[Gllug] Sharing Internet via Serial Cable

[Richard Cohen]

On 02/11/05, Henry Gilbert <henry.gilbert at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I was given a dying Packard-Hell laptop to fix.
> But the owner had so much trouble with it -
> she never rang back for it.
>
> It was running Windows ME.
>
> I managed to install Slackware and all seems fine now.
>
> But there is no ethernet and I have no wifi adapter.
>
> What I was wondering if anyone know of a way to share internet
> connection between two Linuxes via Serial Cable.
> Or even USB-to-USB.
>
> I really could do with some good pointers or ideas.
> Meanwhile I will carry on searching the web.
>
> If you have done this before - please let me know the shortcuts.
>
> The laptop is becoming nice under Slack.
> I was losing all hope then.
>
> regards
>
> Henry

Sure!  What you need (for a serial link, anyway) is a null modem
cable, which lets you plug two machines in back-to-back and run PPP
between them.  PPP over a serial line like that is pretty simple, and
then all you need to do is get your 'server' - your other machine
which is already online - to pass the connection on from the laptop. 
Depending on how your current network is setup, that will either be
simple routing, or some form of masquerading.

Job done :-)

It might not be trivial to find a null modem cable nowadays - you
could make one if you're that way inclined - but somewhere like
Maplins should have one if you can't find one elsewhere, or you should
be able to find one online easily enough.

Alternatively, if the machine has a PCMCIA port, you could just use that...

Cheers
Richard
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