Hello!
I've got a problem, that can't solve by myself. First of all, that's because of a small experience in Linux systems, that's why i'd like to receive a solution from advanced users.
I've got thin client based on C3VCM6 motherboard with Lucid Puppy installed. Also i've got 4G modem and want thinpc+modem to act as a router.
So, the data will transfer through 4G connection and then 'll be received by the other pc's with the ethernet (rj-45) port. As i understand, there are just a couple of tweaks to be done. And still can't do it.
Can anobody help me to write a script to control the connection (for example, ping any host every 2-3 minutes and if the connection is lost reboot the 4G modem) and give the information how to setup the other necessary equipment.
Thanks to everyone for help!
How to make a router from a thin client and a 3g modem?
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kamatozrost
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat 21 Dec 2013, 11:40
Typically it can't be done tbey engineered the data traffic to only route via their end. All traffic data between two computer on your side is traveling to them and back. If they see that type of traffic you will get kick off line.
IE they designed it so it could not be used like a regular home based router/hub read your contract mine says NOT TO BE USED TO REPLACE INTERNET CONNECTION AT HOME your sharing data plan with multiple computers not sharing a true subnet.
You may be able to wedge a computer with a wifi and ethernet plug to serve as a firewall between your 4G modem or tether and a true router/hub but that is tricky I have thought I got it right a number of times only to find out I could never truly stop there side from affecting my side.
They are much better at blasting thro my weak attempts of setting up firewalls and data path traps. Its like at every level I tried they had a way of detecting it.
IE they designed it so it could not be used like a regular home based router/hub read your contract mine says NOT TO BE USED TO REPLACE INTERNET CONNECTION AT HOME your sharing data plan with multiple computers not sharing a true subnet.
You may be able to wedge a computer with a wifi and ethernet plug to serve as a firewall between your 4G modem or tether and a true router/hub but that is tricky I have thought I got it right a number of times only to find out I could never truly stop there side from affecting my side.
They are much better at blasting thro my weak attempts of setting up firewalls and data path traps. Its like at every level I tried they had a way of detecting it.
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gcmartin
This is a reasonable simple project and there are 2 approaches in current existence in the Linux world's internet.
One approach provides a Linux-like user-interface (UI) where you use its console/desktop to manage how internet traffic is to be handled to serve a back-end LAN full of users.
Another approach provides a Web-based UI where you use a browser to manage how internet traffic is to be handled to serve a back-end LAN full of users.
If you look thru distrowatch, you will find both types. Some call themselves firewalls while others reference proxy-routers. They do the same things.
Puppy Linux, just as the distrowatch ones can be patterned similar to any one of those offerings.
Lastly, the primary reason PCs are not used for such is the power (yes electricity) used by the PC power supplies to handle this munedane set of tasks. This is why you see small form factors doing such. In fact one Cisco offering ONLY uses POE for its power needs.
But, I see good reason to take some old laptop or netbook or ... do this as a project. The primary driver is that the user can determine the elements he would want in his "proxy-router-firewall" with inputs from, say, 3G and 4G and DSL (via a DSL card/stick) and cable simultaneously for internet service to all of your home LAN devices, wired or wireless.
A worthy project.
One approach provides a Linux-like user-interface (UI) where you use its console/desktop to manage how internet traffic is to be handled to serve a back-end LAN full of users.
Another approach provides a Web-based UI where you use a browser to manage how internet traffic is to be handled to serve a back-end LAN full of users.
If you look thru distrowatch, you will find both types. Some call themselves firewalls while others reference proxy-routers. They do the same things.
Puppy Linux, just as the distrowatch ones can be patterned similar to any one of those offerings.
Lastly, the primary reason PCs are not used for such is the power (yes electricity) used by the PC power supplies to handle this munedane set of tasks. This is why you see small form factors doing such. In fact one Cisco offering ONLY uses POE for its power needs.
But, I see good reason to take some old laptop or netbook or ... do this as a project. The primary driver is that the user can determine the elements he would want in his "proxy-router-firewall" with inputs from, say, 3G and 4G and DSL (via a DSL card/stick) and cable simultaneously for internet service to all of your home LAN devices, wired or wireless.
A worthy project.
I don't know how different it's a 3G/4G dongle to a WiFi card, but you can see this:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 23874b7d22
I've tested, and works.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 23874b7d22
I've tested, and works.
