Skip to Main Content
Wireless Hacks
book

Wireless Hacks

by Rob Flickenger
September 2003
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
304 pages
8h 39m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Wireless Hacks

Apple Software Base Station

Use an OS X machine with an AirPort card as a true access point.

Mac OS 9 had a handy AirPort feature called “Software Base Station.” It allowed any Mac with an AirPort card and an Ethernet (or dialup) connection to act like a hardware access point, sharing its Internet connection over the wireless. The early versions of OS X were noticeably lacking this handy feature, but it has been restored in OS X 10.2.

To begin, you need to establish a connection to the Internet over something other than wireless (Ethernet is ideal). You might think that to start a new wireless network, you could simply click on the AirPort icon and select Create Network, but this will make an IBSS (peer-to-peer) network. In order to turn your Mac into a true access point, you need to go to System Preferences Sharing, and click on the Internet tab, shown in Figure 4-2.

Enable Software Base Station in the Sharing Control Panel.

Figure 4-2. Enable Software Base Station in the Sharing Control Panel.

Check the top box (Share your Internet connection with AirPort-equipped computers), but before clicking the Start button, you probably want to set up your wireless parameters. Click the AirPort Options... button, and you should see a drop-down menu like that shown in Figure 4-3.

Set up your radio parameters under AirPort Options.

Figure 4-3. Set up your radio parameters under AirPort Options.

Specify ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Maximum Wireless Security

Maximum Wireless Security

Cyrus Peikari, Seth Fogie
Real Time Over Wireless

Real Time Over Wireless

Jerome Henry / Rob Barton
Troubleshooting Linux® Firewalls

Troubleshooting Linux® Firewalls

Michael Shinn, Scott Shinn

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596005598Catalog PageErrata