Skewed Mac

Dual-ing Bandwidth - Software Base Stations in OS X

Picture it. Southwest Virginia, 2001, soon after election day. Governor-Elect Warner had crawled up onto a tree-stump, mere weeks before at a festival on this campus, in a brazen return to the traditions of old. It wasn't so much the content of his rhetoric that was old (to some) but rather the simple nod to a time when politicians were only allowed to woo voters from a tree's bottom, energetically showing their ability to attract or repulse a crowd without microphones and teleprompters.

And now, on this very campus an attempt to harken back to a simple concept, when a portable was portable, and a Software Base Station was available on the latest OS.

So here was the concept: I wanted my portable computer to *GASP!* be portable! We had just recently gotten a great deal on an iBook S.E. off eBay and had fattened it with its maximum RAM and an Airport Card. The latter was for the trick I was excited to employ, the elusive Software Base Station. One Airport Card for the wee iMac and I was ready, right?

You see, when Apple first announced the Airport system, it was what we have come to know today as the Base Station (the $300 slightly melted Hersehy's Kiss) and the Airport Cards working together to provide splendid wireless access for 10 computers. One notation was the "upcoming" support of a Software Base Station wherein two Airport Card users could share the internet access one of them was connected to. For example, an iMac hooked to a Cable Modem, that also bore an Airport Card, could share that wall-connected internet access with a nearby iBook that spoke to it via its Airport card. Great! Those without $300 extra and with little need for anything more than surfing the net from their hammocks were excited by this prospect. And excited they stayed.

For a while.

And then it just seemed like some were dragging their feet, because this great new feature wouldn't show up for months, and months, and months after the announcement of the whole Airport concept.

To Apple's business credit, it probably sold more Base Stations and therefore helped them out monetarily. To Apple's discredit, they probably would have sold even more had they kept their trap shut about the whole Software Base Station idea until it was either a) ready, or b) it had hidden out enough to turn over those extra Base Stations.

But eventually, the Software Base Station was born. And there was much rejoicing! And then, the super-powerful OS X was born. And there was much rejoicing! And then, everyone realized that an Apple elf had forgotten to include the Software Base Station capability in OS X. Booooo. Surely it was an oversight that would be corrected in 10.0.1...or.2...or.4... Okay well 10.1 was to bring in a little Airport-doohickey in our Finder Bar, so certainly this signaled the return of the Software Base Station! And...No. So, Airport users are still waiting for the functionality of the Software Base Station so a family of 2 doesn't have to shell out an extra $300 bucks to use the iBook's internet in the hammock. Aren't they?

One thing Apple users have in common with the Apple Mother Ship is the ability to be innovative. From Kaleidoscope to Window Shade, there are a handful of "well if they won't let us, we'll come up with a classy way ourselves." go-getters that those of us without a programming bone in our body really appreciate. Throw in the scrappy Unix underpinnings of OS X and you've got a pool, nay, an ocean, of innovation possibility to swim in. And with the power OS X has humming inside your computer, there's a lot to work with in materials.

So when it came time to figure out how to get my iMac talking to my new iBook via Airport without the dollop of creamy $300 wireless-ness known as the Base Station, I took to the net. What I found were a handful of ways for users to utilize the Network Address Translation (NAT) services already present in OS X, without fooling with the scary Mike Binkley's Anxiety Closet that is the Command line. Explanations of the two most comprehensible ways to go about this I found in the Mac OS X Hints site. I should note that both of these solutions are FREE and require no diving into the Command Line. There are other ways to get the Software Base Station functionality that violate those two rules of mine, but something tells me that free and Command Line-less solutions are pretty welcome to the crowd awaiting full OS X Software Base Station functionality.

One program (explained and referenced here in Mac OS X Hints as "Lazy Man's Software Base Station) is a fairly invisible program using NAT called geeRoute (that you just install and it works unseen) which I would recommend for the more trusting user. You'll still need to do the configuring handy-work, but it is a really quick solution. My only beef with this route is in its invisibility. Without any documentation or read-me files, I get skiddish installing anything that just goes away (in an age when Apple itself can accidentally wipe partitions with its iTunes 2.0 installer, I'm much more cautious than I used to be). Most of my fears would probably be set aside with some adequate instructions or documentation which the site thankfully lists as "Coming Soon".

The second solution I found in a couple of places, but it was mentioned with instructions in the Mac OS X Hints page here. This one, utilizing a program called gNAT really gave me much more faith in rigging this myself. Not only does the program include a graphical interface where I can better see exactly what is happening, but it also includes a surprising amount of documentation, walk-throughs and sample set-ups. It has a ReadMe that separately describes version revisions and such, and provides a much larger comfort level. Granted with a graphical interface you get more ways to screw up a connection, but the documentation saves you from doing too much harm (and includes a really nice glossary break-down of each feature). Find links to the program and documentation here.

So, for those looking to bask in the glory of low-cost, limited-range wireless internet access for a laptop or two, give these options a try. And certainly give them a whirl before you drop an extra $300. If you'd like to know how mine worked out, just drop me an email. I'll be in the hammock.

Postscript

Those wishing to donate or send a hammock for review should contact Dean via email. He'd love to tell the world how great surfing the internet is from his new hammock, which, if comfortable enough, will be lived in throughout the winter here in the mountains.

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