Documentation/Maemo PC Connectivity Tutorial/Network Sharing

With Maemo PC Connectivity, you can easily set up an Internet connection and share it from a Maemo device to a host PC or from a host PC to a Maemo device. For sharing a connection from a Maemo device to a host PC, you should configure from which interface (WLAN, USB or Bluetooth) the Maemo device accesses the Internet and share it with other interfaces (WLAN, USB and/or Bluetooth).

Sharing network from Maemo device

To share a network connection from a Maemo device to a host PC you need perform these steps on the Maemo device:

• Run Settings - Control Panel - Connectivity - PC Connectivity Manager.
• Click on the Advanced button.
• Select the Internet connection type, figure 4.1.
• With the Connect Using option, you can choose from which interface (WLAN, WLAN adhoc, USB or Bluetooth) the Maemo device accesses the network.
• With the Share internet connection with option, you can choose the interfaces (WLAN, USB and/or Bluetooth) with which to share the Internet.
• Click on the Apply button.

Screenshot of Internet sharing dialog in PC connectivity manager

Figure 4.1: PC Connectivity Manager - Internet Sharing

Sharing network from Linux

After you have installed the host-pc-connectivity package to your Linux host PC, you can automatically share an Internet network connection from your Linux host PC to a Maemo device.

If you want, you can configure sharing from your Linux host PC manually. Suppose you have an Internet connection through an ethernet cable interface, normally eth0. You can share this network connection with any other interface (USB, Bluetooth and/or WLAN) by executing the following commands:

$ iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
$ echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

You can replace eth0 with any other interface (usb0, bnep0 or wlan0) that has a working Internet connection. To disable network sharing, you should execute the following commands:

$ iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
$ echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

If you want to permanently share the network from your Linux host PC, you should edit the /etc/network/interfaces file. For example, you can add the following lines to it to share the network every time the USB interface (usb0) is up.

mapping hotplug
script grep
map usb0

iface usb0 inet dhcp
# commands to enable internet sharing
up iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
up echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
# commands to disable internet sharing
down iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
down echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

Sharing network from Windows

To share the Internet network from your Windows host PC, you should follow these steps:

• Open the Start - Control Panel - Network and Internet Connections - Network Connections dialog.
• Right click the interface from which you access the Internet.
• Select the Properties option.
• Select the Advanced tab.
• Under Internet Connection Sharing, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check-box, figure 4.2.
• Click on the OK button.

Screenshot of properties dialog

Figure 4.2: Local Area Connection Properties dialog

Sharing network from Mac OS X

To share the Internet network from your Mac OS X host PC, you should follow these steps:

• Go to System Preferences and click on the Sharing icon, figure 4.3.
• Select the Internet Sharing service.
• From Share your connection from, select the interface that has an Internet connection. For example, AirPort, figure 4.4.
• From To computers using, check the interfaces you want to share the Internet with. For example, Bluetooth PAN.
• Enable the Internet Sharing check-box.

Screenshot of system preferences dialog

Figure 4.3: System Preferences dialog

Screenshot of network sharing dialog

Figure 4.4: Network Sharing dialog