Offline PC (Linux)

[JOhannSnyman]

HI,

I havde a Ubuntu LInux PC hidden away in a cupboard, and all it does all day is play a slideshow of my photos to a display in the living room. The problem is this machine cannot connect to the internet at all. Is there a way I can download workunits with my internet computer and have the linux machine process them, and then manually upload when it is done?

Thanks!

[HendricksSA]

JOhannSnyman let me be the first to welcome you to the Fold. Sneakernetting is generally not supported. I'm not an expert on this but I think you can run into ID problems between the two machines. Also, the machines would need to be similar or the work unit could be incompatible with the second machine (32 vs 64 bit, Linux vs Windows, nr cores, etc.). Another difficulty would be when to stop the client on the second machine to "grab" the results and send it on the first. One of the seniors here may say it is a violation of the EULA.

I would suggest you try the wireless thing to make your hidden Linux box a full contributing client. Speaking from experience, wireless isn't easy with Linux but there are some really smart people here and they may be able to help you. Make sure your computer has good ventilation if you try this. Welcome.

[7im]

Welcome to the forum, JOhannSnyman.

Sneakernetting is possible, but a PITA not usually worth it. I agree, go Wireless. It has gotten a lot easier since wifi first came out. Do the research. Find out which wifi cards are known to work well with your 'nix distro of choice.

If your broadband box doesn't have wifi, add wifi to your other PC and share the connection. It will make updating the pictures much easier, and now you could stream video if you wanted.

[JOhannSnyman]

Hi guys,

Thanks. I'll look into wifi. Good point about updating the pictures too!

[gwildperson]

What's with the "cannot connect to the internet"? Are you really saying "I can run an ethernet cable to it"?

WiFi is a good suggestion but may present driver problems so don't overlook other possibilities, even if you end up ruling them out.

What hardware is involved? What distro is it running?

[7im]

I'm almost afraid to ask... How many ethernet cables do you have sticking out of a cupboard door in your kitchen, gwildperson?

[HendricksSA]

If it is more than one, I want to see pictures!

[gwildperson]

It's exactly one, but it's not sticking out of the door. The cable was routed to the cabinet through the ceiling and goes through the wall to a router/access point in the next room but if I needed wired ethernet in that cabinet it would be easy to provide via the same hole to the router.

I didn't say it was a likely scenario, just one that should be considered.

Now I'm pondering if I want to figure out if there's a way to mount a monitor in the door and a place to put a PC. I think I'd be better off buying one of those electronic picture frames and not trying to fold on it.

[HendricksSA]

My wife guarantees me that the number of ethernet cables in the kitchen remains at zero. And so it does!

[gwildperson]

I'm the wife
I didn't run the cable, but it's out of sight and if I wanted to use it, I know where it is.

[JOhannSnyman]

Ok, I ran a cable to it (temporarily) just to see if I can get things going. Wife not tooo thrilled, but I'll buy her some flowers later on. This is Linux Ubuntu "Manic Meerkat" or whatever they call it. I can connect to it from my iMac, but how do I get it to connect to the internet via the iMac? I am network illiterate. I gave each machine IP addresses (192.168.0.?) and I can ssh to it. I am also fairly new to OSX, so where to start?

Thanks!

[HendricksSA]

You may want to move this part of the conversation over to the Mac OSX thread. I know little about OSX. In Windows, you have to enable what is called "Internet Connection Sharing" on the host. There may be some equivalent on the Mac. Also, you may need to check firewalls on both machines to make sure they allow everything you need. Good luck - we will follow your progress.

gwildperson, your spousal unit is a lucky person indeed!

[bruce]

What kind of device(s) are between the Mac and the internet? Does your OS-X device have two network interfaces, such as Ethernet to the Linux and AirPort/WiFi to the internet? You have to have enough hardware to make it work, and that's going to be the same whether it's a PC or a Mac or Linux, as HendricksSA has said.

I don't know how to set up router software on OS-X, but somebody probably does. Hopefully they'll walk through this forum soon. I've only used Microsoft's "Internet Connection Sharing" but the Mac must have something similar.

Tell your wife the truth. The present cable is going to be there just until we figure out if it's going to work or not. If it does, we'll figure out a way to hide (more of) it. If not, no cable.

[JOhannSnyman]

The mac is connected directly to the internet with broadband modem, plugged in the usb port. So the mac calls that "Ethernet <en2>" and the other is "Ethernet" where the linux box is connected. I found the "Sharing" thing in the CP, seems easy to configure. I think the problem at this stage is the firewalls (as HendricksSA mentioned) and then to get Linux to use the ethernet connection to connect to the internet.
"Proxies", maybe? I found that in Linux CP. Anyway, the spousal unit has some stuff on today that requires my attention, and I have to make up for that cable that still needs to be better hidden. )
So hopefully tonight I'll have a chance to hit google and try some things.

Thanks for the help and support!

[HendricksSA]

You assigned IP addresses to both machines. However, you may find that one or both is by default looking to use DHCP. If so they may resist working together. If assigning the IP addresses doesn't work, you may want to try DHCP. Probably the mac would be the DHCP host and the Linux box would get it's IP from it. In any event, I think you're on the right track with the sharing you found. Proxies should not be needed for your setup. Keep us informed and we will all hope a mac network guru drifts through.