Connecting laptops together: Macbook Pro and Lenovo W550s

G-Raps · 05-08-2020, 07:44 AM

Hi All,

Recently, I installed a Macbook Pro, early-2011, 15" laptop with Debian Buster 10.3.0. Since the Broadcom BCM4331 wireless card in the Macbook was not working, I decided to link this laptop to a working laptop with wireless networking, a Lenovo W550s. The Lenovo has an Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 card, running Debian 10.3.0 successfully.

How do I bridge the two laptops so I can use the Lenovo networking on the Macbook ? I was in a channel in irc (freenode.net, ##linux) that mentioned doing the following: just ssh -D 1080 to the laptop with internet and use that as a socks proxy on laptop2

How do I set up the Lenovo to have a binding address of 1080 ?

dc.901 · 05-08-2020, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G-Raps

Since the Broadcom BCM4331 wireless card in the Macbook was not working, I decided to link this laptop to a working laptop with wireless networking, a Lenovo W550s.

So, if the Wireless card is not working, how can you "link" two laptops with wireless networking?

You need a working adaptor first before thinking about connection protocol.

Do you have an Ethernet wired adaptor that works? If you have a USB port on your Mac, you could use a compatible USB Wireless adaptor.

michaelk · 05-08-2020, 09:42 AM

Nothing has to be setup on the Lenovo for the proxy except for ssh running and the firewall allowing port 1080 if running.

You need to configure whatever application you want to run on the Mac to use the proxy. If you want to browse the internet setup Safari port 1080 as proxy.

Safari > Preferences, then click Advanced.
Click Change Settings (next to Proxies) to open the Network pane of System Preferences.
Change the proxy to use 127.0.0.1 port 1080

You could configure the Lenovo to be a NAT router which requires DHCP server or bridge the wireless to wired connection. Then you do not need to mess with proxy settings for each service.

https://wiki.debian.org/BridgeNetworkConnections

G-Raps · 05-08-2020, 09:54 AM

dc.901:
You're right...I am not using the wireless adapter on the Macbook, but I AM using the ethernet port to connect a wired cat5 cable to the ethernet port of the other laptop. So I am using ethernet adapters.

michaelk:
Would that port (127.0.0.1:1080) be reachable with a command line instruction ? I am on runlevel 3 (nongraphical with networking capable) on the Macbook Pro, and on runlevel 5 (graphical with networking capable) on the Lenovo. I am not able to get the X display to work properly on the Macbook, but command line is workable.

michaelk · 05-08-2020, 10:15 AM

What applications do you run on the Mac that connects to the internet?

G-Raps · 05-08-2020, 10:57 AM

michaelk:
Currently, there is Debian Linux 10.3.0 on the Macbook. It is running on runlevel 3 (nongraphical, network capable), and can connect to my wireless router via ethernet port. So I have a working ethernet adapter now. I am working with the bridge connection that you suggested I use, and so far, so good. I just have to issue the equivalent of an "ifup br0" to get the two laptops to talk.

The Macbook Pro still has its MacOS partition intact. I have repartitioned the oem hard drive to accommodate a Linux file system, the Debian install. I can still use the wireless network adapter (Broadcom BCM4331) in MacOS, and do Apple things. I am just troubleshooting the Debian installation to see if I can get the wireless adapter card working and the X display to bring up a graphical user interface.

Once I get either the wireless adapter and/or X display properly configured, I will keep the installation on the Macbook. Previously, I installed Ubuntu 20.04 on the Macbook and no problems were encountered.

I am perfectly fine with using Ubuntu on this Macbook Pro. The only problems that I have with Debian on the Macbook should be resolved shortly.