does not exist - ifconfig doesnt list it.

How did you set this thing up? Is it going from your desktop over the
modem via pppoa (meaning are you using rp-pppoe or something) to get
this going? If so, then this is fine, the device doesn't exist when no
connection is active..

> >>
> >> I really need to share this connection around the house, my computer has
> >> a working wireless adapter (eth1), my daughters kubuntu machine (7.04,
> >> standard kernel) has a working wireless adapter, and my husband has a
> >> windows laptop with a working everything (including wireless and blutooth)

Ok well if you can ping and reach each computer via the network then
the setup is to give them the telstra DNS and set up your computer
with the guide I mentioned earlier and then the other computers will
use your box as their gateway.

> >>
> >> I also have two wireless routers, a plain one with wireless, ethernet
> >> and a wan link (this one doesnt want to work without internet detected
> >> at its wan port however), the other one is an asus wl-500g premium, it
> >> has the same features as above plus two usb ports for attaching network
> >> devices like HDD's and webcam's, this one is supposed to be able to take
> >> new firmware and is listed as compatible with openwrt and dd-wrt both of
> >> which are supposed to make it able to dial the modem when correctly
> >> configured (these two firmware versions are essentially mini-linux distros)

I'd say nearly all Wireless modems are Linux based!

> >>
> >> my computer also has working ethernet (eth0), but when it is active the
> >> ppp0 interface is bumped from its position as internet gateway, and will
> >> not be reinstated no matter how hard I try

What is the default gateway set to in System/Admin/Network? Sounds
like the eth0 has the configuration to establish itself as the default
gateway after it comes up. You can fix this up from the command line
with this:

# route del default gw <old gateway IP>
# route add default gw <new proper gateway IP>

> >>
> >> ifconfig:
> >> eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:02:72:63:0F:B5
> >>           UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
> >>           RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> >>           TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> >>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
> >>           RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

No IP addresses or anything set there, so that's not very usable.

> >>
> >> lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
> >>           inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
> >>           inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
> >>           UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
> >>           RX packets:115012 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> >>           TX packets:115012 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> >>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
> >>           RX bytes:8968550 (8.5 MiB)  TX bytes:8968550 (8.5 MiB)

Looks ok.

> >>
> >> ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
> >>           inet addr:124.178.181.225  P-t-P:10.64.64.64  Mask:255.255.255.255
> >>           UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
> >>           RX packets:2826 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> >>           TX packets:2929 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> >>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
> >>           RX bytes:1380590 (1.3 MiB)  TX bytes:305747 (298.5 KiB)

Looks okay.

> >>
> >> *eth0 is deactivated
> >>
> >> I have tried the ubuntu forum but only got a couple of obvious (and not
> >> really helpful) responses and no recent replies to my posts there
> >>
> >> I have guidedog installed (supposed to be an easy nat/masquerade thing -
> >> but  without help I don't get that either) I have guarddog - iptables
> >> frontend and I have tried to use firestarter (also an iptables frontend
> >> but, has a very easy way to share internet built in) but that hangs when
> >> it starts, with no error messages.

Tackling the NAT part later..

> >>
> >> some other oddities:
> >> interface lo does not start at boot I have to start it with "ifconfig lo
> >> up", I have noticed that I often have another interface eth1:avah in
> >> ifconfig also, that disapears once I stop and restart eth1

eth1:avahi is fine, it's apple's bonjour protocol hard at work.
If lo is not appearing, I'd suggest your /etc/network/interfaces file
does not have this line (and it should!)
auto lo

That will tell the system to bring up interface lo at boot time.

> >>
> >> also I have working bluthooth, could I share internet that way?

Probably; but with great difficulty and slowness, and less
reliability. I've played with bluetooth, personally, I'm not
impressed. It's just wireless+serial (and not very long range or
reliable wireless at that).

> >>
> >> sorry to be so wordy, but this has been going on for quite a while now.
> >>
> >> as a side note this internet connection cannot be easily shared in
> >> windows either, but with some stuffing around, I have shared it the
> >> windows way before, but this computer is quite new - it came with
> >> windows which I hung on to briefly until I worked out how to use this
> >> modem with linux, then i reformatted and now have only linux.

It's do-able in Linux, seems like there's a few other underlying
problems that prevent you from doing so. As I said, set this aside,
sort out the network first, then move from there. If you can't even
chat to the Internet or other computers via the network properly,
trying to get another service going (sharing) is just going to
compound the matter. With networks, I always like to start with basics
(ie. ping) and work my way up.

> >>
> >> well, thanks in advance
> >> Coral


See how you go now.
Tomasz