Probably a silly question, but can you have a laptop as a host computer, and 
run another laptop on a wireless connection from it?  Or does it have to be 
a PC?  I think both are running Vista Basic.  (I'm asking on behalf of a 
friend)

Many thanks.

On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 14:36:34 -0000
"B.A.L."  wrote:

> Probably a silly question, but can you have a laptop as a host
> computer, and run another laptop on a wireless connection from it?

You can, although I'm not sure you'd want to.  Is it internet sharing
you're after?

> Or does it have to be a PC?

A laptop is a PC (even Apple laptops are PCs in the "IBM compatible"
sense these days).

"Rob Morley"  wrote in message 
news:20090306145254.718b5927@bluemoon...
> On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 14:36:34 -0000
> "B.A.L."  wrote:
>
>> Probably a silly question, but can you have a laptop as a host
>> computer, and run another laptop on a wireless connection from it?
>
> You can, although I'm not sure you'd want to.  Is it internet sharing
> you're after?

Why do you say that, Rob?  Yes, it's internet sharing they're after.

Thanks.


>
>> Or does it have to be a PC?
>
> A laptop is a PC (even Apple laptops are PCs in the "IBM compatible"
> sense these days).
>

On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 15:06:57 -0000, B.A.L. put finger to keyboard and
typed:

>
>"Rob Morley"  wrote in message 
>news:20090306145254.718b5927@bluemoon...
>> On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 14:36:34 -0000
>> "B.A.L."  wrote:
>>
>>> Probably a silly question, but can you have a laptop as a host
>>> computer, and run another laptop on a wireless connection from it?
>>
>> You can, although I'm not sure you'd want to.  Is it internet sharing
>> you're after?
>
>Why do you say that, Rob?  Yes, it's internet sharing they're after.

Because the most sensible and reliable way of doing Internet sharing
is to have a router (a wireless router, in your case) that two or more
computers can access independently, rather than having a modem on one
computer and using that as a gateway for another. 

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

"Mark Goodge"  wrote in message 
news:9bk2r4t91drdi2vvadrqch56iaq5aqrt91@news.markshouse.net...
> On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 15:06:57 -0000, B.A.L. put finger to keyboard and
> typed:
>
>>
>>"Rob Morley"  wrote in message
>>news:20090306145254.718b5927@bluemoon...
>>> On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 14:36:34 -0000
>>> "B.A.L."  wrote:
>>>
>>>> Probably a silly question, but can you have a laptop as a host
>>>> computer, and run another laptop on a wireless connection from it?
>>>
>>> You can, although I'm not sure you'd want to.  Is it internet sharing
>>> you're after?
>>
>>Why do you say that, Rob?  Yes, it's internet sharing they're after.
>
> Because the most sensible and reliable way of doing Internet sharing
> is to have a router (a wireless router, in your case) that two or more
> computers can access independently, rather than having a modem on one
> computer and using that as a gateway for another.
>
> Mark
> --
> Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
> Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk


Hi Mark, thanks for your reply.  I always thought that, to run a wireless 
network, there had to be a host computer (with the wireless router 
attached) - am I right in thinking, that after the initial router set up, 
this isn't the case?  If so, I've been mistaken in this way of thinking for 
years :-(

Many thanks.
Bob

In MsgID on Sun, 8 Mar 2009
01:00:53 -0000, in uk.comp.home-networking, 'B.A.L.' wrote:

[...]

>Hi Mark, thanks for your reply.  I always thought that, to run a wireless 
>network, there had to be a host computer (with the wireless router 
>attached) - am I right in thinking, that after the initial router set up, 
>this isn't the case?  If so, I've been mistaken in this way of thinking for 
>years :-(

Sorry, not Mark replying, but yes, I'm afraid you don't need a computer to
act as the internet gateway. To provide internet access to a local subnet
you need a gateway device, something that picks up packets that aren't
meant for any local computer and routes them out to the internet (and
routes the replies back again). You /can/ use a computer to do this job,
and in fact routers *are* computers; very very dedicated computers but
computers nonetheless.

Whichever method of distribution you use you need a modem if the internet
provision is via ADSL but that part is essentially invisible as far as the
rest of your routing is concerned (packets auto-magically find their way
from your default gateway to the ISP's internet gateway). 

All that the local computers need to know is your local 'default gateway'
IP address, which is the address to which any non-local packets are sent,
in the assumption that the machine at that address will figure out a way
to get them to their final destination.

The cheapest and most reliable method is to use a dedicated router box for
a gateway as a) it won't be particularly likely to crash on you, b) it
will use somewhat less background power when the computer you're using
doesn't happen to be the gateway machine and c) as it uses a minimum of
power it's affordable to leave it powered up and logged on most of the
time, which saves uncertainty and delay when you need internet access. The
internet is then always available as far as every machine on your local
network is concerned.

Hope that's clear enough, the idea is you set a router up, the switch
that's built into it passes packets between the local machines and the
router/modem part of it hands non-local packets out to the interenet. Once
set up it's fairly safely forgotten and is one less worry.

Dave J.

"B.A.L."  wrote in message 
news:w6qdnYWCU4pVhS7UnZ2dnUVZ8tiWnZ2d@bt.com...
>
> "Mark Goodge"  wrote in message 
> news:9bk2r4t91drdi2vvadrqch56iaq5aqrt91@news.markshouse.net...
>> On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 15:06:57 -0000, B.A.L. put finger to keyboard and
>> typed:
>>
>>>
>>>"Rob Morley"  wrote in message
>>>news:20090306145254.718b5927@bluemoon...
>>>> On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 14:36:34 -0000
>>>> "B.A.L."  wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Probably a silly question, but can you have a laptop as a host
>>>>> computer, and run another laptop on a wireless connection from it?
>>>>
>>>> You can, although I'm not sure you'd want to.  Is it internet sharing
>>>> you're after?
>>>
>>>Why do you say that, Rob?  Yes, it's internet sharing they're after.
>>
>> Because the most sensible and reliable way of doing Internet sharing
>> is to have a router (a wireless router, in your case) that two or more
>> computers can access independently, rather than having a modem on one
>> computer and using that as a gateway for another.
>>
>> Mark
>> --
>> Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
>> Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk
>
>
> Hi Mark, thanks for your reply.  I always thought that, to run a wireless 
> network, there had to be a host computer (with the wireless router 
> attached) - am I right in thinking, that after the initial router set up, 
> this isn't the case?  If so, I've been mistaken in this way of thinking 
> for years :-(
>

A wireless router is really two devices in one box. A router for connecting 
the local NETWORK to the internet, and a "Wireless Access Point" for 
connecting wireless computers into the local NETWORK. Its often convenient 
to set up the Wireless Access Point from a wired PC as it can make setting 
the security simpler. Older wireless cards sometimes needed a re-boot to 
switch from OPEN to Secured.

In general all the computers on the local network are usually equal, unless 
you set things differently in the router....

And as you say once its set up you can switch on the computer on the wired 
network. If you only have a lap top, they usually have wired ports as well 
so you can use that to set it up, and then switch to wireless...




> Many thanks.
> Bob
>