How to Bridge With Linux

A Linux machine with Internet sharing enabled can act as a bridge.

Internet bridges allow computers that do not have wireless capabilities to connect to wireless Internet networks. The bridge connects to the computer and acts like a wired router: taking in requests for data from the Internet, retrieving the data and then passing it back to the computer. Instead of buying a dedicated bridge device, you can turn a wireless capable Linux computer into a bridge. You can do this by going into the Linux computer's Network configuration and setting the system to share its Internet connection.

Instructions

1. Right-click on the Network Manager tray icon. This will be in the upper right hand side of your screen if you use the GNOME or Unity desktop environment, or the lower right hand side of your screen if you use the KDE desktop environment.

2. Click on the menu item that says "Network Connections" in the menu that pops up above or below the tray icon.

3. Click on "Auto eth0" in the list of connections in the screen that appears, then click the "Edit" button.

4. Click on the tab that says "IPv4 Settings" in the screen that will come up, and then select "Shared to other computers" from the drop-down menu next to the "Method:" label.

5. Click the "Apply" button at the bottom of the screen.

6. Connect your Linux machine to the device for which you want it to act as an Internet bridge with an Ethernet cable. The device will now be able to connect to the Internet.

References

• Ubuntu Documentation: InternetConnectionSharing
• Techerator: How to Set Up Internet Connection Sharing in Fedora 12