Turn your laptop into a hotspot

[whs37]

I found this neat tutorial which may be handy for your use at times.

How to Turn Your Windows 8 Laptop into a Wireless Access Point - How-To Geek

 

[Unforgiven]

I moved this to computers and IT so it would hit a better audience.

 

[whs37]

OK, no problem.

 

[nickdalzell]

easier in Ubuntu. go to gears icon on top right corner, open system settings, network, then click 'wireless' and select 'create hotspot'

 

[OrlandoFL]

Cool

 

[whs37]

Yeah, sometimes Linux is easier - but only sometimes. I just won a 3 day battle trying to install the VMware tools for Linux on my virtual Zorin system - but I won. For my virtual Windows 8 system that was a 2 click affair.

I am not a Linux guru but I know the basics. But their Terminal (command line) is intimidating.

 

[mikedt]

Yeah, sometimes Linux is easier - but only sometimes. I just won a 3 day battle trying to install the VMware tools for Linux on my virtual Zorin system - but I won. For my virtual Windows 8 system that was a 2 click affair.

I've never heard of Zorin, except that he was the villain in one of the James Bond 007 movies.

But I've found that different distros can be either really easy. Two clicks and enter password with Ubuntu and Linux Mint for VMware Tools and VirtualBox Additions. Or on the other hand Red Flag Linux* can be a wrestling match and really frustrating to make it properly supported in a virtual machine environment....I gave up in the end. It seemed to be mostly dependency problems....(dependency hell).

Presumably VMware and Oracle only really develope and test their virtual PC environments with most popular mainstream distros, like Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. And not things like Zorin or Red Flag.

* http://www.redflag-linux.com/en/ ...it's Chinese and I don't really recommend it.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I've never heard of Zorin, except that he was the villain in one of the James Bond 007 movies.

That was probably a clue. People need to realize that having the Linux kernel in it isn't a guarantee that it all works.

* Red Flag Software Co.,Ltd ...it's Chinese and I don't really recommend it.

That's another one where the name alone is sufficient warning. In auto racing: "The solid red flag is displayed when conditions are too dangerous to continue the session." Usually the red flag comes out because of a crash. :rofl:

 

[Unforgiven]

I spun some off topic posts into a new thread over here (http://androidforums.com/sports/689180-racing-flags.html) so this thread will stay on topic.

 

[whs37]

I've never heard of Zorin, except that he was the villain in one of the James Bond 007 movies.

But I've found that different distros can be either really easy. Two clicks and enter password with Ubuntu and Linux Mint for VMware Tools and VirtualBox Additions. Or on the other hand Red Flag Linux* can be a wrestling match and really frustrating to make it properly supported in a virtual machine environment....I gave up in the end. It seemed to be mostly dependency problems....(dependency hell).

Presumably VMware and Oracle only really develope and test their virtual PC environments with most popular mainstream distros, like Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. And not things like Zorin or Red Flag.

* Red Flag Software Co.,Ltd ...it's Chinese and I don't really recommend it.

Mike, You should try Zorin once - it's fun. I made a little video: Having fun with Zorin - Windows 7 Support Forums

And if you want to install the VMware tools, those are the commands that work:

sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
cp /media/cdrom/VMware*.tar.gz /tmp
sudo umount /media/cdrom
cd /tmp
tar xzvf VMware*.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib/
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

 

[mikedt]

Mike, You should try Zorin once - it's fun. I made a little video: Having fun with Zorin - Windows 7 Support Forums

And if you want to install the VMware tools, those are the commands that work:

sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
cp /media/cdrom/VMware*.tar.gz /tmp
sudo umount /media/cdrom
cd /tmp
tar xzvf VMware*.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib/
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

I could try it out, but it'll have to wait till next week now. I'm using pre-paid 3G EV-DO wireless due to location, so no distro downloads for the moment. I've read about Zorin OS this morning. Seems that it is Ubuntu based, and is aimed at Windows users.

When I ran Ubuntu and Mint in a virtual environment, with VMware and VirtualBox, everything worked straight away. No need for the CLI at all.

I've got Mint on two laptops, which is what I've settled on for my OS of choice.

 

[SUroot]

Yeah, sometimes Linux is easier - but only sometimes

Yep, good example...

Turn Win 7/8 into VPN server:

Spoiler

• Network Connections
• ALT > File > New Incoming Connection.
• Select a local user or create a new user
• Select "Through the internet"
• Select Protocol "IPv4" for example
• Allow access

Turn Ubuntu into a VPN server:

Spoiler

• sudo apt-get install pptpd
• sudo gedit /etc/pptpd.conf
• Add:
  [HIGH]localip x.x.x.x
  remoteip x.x.x.x-x[/HIGH]
• sudo gedit /etc/ppp/chap-secrets
• Add:
  [HIGH]# client server secret IP addresses
  dan pptpd danspassword *
  [/HIGH]
  
• sudo /etc/init.d/pptpd restart
• sudo apt-get install libwrap0-dev debhelper
• sudo apt-get source pptpd
• cd pptpd-1.3.0/plugins
• sudo gedit patchlevel.h
  
• Change:
  [HIGH]#define VERSION "2.4.3"[/HIGH]
  To:
  [HIGH]#define VERSION "2.4.4"[/HIGH]
  
• sudo apt-get -b source pptpd
• sudo dpkg -i pptpd_1.3.0-1ubuntu1_i386.deb
• sudo dpkg -i bcrelay_1.3.0-1ubuntu1_i386.deb
• sudo /etc/init.d/pptpd restart

Of course clearly, Ubuntu is much more configurable. Also, Windows didn't like my VPN server yesterday as the Remote access service fails due to an attached device "not working", which I haven't identified yet.

If you want the less secure IPSEC VPN on ubuntu, its much more complicated. This insecure PPTP one is simple

 

[whs37]

I've read about Zorin OS this morning. Seems that it is Ubuntu based, and is aimed at Windows users.

When I ran Ubuntu and Mint in a virtual environment, with VMware and VirtualBox, everything worked straight away. No need for the CLI at all.

I've got Mint on two laptops, which is what I've settled on for my OS of choice.

Yes, that is correct. It has a start menu a la Windows and is relatively easy to get around - until you need Terminal.

I have to try Mint again. Last time I had some problems with it, but I forgot the details.

 

[whs37]

Here is a neat little program I just found that turns your laptop into a hotspot: Connectify Hotspot - The Wi-Fi Software Router for Windows PCs