Hi all,

I'm trying to build a small ad hoc network between my laptop (which connects to the internet) and my n800. I've got very close...all that remains is to add some encryption onto the laptop access point.

I'm going to list in detail what I did, just in case it helps anyone else:

On my laptop (running Ubuntu Hardy) I execute the following commands:

sudo iwconfig eth1 mode ad-hoc
sudo iwconfig eth1 essid "laptop"
sudo iwconfig eth1 key off
#sudo iwconfig eth1 key 53412
#sudo iwconfig eth1 key restricted

sudo /sbin/ifconfig eth1 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255 up

sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward"
sudo iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A POSTROUTING -t nat -j MASQUERADE -s 192.168.0.0/24


On my n800, I've set up a network connection to "laptop" and specified the IP. That is, I've set

IP address: 192.168.0.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.0.1

plus the appropriate Primary DNS address and Secondary DNS address that I copied from /etc/resolv.conf on my laptop.

Everything is great! I can link and browse happily.

What I'd like to do is add some encryption on the connection. I tried the commands (commented out above):

sudo iwconfig eth1 key 53412
sudo iwconfig eth1 key restricted

as well as

sudo iwconfig eth1 key s:53412

and changing restricted to open, but when ever I do this I cannot connect...or if I can (when using open encryption) I can't see the internet.

Any ideas? Thanks

I don't know the answer, you might have to read the iwconfig manuals on the appropriate OSes.

I just wanted to say that you can also use SSH (VPN) or OpenVPN to provide encryption instead of e.g. WPA-PSK (WPA2). On Ubuntu, setting up OpenVPN is easy with dialog and copying the configs over is easy with tunneldigger.

BTW I remember something about NIT not supporting ad-hoc networking very well. Not sure...

I have a linux box with intel 2915abg card in it, 192.168.0.1, dhcp server on that interface. It runs with WEP, no problem.

Nokia n800 connects to that access point, same wep key of course, and gets DHCP lease; sets gateway to the linux box, sets DNS etc etc.

so, you can get this to work; there's no magic in ad-hoc networking. The only thing you can't do is use WPA because you need a managed network as there has to be a network manager to control encryption.