Two laptops, one Broadband connection

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

Last week I was working away, and found myself and co-worker Tim in an interesting position.  I had a free Internet connection on the wall, but we had two laptops.  I guess we could have taken turns, but that isn't me.  If there is a way to do something with computers I'll find it, even if the time taken is greater than the time needed just to check some e-mail and updates on Facebook.

Now I have done plenty of Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Windows boxes before, but setting up the wireless without some sort of router is one of those things that I know can be done, but I've never needed to, until now.

ICS
Here is a nice How-To on ICS for XP. All you need to do for this exercise is put ICS on the connection that has access to the net, be that Dial-up, LAN, or Broadband.

Once this is done, the laptop is turned into a DHCP server and any other computers connected to it will (if they are set to DHCP) use the laptop as a Internet gateway.  Now all we need to do is connect to the first laptop wirelessly.

Ad-Hoc Connection
Once the ICS is setup, we just need to turn the first laptop into a wireless base station, which the second laptop will connect to.  To do this, we make an Ad-Hoc connection on the first laptop, which is nicely explained here.

Once the second laptop connects to the first, it should be given the right settings to share the Internet and you're done.  It works quite well and we were able to entertain ourselves for the evening, and of course get some work done.

If you have any suggestions or questions, or even a better way to do this, let me know.

Jason Remnant

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UMPC of Choice

Image by Maverick Dal via Flickr

I am a technology whore.  There, I have said it, I want an iPhone, I want new Mac, and I want the new version of Ubuntu.  I probably don't need any of the above (although I could use a new desktop), but of all the new trends in the tech gadget world, the Mini mobile notebook is one that I could use.  Why?  Well, because I live on the net, I get all my news on the net, I communicate over the net, and do a lot of work over the net.  So a device that lets me do that without the overheads of weight, size and cords is my new cool device of choice.

Mobile devices are not new, in the old days a couple of the top manufacturers produced ultra mobile devices but the timing and the price were wrong, especially the price.  Asus may have just been testing the waters with the first Eee PC, but their timing was right, and delivering a geek gadget at a reasonable price gave more people the opportunity to find a use for it.

These ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) hit that sweet spot between the cell phone and the laptop.  Because the cloud is so much more important to me today, I find myself trying to live on my phone, but needing more.  I brought a cool laptop that would replace the need for a desktop, but find that it is either not portable enough or too important to head out with.  This weekend is a perfect example, I'll be heading out to a Fly Fishing Course on the river.  I don't need the computing power of the Laptop, but I wanted to spend some time writing, the old Imate Jasjam could do it, but really.....

So it looks like I need to look at the Eee PC, or maybe a MSI Wind or maybe....  What Asus started with the Eee PC looks to be finished by just about everyone else.  I though I might put down some details on the main contenders and see if anyone has any ideas.

Choices are:

Asus Eee PC 901, 1000

MSI Wind

Medion Akoya E1210

Acer Aspire One

Dell E

Thanks to umpcportal.com for the specs and pricing.

Now as much as I'd love to pick one of these up, there is a slight problem with actually getting one.  I have seen a couple of the MSI Wind's on Ebay and we are starting to see some of the Asus models filter into retail here in Australia, but as with most new toys, the pricing is a little "early adopter".

The Dell E interests me, 'cause I like Dell but there is only a blog post on the US site and nothing on the AU site, so more waiting for me.  The Acer Aspire One was launched at the start of the month so I'll need to do some looking around to find one in the wild.

Jason Remnant

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