On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:01:01 -0500 rlhar...@oplink.net wrote: > On Thu, October 15, 2015 6:53 am, Reco wrote: > > Attach Ethernet cable to your laptop and printer via switch. > > > > Ensure that NetworkManager ignores your laptop's Ethernet interface > > (eth0 for simplicity). > > > > Run (as root): > > > > ip l s dev eth0 up ip a a dev eth0 192.168.1.200/24 > > > > "ping 192.168.1.210" should succeed. > > "arping -I eth0 192.168.1.210" should show MAC 00:10:83:5D:43:2B. > > > > telnet 192.168.1.210 > > Reco, this works perfectly. Many thanks for including all the > details. > > And it turns out (according to the ISP out there) that my associate is > receiving via a radio link a single address (192.168.100.3) from the > DHCP server of the ISP. > > So in order to accommodate an ethernet printer, I need to install and > configure a router. > > My only experience with routers has been with a PC running IPCop, but > I understand that there are small firmware-based routers, which I > suppose include a firewall and DHCP server. Have you any > recommendations as to brand and model? >
Pretty much any of the well-known names should be OK, though I've seen many people speak ill of Belkin. TP-Link probably do the widest range of low-cost network gear. I have a Linksys/Cisco cable router/WAP that's OK apart from flaky firmware concerning RADIUS, but few small networks go there. I picked it for being the cheapest RADIUS-capable WAP I could find... Just make sure it's a cable router i.e. that the WAN connection isn't a DSL modem, they're probably more common in some parts of the world than in the UK, where there's little call for them. You will certainly want NAT and DHCP, but I'd expect all cable routers to do those, and once you have NAT there's no point in leaving out a packet-filtering firewall. It's probably a good idea to have a bit more control of what goes in and out than whatever the ISP provides, which may be nothing. You start getting picky about routers when you need to handle the more exotic protocols, such as VPN and some online games. If your associate is likely to need anything of that kind, you'll need to study the specs and reviews for supported protocols. Something to consider is that the Windows computer can do simple NAT routing, with an additional network card (assuming it's a tower). Last time I tried that was with XP, but it still seems to exist: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/using-ics-internet-connection-sharing The Windows machine will do DHCP, but I think it's hard-coded to one network. This should not be a problem, it used to be 192.168.1.0 in XP days. -- Joe
