[Discuss] Use Linux laptop as wifi router? Is that even the right solution?

[John Abreau]

It has no option to ssh into a command line? That seems odd; pretty much
every embedded device I've ever owned was based on Linux and had an option
to enable ssh.

On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 2:11 AM, David Kramer <david at thekramers.net> wrote:

> Authenticating from my Linux laptop through my browser works flawlessly;
> the problem is connecting the Roku device to the wifi, since it doesn't
> have a web browser, and it certainly doesn't have a command line.
>
> On 12/31/2014 01:48 AM, John Abreau wrote:
> > Another option would be to figure out how to fake the browser
> > authentication with curl or wget, so you can script it. I did this a
> > few months ago for a phpbb forum.
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 1:16 AM, David Kramer <david at thekramers.net
> > <mailto:david at thekramers.net>> wrote:
> >
> >     I recently became the proud owner of a Roku 3 box.  Very happy with
> it
> >     minus one or two small details.  For grins, I brought it with me on
> >     vacation, and immediately ran into the problem that the hotel wifi
> >     requires an authentication page be filled out, which the Roku can't
> do
> >     since it doesn't have a browser.
> >
> >     Googling around on my laptop for a while, I've seen the following
> >     solutions for this problem, some of which involve doing things with
> my
> >     Linux laptop (Kubuntu 13.10 currently):
> >
> >     1) Change my laptop's MAC address temporarily to that of the Roku,
> >     authenticate, then try to connect with the Roku.  Sounds reasonable,
> >     except that it didn't work.  Not sure if I didn't change the mac
> >     address
> >     right.  Might have to retry this, as it's the option that doesn't
> >     require more hardware.  I found conflicting instructions on how to do
> >     this on the command line, and every single page that talks about
> >     Network
> >     Manager shows different options, since it changes so much and is
> >     different betweek KDE and Gnome, etc.
> >
> >     2) Add a USB WiFi stick onto my laptop and set it up as a
> >     router/repeater/whatever: I already have one, so nothing to buy but I
> >     would have to bring it with me.  Don't have it right now so I
> couldn't
> >     try it out, but here too I found lots of incomplete or unclear
> >     info.  If
> >     there's a straightforward way to do this, please let me know.  If
> >     I need
> >     to upgrade to the latest Kubuntu I'll do that.
> >
> >     3) Pick up a travel router and use it to NAT.  I see differing
> >     information on whether the hotel network will see one MAC address or
> >     each device's MAC address. This option really only works if the hotel
> >     has wired internet (the hotel I stay at the most does).  But
> >     apparently
> >     you have to run it in a specific mode that not all support, but I
> >     couldn't find a consistent name for that mode, other than "Bridged
> >     isn't
> >     what you want".  Some pages mentioned that some units can go "wifi to
> >     wifi" with half the bandwidth.  I'll have to find that link.  Maybe
> it
> >     does sending and receiving on different channels or something like
> >     that.  I would be OK with spending money on this if need be, and I
> >     knew
> >     it would work.  I also have a WRT54G I'm not using that I could
> >     test it
> >     out with before buying something smaller.
> >
> >     Did I miss any options?
> >
> >     Does anyone have recent info on how to do any of these?
> >
> >     Thanks in advance.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
> > Email: abreauj at gmail.com <mailto:abreauj at gmail.com> / WWW
> > http://www.abreau.net / PGP-Key-ID 0x920063C6
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> >
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-- 
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
Email jabr at blu.org / WWW http://www.abreau.net / PGP-Key-ID 0x920063C6
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