Remember: [b][i]"pecunia pecuniam parere non potest"[/i][/b]
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gcmartin
Helllo @Galbi. This post is provided for understanding of the differences in a modem and ethernet devices. They actually serve different purposes.
3G/4G/Dial-up/DSLcard are all MODEMs. They are used to connect directly to an ISP. They do all the work from the PC with the ISP and there is NO intermediate device between them and your/any ISP.
A WiFi feature on a PC is termed "wireless". Wireless is ethernet. Wired and wireless ethernet DO NOT connect ot an ISP. They do allow wired and wireless devices to connect to each other or other LAN devices in your home. Thus the diagram you present, shows 2 PCs using ethernet with each other and with the router. And, in that diagram, the router has a built-in modem which it uses to connect to the ISP. No other device in that diagram has a modem.
Hope this helps in understanding.
3G/4G/Dial-up/DSLcard are all MODEMs. They are used to connect directly to an ISP. They do all the work from the PC with the ISP and there is NO intermediate device between them and your/any ISP.
A WiFi feature on a PC is termed "wireless". Wireless is ethernet. Wired and wireless ethernet DO NOT connect ot an ISP. They do allow wired and wireless devices to connect to each other or other LAN devices in your home. Thus the diagram you present, shows 2 PCs using ethernet with each other and with the router. And, in that diagram, the router has a built-in modem which it uses to connect to the ISP. No other device in that diagram has a modem.
Hope this helps in understanding.
@gcmartin, thanks for clarifying.
Correct me if I'm wrong, the original @kamatozrost idea it's to build something like the little Huawei SmartAX device that I've in front of me which allows you and me to communicate right now, isn't it?
I thought that 3/4G USB dongles, apart of being a modem (connecting to ISP) also generates some kind of software ethernet interface, which can be bridged or something similar.
Sorry @kamatozrost if confused you. Just wanted to give some ideas.
Correct me if I'm wrong, the original @kamatozrost idea it's to build something like the little Huawei SmartAX device that I've in front of me which allows you and me to communicate right now, isn't it?
I thought that 3/4G USB dongles, apart of being a modem (connecting to ISP) also generates some kind of software ethernet interface, which can be bridged or something similar.
Sorry @kamatozrost if confused you. Just wanted to give some ideas.
Remember: [b][i]"pecunia pecuniam parere non potest"[/i][/b]
Having owned a few 3g/4g devices in my life, I happen to know a thing or two about them.
There are basically two kinds. Call them "dongle" and "hotspot".
"Dongle" is a real, technical term, oddly enough -- and it has nothing to do with the inevitable off-color jokes that will result from its usage... wrong vowel, you're thinking "dingle" 
Traditionally a dongle is a small peripheral (or part thereof) that attaches by way of a cable. You know those old Cardbus Ethernet cards? The kind with the stupid detachable cable that loves to fall off and break? Yeah, that cable is a "dongle".
In this case, the "dongle" style of 3g/4g adapter is usually a USB stick. I have an old one, a 3g-only Pantech UM175 from Verizon. It has tilt and swivel capability -- which also gives it the ability to crack flat in half at the tilt/swivel joint! (There were more than a few UM175's, I'm told, that ended their careers that way.)
Hotspots are the kind that pull in 3g or 4g and put out WiFi. Once in a blue moon you'll get one that does Ethernet, too -- although that's properly a modem/router. (There's not too many of those yet. One is the MBR1515, built by Netgear and sold by Verizon.) My current Internet-supplying device, a MiFi 4620LE made by Novatel and retailed to me by Verizon, is one of those. *Stay away* from Novatel MiFi hotspots. They overheat like crazy, especially when your signal isn't the best... I don't think Novatel did their thermal design homework very well, personally!
There's a problem here that people aren't talking about as well. I've had a couple thin clients myself. My favorite is a Neoware CA19. Great price point, very flexible in terms of upgrading -- and you can do some nifty stuff if you're handy with a soldering iron (there's a place for a fan header on the motherboard, just waiting to have something on it -- hellooooo cooling!). But there's one thing almost all thin clients have in common -- certainly all thin clients under $100 -- they are positively gutless in terms of CPU performance.
A thin client, by design, is basically a network adapter for a screen, keyboard, and mouse. All it has to do is run an SSH (Secure Shell) session to a server in a basement somewhere. The server does the real thinking, and the thin client handles input and output and not a whole lot else.
