creating your own wireless network in ubuntu 11.04

network, dhcp, tcp/ip, 802.11, subnets, wpa security... aah all bloody confusing terms. 

i always thought network engineers/architects were wizards. creating network was like so complex that you would give up before even starting it. no one wished to deal with lan cables. even with wi-fi, creating a network was still a task.

i remember trying to create a personal peer-to-peer network in windows xp and first thing i googled was softwares for it. some were paid, i didn't download. windows 7 provides an easy way of creating wireless ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) network but my old laptop didn't supported it (everything supported except the wireless lan card). 

i wished there were a way of doing that in 1, 2, 3 ;)

now i found another wizard (not network engineers), called ubuntu. it lets me create network like a kid's play. 

1. turn on your wi-fi hardware button.

2. click on the network icon  on your panel (the topmost bar in your desktop).

network icon in panel

3. select "create new wireless network".

4. provide a name and security key to it (or just leave it to none. "not recommended" ).

create new wireless network with security

create new wireless network without security

5. click create and you are done. seriously, you are done.

i use this to connect to other devices in my home. since, i have internet connection through ethernet, i use this as an access point for my smartphone saving my money on packet data.

you could also use this for file-sharing and other home network activities. let me know if you cane any problem creating your own home magic network.

ubuntu is wizard!