For ages I have been trying to set up an ad hoc network on winblows to no avail. The machines connect and everything but refuse to share the network connection or share files via the workgroup.
This ^ I tried with two laptops and a LAN cable connected to the modem router.

I have also tried using router live cd and zone cd from public ip but neither helped me in setting up an ad hoc wifi network, sharing the internet connection.

Is there software out there, like a live cd, that will cure my problems / turn a wifi card into a Wireless Access Point?

The wifi card in question is a SWEEX Wireless LAN PCI Card 54Mbs. The laptops have a built in Belkins wifi adapter/card.

Alternatively, I have a FC3 installation on a pc that can be used to route the internet traffic.
WPA Network encryption preferred but WEP 128 bit encryption should also suffice.

Or would one recommend purchasing a WAP, pluggin it in, and all my troubles are over? Admittedly I am on the brink of furnishing my place with one.

Thanks all

An Ad-Hoc network is different than using an access point. Each host in an adhoc network can communicate with another, often adjacent host. An access point on the other hand, provides a point of entry for the network. Sometimes a wider wifi network will have more than one access point, with the access points connected via a wired connection.

You may be actually thinking of an open network (i.e. no encryption) instead. I think your main roadblock is starting out with an AP.

I'm confused. They connect but they don't share the network connections? What do you mean by 'they connect'?


If you have drivers for the card/or use ndiswrapper you can set your card in ad-hoc mode 'iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc'

Post your configs so we'll have a starting point.

Sorry guys - it was a late night when I posted the inaugural post.

What I meant was - is there a [linux] solution to turn a wifi card into a Wireless Access Point?

Alternatively I could turn my linux box into part of the ad-hoc network.

The linux box is the only with an internet connection. The others will have to route through it to connect to the internet.
I would like to use WPA encryption with it but WEP [128 bit] should suffice. I live in a densely populated spot, hence the need for encryption.


Mr_C, sorry. What I meant was they connect [according to the network status] but do not share the internet connection. Nor are shared files accessible.

Configs:
The Linux FC3 box:
Amd 1200
512 RAM
3 hd's
sweex network card: SWEEX Wireless LAN PCI Card 54Mbs. Dont know the model number at this time but will be able to append it to the post later.

Two laptops:
512 ram
sis integrated gc
sempron 3000+
Belkin BCM4318

To me the easiest way would be to make the FC3 system become a dhcp server to asign the IPs, and if its Internet interface is the "default" route for that machine, then the only thing you have to do is to state the default gateway for the computers getting their IPs from the FC3 computer (namely, the common IP on the WLAN)

The problem with WEP encryption is that there were mistakes make in the design, so you want to use WPA instead. I use a linksys wireless router, so I don't have experience in setting up a host to function as an Access Point. ( I'm also not at my linux machine right now ). There is a Linux Wireless Howto that you will want to read. I think it is at the www.tldp.org website. Also read the documentation for wireless-tools and the wpa_supplicant. The latter may make reference to what you need, and the other hosts will need it anyway to connect to your access point. You will also have some non-wireless configuration work ahead of you, such as enabling ip forwarding and your routes