My Neoware CA19, for example, has a VIA Eden (fanless VIA C7) CPU running at 400MHz. I don't know how that compares benchmark-wise to anything else, but it doesn't take much to say that 400MHz is /slow/ -- and boy, is it ever! I've upgraded the RAM and, er, storage device on the system -- it originally had 512MB RAM (IIRC -- might've been 256MB...) and a 128MB (!) Disk-On-Module (basically a teensy IDE SSD) that are both long gone.
What I'm getting at here, is that piping data from one connection to another requires /processing/ data. Can you do it with a PC? Yes, use a Linux router distro (this is one place where I personally would NOT recommend Puppy). With a thin client? Yes, but that thin client will be a serious bottleneck in your network.
If you want to do it well, however, I recommend a specific type of router called a CradlePoint (it's a brand, and a good one). I've had two of them before, and this is precisely their line of work. A CradlePoint router can directly connect to a compatible 3g/4g dongle or hotspot with little or no futzing required -- the driver firmware for the CradlePoint is in it when you buy it. There's a little LED light for the dongle/hotspot -- if the CradlePoint can talk with your 3g/4g adapter, the light is green. Otherwise, it's red. That's basically it.
I hope this helps, and good luck!
There are basically two kinds. Call them "dongle" and "hotspot".
"Dongle" is a real, technical term, oddly enough -- and it has nothing to do with the inevitable off-color jokes that will result from its usage... wrong vowel, you're thinking "dingle"
Traditionally a dongle is a small peripheral (or part thereof) that attaches by way of a cable. You know those old Cardbus Ethernet cards? The kind with the stupid detachable cable that loves to fall off and break? Yeah, that cable is a "dongle".In this case, the "dongle" style of 3g/4g adapter is usually a USB stick. I have an old one, a 3g-only Pantech UM175 from Verizon. It has tilt and swivel capability -- which also gives it the ability to crack flat in half at the tilt/swivel joint! (There were more than a few UM175's, I'm told, that ended their careers that way.)
Hotspots are the kind that pull in 3g or 4g and put out WiFi. Once in a blue moon you'll get one that does Ethernet, too -- although that's properly a modem/router. (There's not too many of those yet. One is the MBR1515, built by Netgear and sold by Verizon.) My current Internet-supplying device, a MiFi 4620LE made by Novatel and retailed to me by Verizon, is one of those. *Stay away* from Novatel MiFi hotspots. They overheat like crazy, especially when your signal isn't the best... I don't think Novatel did their thermal design homework very well, personally!
There's a problem here that people aren't talking about as well. I've had a couple thin clients myself. My favorite is a Neoware CA19. Great price point, very flexible in terms of upgrading -- and you can do some nifty stuff if you're handy with a soldering iron (there's a place for a fan header on the motherboard, just waiting to have something on it -- hellooooo cooling!). But there's one thing almost all thin clients have in common -- certainly all thin clients under $100 -- they are positively gutless in terms of CPU performance.
A thin client, by design, is basically a network adapter for a screen, keyboard, and mouse. All it has to do is run an SSH (Secure Shell) session to a server in a basement somewhere. The server does the real thinking, and the thin client handles input and output and not a whole lot else.
My Neoware CA19, for example, has a VIA Eden (fanless VIA C7) CPU running at 400MHz. I don't know how that compares benchmark-wise to anything else, but it doesn't take much to say that 400MHz is /slow/ -- and boy, is it ever! I've upgraded the RAM and, er, storage device on the system -- it originally had 512MB RAM (IIRC -- might've been 256MB...) and a 128MB (!) Disk-On-Module (basically a teensy IDE SSD) that are both long gone.
What I'm getting at here, is that piping data from one connection to another requires /processing/ data. Can you do it with a PC? Yes, use a Linux router distro (this is one place where I personally would NOT recommend Puppy). With a thin client? Yes, but that thin client will be a serious bottleneck in your network.
If you want to do it well, however, I recommend a specific type of router called a CradlePoint (it's a brand, and a good one). I've had two of them before, and this is precisely their line of work. A CradlePoint router can directly connect to a compatible 3g/4g dongle or hotspot with little or no futzing required -- the driver firmware for the CradlePoint is in it when you buy it. There's a little LED light for the dongle/hotspot -- if the CradlePoint can talk with your 3g/4g adapter, the light is green. Otherwise, it's red. That's basically it.
I hope this helps, and good luck!